The Olympic celebration continues with the Paralympic Torch Relay

SOURCE: City of Toronto Press Release

DATE: February 20, 2010

Today, Adrian Heaps, Chair of the Toronto Community Task Force for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay (Councillor, Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest), announced Toronto’s five Community Torchbearers who will carry the Paralympic Flame when it visits the city for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay on March 5. Toronto is one of three cities outside of British Columbia chosen to host the 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay. more »

Toronto hits winter’s lowest temperature – so far

BYLINE: Teri Pecoskie

NEWSPAPER: The Toronto Star (website)

DATE: January 30, 2010

Toronto was hit with the coldest temperatures yet this winter when the mercury dipped to a chilly minus 19C early Saturday morning.

AccuWeather meteorologist, Mike Pigott, said Saturday morning’s freezing temperatures were brought on by an Arctic front moving eastward across the province. more »

Edge Park Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Councillor Heaps, accompanied with the Principal and Parent Council of Clairlea PS, cuts the ribbon at the Re-Opening of the Edge Park Playground.

See the video here.

Get rolling on bike lanes, councillor urges city

NEWSPAPER: The Toronto Star
SECTION: GTA; Pg. GT04
DATE: October 7, 2009

Toronto needs to set harder targets and “draconian deadlines” to get an adequate city-wide network of bicycle lanes in place, the chair of the city’s cycling committee says.

Concrete deadlines should be built into capital and operational plans, Councillor Adrian Heaps told the city’s works committee.

A bike plan approved in 2001 called for 1,000 kilometres of new bike paths and trails by 2011. That deadline has been moved to 2013.

8 years into program, less than half of routes are put to pavement

BYLINE: Denise Balkissoon, Toronto Star
NEWSPAPER: The Toronto Star
SECTION: GTA; Pg. GT05
DATE: October 1, 2009

Thirty-six kilometres doesn’t sound like a lot out of a promised 1,000, but that’s all the bike lanes the city could put to pavement in 2009.

It’s been eight years since the ambitious Bike Plan was announced, when Torontonians were told we’d have more than 1,000 kilometres of new paths, lanes and trails by 2011. Today, less than half of those have been installed, and the plan’s lifespan has been extended to 2013. more »

Measures could include rumble strips to warn encroaching drivers or segregating bicycle lanes with a buffer from vehicle traffic

BYLINE: John Lorinc
NEWSPAPER: The Toronto Sun
SECTION: Editorial/Opinion; City Hall; Pg. 39
DATE: September 13, 2009

On Monday, Aug. 31, my teenage son set out by bike for a Grade 9 orientation session at his new high school, which is at the other end of an easy 15-minute ride along a route that happens to traverse three west-end arterials.

When I sat down at my computer later that morning, I soon found myself immersed in the unfolding tragedy involving Michael Bryant and Darcy Sheppard, and also thinking hard about the advisability of my son’s choice of transportation.

He’s got a helmet and instructions to take side streets where possible, and he wants to ride. But still….

Without knowing the complete story of what happened on Bloor St. two weeks ago today, I’d argue this incident — and its aftermath — offers up a bracing snapshot of the excruciatingly tense relationship between drivers and riders, especially in the downtown, where the majority of all cyclist injuries occur.

The Bryant-Sheppard story holds lessons the city should heed as it continues to roll out its plan to build 495 km of bike lanes.

Coun. Michael Walker this week will be pushing council to license cyclists, but that scheme will only create yet another costly bureaucracy with no real safety dividends. Here are some better ideas for reducing the friction on the roads.

Rumble Strips: Low hanging fruit, this one. Council’s cycling advocate Coun. Adrian Heaps says the city is mulling the idea of putting rumble strips — those corrugated borders found along the shoulder of some highways — along bike lanes, with an eye to warning drivers they’ve drifted across. A great, inexpensive idea that offers no impediments yet sends unambiguous safety signals, just as on the highway. more »

Education, not licensing, is the route to go, cycling advocates say

BYLINE: Don Peat
NEWSPAPER: The Toronto Sun
SECTION: News; Pg. 4
DATE: September 3, 2009

Cycling advocates say education and common sense are more feasible than licensing cyclists to ride on Toronto’s roads.

With the death of cyclist Darcy Sheppard, the war of words between bikes and cars is heating up, with renewed calls for licensing cyclists, but Councillor Adrian Heaps said it shouldn’t come before an education effort.

“You still have to have the education first before you give people a certificate that says they can drive or ride a bike,” Heaps, chairman of the Toronto cycling committee, said yesterday. “The professional view is that the Highway Traffic Act would have to be amended for the city to have that kind of authority. It is the purview of the province.” more »

Councillor Heaps attends the official unveiling of the new Crossroads of the Danforth BIA head office  at 3214 Danforth Ave.

See the article here.

NEWSPAPER: The Toronto Star
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A02
DATE: July 3, 2009

Adrian Heaps is the Toronto city councillor for Scarborough Southwest who voluntarily declined this year’s 2.42 per cent pay raise. more »

After predicting section could be ready this year, committee chairman now says effect on traffic, parking needs to be studied first

BYLINE: Jeff Gray
NEWSPAPER: The Globe And Mail
SECTION: Toronto News; Cycling; Pg. A10
DATE: MAY 29, 2009

Controversial plans for a crosstown bike lane along Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue appear to have hit a speed bump, as the city now plans to hire an external consultant to study the idea.

Just last week, the councillor who chairs the city’s cycling committee, Adrian Heaps, said a first, eastern phase of the city-spanning bike lane could be installed as early as this year, if approved.

But yesterday, Mr. Heaps said a third-party review of the parking and traffic problems and the benefits and costs to local businesses was needed before going ahead. more »