Trinity-Bellwoods Park at Crawford just south of Dundas. Article with nice photos Torontoist
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Easter Present Movie Night
Thanks to the fine folks in Parkdale 'The Easter Present' has been selected for the 11th Annual Parkdale Film & Video Showcase!
Date: Saturday June 27, 2009
Time: 9PM | PWYC
Where: Fuller Parkette | Outdoor screening. Bring a blanket and share this magical night wih someone special.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Urban Repair Squad Goes To Nueva York
The URS film 'Le Depart - The Beginning' will be screened at the Bicycle Film Festival in New York on Sunday June 21 (Program 12, 5PM)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
"The war on the car, as seen from the bicycle seat"
Article in the National Post with a brief profile of URS.(snip)
On May 31, Bells on Bloor held its annual ride from High Park to Queen’s Park in support of the stalled bike lane. The group has been organizing Bloor rides since September, 2007, while fellow cycling group Urban Repair Squad resorts to more direct forms of protest.
URS uses grassroots, guerrilla-style tactics and paints de facto bike lanes all over the city (especially on Bloor) to garner public attention. The lanes are usually removed by city staff, but one URS symbol — a bike stencil under two “sharrows” — painted over a year ago near Ossington Avenue and Dupont Street remains untouched.
“There are a lot of people involved who have been at it for 10 or 15 years, advocating for change. And they keep getting told no... we beg to differ” said Martin Reis, URS photographer and web site organizer.
“We can say yes, it can be done. It can be done for next to nothing.”
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Bicycling Magazine July 2009
The Illegal but highly effective DIY Bike Lane
Included in this issue is a fabulous feature article by Dan Koeppel plus a write-up by Laura Kiniry about all things Urban Repair worldwide. A must read.
Wanna read it? I suggest you buy the Magazine. I did. Besides it's an inexpensive publication so worth supporting and the article is not online.
(Hint. You can also read the issue at your local library ...)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
This Just In ... LA Bike Lanes Story
A follow-up to LA's Department of DIY bike lane installation in 2008, see photos below, which Dan Koeppel wrote about in the current issue of Bicycling (July 2009). Available at your local library."Here's an update, both from my perspective and from my contacts at the Department of DIY, a week after the story came out...
The DIY lanes piece appeared a week after the Department of Transportation proposed cutting all bike funding from its budget. The move was a bit of a bluff, of course - the two-wheeled denizens of Los Angeles were suddenly turned into human shields - but we were released and sent home with a clear message: The City of Los Angeles now owns a guillotine.
The lane painters at the Department of DIY were as dismayed and outraged by funding fiasco as the rest of the cycling community, but they also felt vindicated. As writer/witness/comrade to the lane painters, I also experienced a feeling of somewhat gratuitous serendipity at the timing of the story. If the actions taken on the Fletcher Bridge weren't' defensible last July, when they actually occurred, they almost certainly became so now.
This week, even that slight "almost" appears to have vanished. On Friday - again, all of this has occurred within a ten day frame surrounding the story's publication - an equally significant event in the annals of Los Angeles cycling occurred. That same Department of Transportation (finally) released its long-awaited draft of a new citywide bike master plan. http://www.labikeplan.org/bikeway_maps
See "Central/Westside" version.
Putting aside any comment on whether the budget event and the release of the draft were somehow related to each other - in a bizarre and clumsy attempt to manage expectations and public reaction - I'll limit my comments on the plan to items specifically related to bridges and our story. I'll also assume DOT has learned from its track record of non-implementation, and knows that this plan must happen, though it is certainly not unexpected or unreasonable that many members of our cycling community see no reason to comment on the merits of the plan at all, since they believe the entire system, at this point, is made of applesauce.
On to the bridges.
First: None of the most dangerous bridges - which means the longest, southernmost ones - will see any genuine bike accommodations. Nor will any that lead directly into downtown Los Angeles. The plan marks these bridges with grey dots, which puts them into DOT's "proposed, but currently infeasible" category, "brought forward" from the old, unimplemented plans, which date back to 1996 or before. (Other proposed, but currently infeasible, ideas floating around in the our cultural ether include time travel, universal health care, and a half-wit governor from Alaska becoming president of the United States. A hundred bucks says at least one of these things happens before the Olympic Boulevard bridge gets a bike lane.)
Second come bridges - a couple of them - marked with purple dots. My understanding (and please, if you know better, please correct me) is that this indicates separate-from-cars bike paths underneath and perpendicular to the bridges. These facilities won't actually traverse the spans. Instead, they will be along the river itself, for recreational use, like the current (and wonderful) L.A. River bike path. The exception to this, from my reading, is what appears to be a dedicated bike path running over the North Broadway bridge. If this is the case, it is good news - even though it would mean that the first genuine bike-friendly crossing of the river for cyclists would be the eighth in the south-to-north sequence of twelve bridges, and a full two miles north of downtown.
From a political and implementation standpoint, I'd also note that if there is to be such a Broadway crossing, and if it is going to be part of a great recreational build-out, then it may not represent acknowledgement of what I see - and this is just my personal point of view - as the greater need, which is commuter access from the east side of the river. I'd want to know whether the creation of such a crossing would be viewed with the appropriate level of urgency, and whether it would be built speedily. Given that it would serve a dual purpose, the charge should be pretty simple: BUILD IT FIRST, and BUILD IT FAST. This is something the community must press for.
Third, and most important, when it comes to the Fletcher Drive project - and I apologize for both myself and on behalf the Department of the DIY if this sounds just a little bit like gloating, but hell, let's just call it what it is - there's just one other accommodation for bikes that can be seen as even remotely possible in the DOT plan. The most implementable pathways proposed in the new plan are those that fall into the green dot category. They aren't just run-of-the-mill, painted bike lanes. They're super-cheap run-of-the-mill, painted bike-lanes, specifically defined by the DOT as locations "where a new bike lane can be added without widening the roadway or removing travel lanes or parking."
In other words, they are stripes. Just plain stripes.
There is only one Los Angeles River bridge that gets the green dots. Only one bridge that the brand new Los Angeles bicycle master plan says is perfectly suited for bikes with a simple stripe, with no other modifications, where bikes and cars could co-exist, basically as-is - just a bucket of paint away.
I won't keep you in this phony suspense any longer. It is Fletcher Drive, of course.
What the new plan proposes is exactly what the Department of DIY created - and exactly what the Department of No Department of Transportation said was impossible."
Department of DIY installation in July 2008.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
DIY - The Revolution Starts With You (TTC)
Exhibtion on video screens on Toronto's Subway (TTC)
Photos by Martin Reis & Yvonne Bambrick
Sunday, May 24, 2009
DIY - The Revolution Starts With You | May 26 on the TTC (Contact Festival 2009)
Photo: Urban Repair Squad installs Rush Hour Bike Lane on Queen Street West (2008)
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Martin Reis & Yvonne Bambrick
DIY - The Revolution Starts With You (a 30 second slide show about Toronto street activism) will be shown all day in 10 minute intervals MAY 26 on over 200 TTC video screens!
Contacting Toronto is an annual, open-call photography exhibition on the Onestop network of over 270
TTC screens. It offers artists and photographers an audience of 1.3 million people a day in over 50 stations. More info
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Live Green Toronto?
April 10, 2009
April 11-13, 2009 (URS redesign)
New Logo May 20, 2009.
Now if they had only kept the pedestrian and cyclist, it would actually make sense.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A Quote From URS
"We don't negotiate with politicians."
Urban Repair Squad Member Alvin (May 2009)
A Ghost Bike remains a year after it was first installed in memory of Brian Clark, 50 at Tretheway and Tepper. Despite a bike lane having been proposed years ago along the same route nothing has been done to make this street safer for cyclists.
Photo by Hamish Wilson
Photo by Hamish Wilson
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Easter Present
À bicyclette - Laurent Voulzy
Quand on partait de bon matin, quand on partait sur les chemins, À bicyclette
Nous étions quelques bons copains, y'avait Fernand, y'avait Firmin. Y'avait Francis et Sébastien et puis Paulette. On était tous amoureux d'elle, on se sentait pousser des ailes. À bicyclette, sur les petits chemins de terre, on a souvent vécu l'enfer Pour ne pas mettre pied à terre devant Paulette.
Faut dire qu'elle y mettait du coeur, c'était la fille du facteur,
Faut dire qu'elle y mettait du coeur, c'était la fille du facteur,
À bicyclette
Et depuis qu'elle avait huit ans, elle avait fait en le suivant. Tous les chemins environnants à bicyclette Quand on approchait la rivière, on déposait dans les fougères, Nos bicyclettes, et on se roulait dans les champs, faisant naître un bouquet changeant, de sauterelles, de papillons et de rainettes.
Quand le soleil à l'horizon profilait sur tous les buissons nos silhouettes. On revenait fourbus, contents, le coeur un peu vague pourtant. De n'être pas un seul instant avec Paulette. Prendre furtivement sa main, oublier un peu les copains, la bicyclette. On se disait "C'est pour demain, j'oserai, j'oserai demain. Quand on ira sur les chemins, à bicyclette"
Et depuis qu'elle avait huit ans, elle avait fait en le suivant. Tous les chemins environnants à bicyclette Quand on approchait la rivière, on déposait dans les fougères, Nos bicyclettes, et on se roulait dans les champs, faisant naître un bouquet changeant, de sauterelles, de papillons et de rainettes.
Quand le soleil à l'horizon profilait sur tous les buissons nos silhouettes. On revenait fourbus, contents, le coeur un peu vague pourtant. De n'être pas un seul instant avec Paulette. Prendre furtivement sa main, oublier un peu les copains, la bicyclette. On se disait "C'est pour demain, j'oserai, j'oserai demain. Quand on ira sur les chemins, à bicyclette"
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Hallam Sharrows - One Year Anniversary
A year ago, Urban Repair Squad painted the 800 meters of sharrows on both sides of Hallam Street which the City of Toronto had promised to install (see page 4 of the report). But never did. According to what I heard, it took a mere 2 hours to paint the sharrows on both sides and a year later they are still there today. Nice work! On personal note, I have spoken with several cyclists and parents in the area and overall they love the sharrows ... perhaps a bike lane next?
Yes, please!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
TTC Adopts New Stickers by URS
No Bicycles signage (before) - Welcoming Sticker for Cyclists by Urban Repair Squad (after)
Over 60 days after the TTC's unfriendly bicycle signage was replaced by the new, more welcoming stickers, the TTC has yet to remove from the over 60 stations where they were installed. It appears the TTC has embraced the new, more positive signage. A welcome change and even better all free of charge. "We fix, no charge." It is important to note that the TTC was asked to replace the old signage in 2002 but chose not to do so with the usual excuses...
Update: As of April 29th - Yup, still there.
Over 60 days after the TTC's unfriendly bicycle signage was replaced by the new, more welcoming stickers, the TTC has yet to remove from the over 60 stations where they were installed. It appears the TTC has embraced the new, more positive signage. A welcome change and even better all free of charge. "We fix, no charge." It is important to note that the TTC was asked to replace the old signage in 2002 but chose not to do so with the usual excuses...
Update: As of April 29th - Yup, still there.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Better Way To Paint
A previously painted over Urban Repair Squad stencil re-emerged this week just west of Harbord and Bathurst. The city really oughta use better paint.
Photo by Anonymous.
Sticker Campaign Success
Ten days after the first stickers appeared outside and inside most TTC subway stations, they are still there. And it looks like all of them.
" ... To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
-R. Buckminster Fuller
You can listen to Scott Ossington's fine new cycling podcast to find out more ...
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Urban Repair Squad at the CCA in Montreal
Actions: What You Can Do With the City, installation view at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal ©CCA. Photo Michel Legendre
Friday, January 2, 2009
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Times Up! in New York does Bike Lane Fixit!
Stencils added to crash site of cyclist David Smith who was killed by a motor vehicle while riding in the 6th Avenue Bike Lane and more! Nice work!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
With love from Riga, Latvia!
This article was submitted to me with the photos. Awesome work!
Chalk bike lanes
Why wait if you can do it yourself?
Author: David and two Sanitas
Riga, the capital of Latvia, has narrow streets, pedestrians and cars. Surprisingly, there are cyclists as well, despite the danger the cyclists involve themselves in. We have two bike roads that lead to leisure destinations, to Jūrmala (city next to the sea shore) and Mežaparks (forest for walking, running, roller skating, and Zoo Park). None of them are used for daily cycling to school or work, mostly they are just for leisure.
We have a city council, with transport department. We also have some pavements wide enough to share between pedestrians and bicyclists. And what is most important - we have people, who care, about streets, about pedestrians, about pavements and even about the city council.
So we built our own chalk bike road. And will continue to. Until somebody official will notice it, and paint it permanently. Newspapers write that we can expect improvement in five years the earliest. Meanwhile we will keep on chalking.
Photos courtesy of creativeacts.org
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
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