Russ Wyatt claims the Pedestrian & Cycling Strategies are flawed because of a lack of consultations, alleging that advocacy groups like Bike Winnipeg have undue influence at city hall (we wish!).

3,000 People Engaged in Public Consultation Process

Like the rest of the public, we first saw the completed strategies (and proposed cycling network) on May 1st. That’s not to say we and the rest of the city didn’t have plenty of time to review and comment on the strategies. 18 months of public consultations on the strategies culminated in three open houses in April 2014. The consultation process engaged over 3,000 people.

Draft Networks and Recommendations Have Been Available for 12 Months

Bike Winnipeg and hundreds of other Winnipeggers took advantage of that time to comment on the draft network and recommendations.

We were pleased to see those contributions reflected in the documents released May 1st.

Wyatt’s so-called evidence that Bike Winnipeg had prior access to the strategies is an email we sent him on January 23, 2015 asking for a meeting to discuss opportunities to improve cycling options in Transcona and throughout the City of Winnipeg. You can read the full text of that email at bikewinnipeg.ca.

Councillor Wyatt failed to respond to our invitation.

April 2014 Open House Boards

Full text of Bike Winnipeg Invitation to Russ Wyatt

Hi Russ,

Hope you are getting settled into your new job! We’re still hoping that we might be be able to meet with you and discuss opportunities to improve cycling options in the Transcona ward and throughout the City of Winnipeg. There has certainly been a lot of work in Transcona (Transcona Trail , Pandora, Chief Peguis extension, Kilcona Park Planning, and recent neighbourhood plans), and more to come with planning underway for the East Rapid Transit Corridor. Ensuring that these new communities and pathways connect into the rest of the city is a critical issue for Bike Winnipeg (and we are sure yourself as well), and we would very much like to get your ideas on development of the cycling network into and within Transcona, and to share some of our ideas with you and get your feedback on our ideas and the plan in general.

We are expecting that the City of Winnipeg will be tabling its first ever pedestrian and cycling strategies before the standing committee on infrastructure renewal and public works on February 10th. We would love to have the opportunity to speak with you about our desires for the passage and implementation of this critical city planning document. If you would be interested in meeting with myself and perhaps one or two other members of the Bike Winnipeg board, please feel free to give me a call at 204-894-6540 or reply by email (mark@bikewinnipeg.ca).

I’m generally available to meet during the day, and was hoping that we could perhaps set something up over the next two weeks. I look forward to working with you to help make Winnipeg a safer, more convenient place to bike!

Sincerely,

Mark Cohoe

Executive Director

Bike Winnipeg

www.bikewinnipeg.ca

204-894-6540