Dear Editor,
As a Westboro resident since 1980, I have seen the neighbourhood grow in a very positive way. Now, the virus has changed our lifestyles greatly. One very negative feature is that of cyclists riding their bicycles illegally on the sidewalks. Your picture depicts nothing but bicycles riding in both directions on a shared pedestrian pathway. How would it have looked if there was a pedestrian in the mix? I believe those optics are wrong. I have witnessed far too many near collisions of pedestrians and cyclists on sidewalks, all the fault of cyclists. I have tried unsuccessfully to convince Jeff Leiper to say something in his “Newsletter” about people riding their bicycles on the sidewalk. The Richmond Road sidewalk from Golden to at least Island Park Drive and beyond, is particularly hazardous for pedestrians. If the cyclist feels they must use the sidewalk, they should, when approaching a pedestrian, dismount and walk their bicycle and only remount when it is safe to do so.
– Heather Stevens
This letter was published in the September 2020 edition of Kitchissippi Times.