{"id":1670,"date":"2010-10-27T20:04:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-28T03:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/?p=1670"},"modified":"2015-01-20T13:41:24","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T21:41:24","slug":"good-news-for-ottawa-cyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/good-news-for-ottawa-cyclists\/","title":{"rendered":"Good News for Ottawa Cyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I reported that the election of anti-cycling Mayor Rob Ford was very bad news for Toronto cyclists. By contrast, Ottawa has just had a very positive development, with the election of pro-cycling Mayor Jim Watson, two days ago.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?ssl=1\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1697\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/good-news-for-ottawa-cyclists\/ottawa-cycling\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?fit=594%2C315&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"594,315\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ottawa cycling\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?fit=300%2C159&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?fit=594%2C315&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1697 lazyload\" title=\"Ottawa cycling\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"594\" height=\"315\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1697\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/good-news-for-ottawa-cyclists\/ottawa-cycling\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?fit=594%2C315&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"594,315\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ottawa cycling\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?fit=300%2C159&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?fit=594%2C315&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1697 lazyload\" title=\"Ottawa cycling\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?resize=594%2C315&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"594\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?w=594&amp;ssl=1 594w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/averagejoecyclist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Ottawa-cycling.jpg?resize=300%2C159&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Part of Watson\u2019s election platform was a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jimwatson.ca\/cycling-en\" target=\"_blank\">10-point Plan for Cycling<\/a>. If Mayor Watson is true to his campaign promises, Ottawa cyclists can expect infrastructure improvement on a par with the <a href=\"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/?p=1571\" target=\"_blank\">cycling infrastructure improvements seen recently in Vancouver<\/a> \u2013 if not even better. It seems that Watson has been moved to dynamic action plans by the stark realization that <strong>cyclists\u2019 lives need to be protected<\/strong>. He said:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u201c<strong>Safety is at the heart of this initiative<\/strong>. I am concerned that the recent string of bike tragedies is having an effect on confidence. <strong>We can\u2019t wait for safety<\/strong>. If the balance tips and people start to view cycling as risk, or antagonism builds with motorists, then we\u2019ll suffer a real loss here in Ottawa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Watson plans to address cycling issues on <strong>multiple fronts<\/strong>, including dedicated bike lanes, more multi-purpose pathways, bike safety programs, bike parking, combatting bike theft, more accommodation of bikes on mass transit, and ensuring that Ottawa\u2019s Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee becomes more meaningful and effective.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Watson champions a vision of Ottawa becoming a city that can be proud of its cycling infrastructure. He is also one of the rare Canadian mayors who realizes the <strong>potential of cycling tourism<\/strong> \u2013 joining <a href=\"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/?p=946\" target=\"_blank\">Sooke\u2019s mayor Janet Evans<\/a> in that respect. Moreover, there is reason to hope that Watson\u2019s pro-cyclist stance could spread, as he plans to work with neighboring municipalities in <strong>Quebec and Ontario<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Watson\u2019s 10-point plan for cycling puts him in the company of <a href=\"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/?p=105\" target=\"_blank\">Mayor Gregor Robertson, the bravely pro-cyclist mayor of Vancouver<\/a>. Watson has undertaken to move forward with <strong>new dedicated bike lanes<\/strong>, \u201cwhile respecting business concerns about the impact of bike lanes on their businesses\u201d \u2013 easier said than done, as we have seen in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Many Vancouver business owners will apparently <strong>choose parking spots over cyclists\u2019 lives any day<\/strong>, and Ottawa business owners are unlikely to be less selfish.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Robertson has been unflinching in standing up to the selfish demands of business owners \u2013 <strong>here\u2019s hoping\u00a0Mayor Watson\u00a0will be as gutsy as Gregor<\/strong>. At the very least, it is\u00a0 encouraging to see the election of a pro-cycling mayor in our capital city. It helps to offset the disappointment of seeing an\u00a0anti-cyclist elected mayor\u00a0of our largest city.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">My thanks to fellow blogger <a href=\"http:\/\/bentguy.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">bentguy<\/a> for alerting me to the good news about Watson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I reported that the election of anti-cycling Mayor Rob Ford was very bad news for Toronto cyclists. By contrast, Ottawa has just had a very positive development, with the election of pro-cycling Mayor Jim Watson, two days ago. Part of Watson\u2019s election platform was a 10-point Plan for Cycling. If Mayor Watson is true [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[171],"tags":[23,21],"class_list":{"0":"post-1670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling-infrastructure","8":"tag-cyclist-heaven","9":"tag-yeah-i-wanna-cycle-without-getting-killed","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.8 (Yoast SEO v25.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Good News for Ottawa Cyclists &#8226; Average Joe Cyclist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/good-news-for-ottawa-cyclists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Good News for Ottawa Cyclists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday I reported that the election of anti-cycling Mayor Rob Ford was very bad news for Toronto cyclists. 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