Motorcycle Parking Fee 2015 – Response Coordination Thread

Welcome to the Toronto Motorcycle Parking Fee response coordination thread.

As a result of our lobbying back in October 2013, Council removed the direction to stop the motorcycle parking fee exemption when pay-by-plate is implemented. Despite this, staff are still moving forward with plans to start charging bikes. We know this from a City TV report back in October.

http://www.citynews.ca/2014/11/04/city-cracks-down-on-free-motorcycle-parking/

In order to do this, staff will need to bring forward a report to Public Works and Infrastructure Committee amending the 2005 By-law which created the current motorcycle exemption. Committee meetings are scheduled February 23, April 9, May 13, June 17, September 2, October 7 and November 12, 2015. We don’t know which meeting it will be, and we will only get 5 days’ notice when the agenda is made public. I will monitor the agendas and let everyone know when it happens. Since this meeting is the only opportunity for public deputations, we will need to be ready. That’s why we need to start organizing now.

For our first step, the Motorcycle & Moped Industry Council (MMIC) and the Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada (MCC) will be hosting an open meeting at the Toronto Motorcycle show on Saturday February 21[SUP]st[/SUP]. Details still need to be coordinated. Info will be posted here as soon as it’s ready.

If you've ever enjoyed free parking in the City, and you don’t want to see it disappear, now is the time to step up.

this is big should be on the front page.

Please keep us informed on what we can do!

The way I see it, we likely have two strategies:

1) find a sympathetic councillor who is willing to escalate our cause. I know that my councillor, Mary-Margaret, won't, but there has to be someone who will side with and work with us.

2) promote that fees will decrease bike commuting and ownership, with is bad for traffic and Tory's self declared war on Torontos traffic problem. He should be subsidizing the already high cost of bike ownership, not making it more expensive. There has to be bunch of councillors who want to kick up a fuss with Tory increasing traffic by discouraging congestion friendly vehicles.

Any lawyers on here?

The open meeting at the Toronto Motorcycle Show is set up.

Saturday February 21, 2:00 pm
Salon/Meeting Room 109
Direct Energy Centre

The room is located along the front wall of the exhibition hall across from the Suzuki & Kawasaki booths.

We'll give a short briefing of the history since Councillor Del Grande started this whole thing, and an outline of the municipal process coming up. Most of the meeting will be an open discussion about the range of issues and the type of actions we can do (deputations at Committee, media, lobbying Councillors, etc.). We hope to come out of this with a plan of action going forward and a core group of people to pull it together.

I'll be there on friday evening as i'm away on the weekend, but keep us posted on the result of that public meeting!

Thanks for the heads up again. Let us know! Hopefully it won't be the meeting on the 23rd, or there's be a hell of a scramble.

It will be a sad day when free parking goes away.... that was a huge motivator for both convenience and feeling good with the wallet.

Going to try and support this.

OP update your first post with the date for the 21st.

The February 23 Public Works & Infrastructure Committee agenda has been published, and there is nothing on it about motorcycle parking fees. We have at least a 1 month reprieve.

If you're at the show next Saturday, come by the meeting at 2:00 in room 109 (across from the Suzuki & Kawasaki booths). In order for the fee to be implemented, a by-law needs to be passed. There is still time to influence that decision. The more people who support the fight and the more organized we are, the better change we have of stopping this from happening. And yes, there really is a possibility to stop this, so no point in saying "to bad, so sad" just yet. Show your support instead.

Hey, Do you need to pay to go into the meeting or can you access it from the lobby area? I wasn't going to go to the show but I do want to make it to this meeting.

Rebelrider1 said:

Hey, Do you need to pay to go into the meeting or can you access it from the lobby area? I wasn't going to go to the show but I do want to make it to this meeting.

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The meeting room can be accessed from the front hall corridor without having to go into the show. It's room 109. When I get there, I'll check to see if it has a room number on the outside. If not (and probably even if it does) I'll stick a sign on the door about the meeting. Come by around 2:00 & knock.

Sounds Good!

Keep your eyes open for this banner at the entrance to the show, and as a flyer handout at the show. This will also be a sign on the meeting room (room 109) door. Looking forward to seeing everyone there, 2:00 Saturday.

Sooooo what was said and what happened at the meeting?

LePhillou said:

Sooooo what was said and what happened at the meeting?

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Not sure what happened, but I bet if there is not enough public knowledge of whats going to happen from the recommendations, there's going to be some shocked commuters and riders who travel downtown to the city when things change.

LePhillou said:

Sooooo what was said and what happened at the meeting?

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We had a small turn out. I guess between the weather, desire to look at bikes, and lack of apparent urgency, this isn't on people's radar right now. This will have to change if we hope to successfully fight it when it comes.

I gave an outline of how this has come about, our recent unsuccessful efforts to get staff and the Mayor's office to respect Council's actions back in October 2013, and what will happen from a process perspective when this comes back to Committee & Council. Dave Millier from the Motorcycle Confederation of Canada gave an outline of how charging occurs in other cities, the Toronto dedicated space pilot program, and impacts on riders and the City should charging start up again.

The main message that came out of the discussions was that we need to spread the word, and people need to be ready when we get that very short notice of the Committee meeting. We will need as many people in the audience as possible because the Councillors will respond to the presence of affected parties. We will need 5 or 6 people ready with coordinated 5 minute deputations. We need to make sure we cover all aspects of the issues and impacts without duplication. This should be from the industry as well as riders. And we will need to start lobbying Councillors. The Committee members are most important because they will hear our deputations and have the first ability to change the staff recommendations. But talking to all Councillors will help, because they all will vote on it when the Committee recommendations go to Council. The Committee members are:

Jaye Robinson (Chair) – Ward 25, Don Valley West
Mary-Margaret McMahon (Vice Chair) – Ward 32, Beaches East York
Stephen Holiday – Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre
Chin Lee – Ward 41, Scarborough Rouge River
Ron Moeser – Ward 44, Scarborough East
Anthony Perruzza – Ward 8, York West

One of the attendees with a writer for Canadian Biker, so we should get an article in an upcoming issue. We will be pursuing this with other reporters who have written about it in the past. Support from rider groups will help. It will be good to coordinate with scooter riders, as much of the growth in commuting riders are scooters.

Please use this thread to bring forward ideas for the deputations to Council, and to update everyone on lobbying efforts and items in the press. PM me if you want to get more involved.

But most important, spread the word. We need to be ready when the report comes forward.

Mary Margaret is my councillor and she is firmly in the camp that we need to pay for parking.

We need flyers to put on bikes once it warms up if its not too late by then... and also maybe try to expose the situation to blogto since I'm pretty sure they get pretty good exposure whether it be the good kind or the bad kind.

Go around moto shops downtown as they will be able to let people know about it.

But getting the ridership aware of the situation at hand... And getting them to come out with the torches and pitchforks at the right moment is quite the job

is there a form letter we can send to our councillor at this point in time?