Rookie councillor Sean Chu cursed about bicycle counts and seemed to wonder aloud if a city staffer was abusing substances, in a burst of Twitter messages he posted and then deleted Tuesday morning.



In response to news reports about council's debate Monday about the proposed 1st Street S.E. separated bike lane, Chu tweeted his doubts about cyclist levels on another route.





A city engineer had actually used the 1,160 daily count to describe bike usage on north-south streets in east downtown, not 7th Street.



When a pro-cycling Calgarian replied that Chu had been attacking a city staffer Monday, the councillor responded on Twitter again.



After some respondents suggested Chu was threatening others, the councillor deleted both of those tweets.



Chu did not immediately respond to a Herald message on his voice mail. A Calgary Sun reporter who reached the councillor tweeted that Chu planned to issue a written statement later Tuesday.



Reaction to Chu’s deleted tweets came swiftly from his detractors and some colleagues.



“That’s bad. I don’t know why he would make those kinds of comments,” Coun. Andre Chabot said, when the Herald read the tweet to him. “He hasn’t really learned what the job expectations are. I don’t think anybody wants to hear that stuff coming out of a member of council.”



Coun. Druh Farrell tweeted: “Bullying of staff by members of Council is commonplace because staff can’t fight back. Unacceptable.”



Coun. Brian Pincott posted a link to council’s ethical conduct policy, which lists being “polite, courteous and respectful of others at all times” as a key requirement.



Chu’s short-lived online tirade came one day after Mayor Naheed Nenshi cut him off during a cycling debate. Chu was cut off as he read from an email a city employee sent to groups interested in the bike lane that said design work was ongoing and the controversial 1st Street S.E. plan may still go ahead if council approves it.



“For you to say they’re somehow saying that it’s a done deal, that’s a big problem,” Nenshi told his rookie colleague, as Chu agreed.



“No, I’m telling you that’s a big problem, Councillor Chu, so I’m surprised no one else stood up on a point of privilege. You just be very careful.”



This is not the first time Chu’s Twitter activity has attracted controversy. He’s routinely drawn outrage from members of Calgary’s cycling community by regularly posting on Twitter his observations that bike lanes he has driven by have few or no users. He has sometimes called that “proof” that cycle lanes are unwise public investments.



Earlier this winter, Chu tweeted that “global warming alarmists” had been quiet while a research trip was stuck in ice in Antarctica during the summer and while “the weather’s been so freaking cold.”



Climate scientists, and government agencies in the United States and Canada alike say that cold winters or other weather patterns in a specific season do not prove or disprove that the planet’s overall climate is warming.



