The Budget and the Bike Plan

One minute action

We need your voice

Edmonton Council’s budget decisions at the start of December will fundamentally impact the next four years and beyond.

You can permanently transform the future of Edmonton with just 60 seconds of your time.

The best time to do it is right now, which will let Paths for People take your letter and your voice to Council when they speak on Tuesday. The second best time is by Tuesday, Nov 29, before Council begins actual budget motions and debate.

You don't even have to read the rest of this email: take action now.

The budget currently allocates nothing ($0) to these important active transportation projects:

• Bike Plan Implementation: a city-wide network of district connectors

• Missing/enhanced sidewalk & active modes connections (i.e. missing links)

• Active Transportation Improvements (including the corridors and areas recently designed, and Sask Dr shared use path widening)

None of these projects will move forward unless Council steps in to find funding for them.

There will be no city-wide network of bike routes.

You may have heard in September that the Urban Planning Committee approved the Bike Plan implementation, but they actually voted only to consider it now, during the budget. They did not (and could not) approve funding to build it.

It’s okay: you don’t need to read the entire budget. (But we have some highlights below if you want to dig into it.)

You don’t need to spend your day speaking at City Hall. (That’s why you join advocacy organizations like Paths for People and Bike Edmonton: so we can send people to spend days in council chambers.)

How can you use your limited time to have the most impact?

Join your voice with others. Use this tool from Paths for People and click “Add Your Voice”.

That’s it.

The next most powerful thing you can do for the least effort? Tell your friends and neighbours to add their voices too, and send them the link.

Paths for People will amplify your voice by delivering your letters to Council on Tuesday, November 29, along with their own presenters to advocate for funding for active transportation.

Want to do more? Great! Make sure your friends send the letter too! You can also call your councillor and the Mayor directly. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed or intimidated, just make sure that everyone sends that letter.

It’s easy and it’s effective, and you don’t need to think about it.

The Details

Add your voice before Tuesday, November 29. After that, it's still worth writing, but Council may already begin making decisions as early as November 30. So don’t wait until you have the perfect message crafted or all the details: just write today!

But if you want to dig into all the details and find some facts and citations to use in discussions you may have, here they are.

BetaCity Bikes & Paths

If you've used Google Street View to look at bike paths recently, you've probably benefitted from the work of Eugene Chen. Taproot Edmonton has written a story about his work. (You may also recall his fantastic This Is Edmonton data visualization tool, visualizing Edmonton demographic data.)

Want to learn about or work on projects that make walking or biking more accessible and safer? Learn about a few initiatives and how you can help!

Attend the BetaCityYEG online meetup on Wednesday, Nov 30, at 7pm to learn about Open Data, mapping, and connect with others interested in how citizens can improve our community with technology.