Cary Tarasoff is running for mayor in Saskatoon. Based upon what I have read on his campaign website and his LinkedIn profile he seems to have some thoughts divergent to the standard Chamber of Commerce mantra.
He has completely avoided talking about property and business taxes and seems to have focused on bikes, bike lanes and transit. So much so that there are 2 parts to his proposals for transit. I have used the word proposals loosely in this situation. The topics sound more like open letters than proposals and the terms used at times are not very accurate.
Bike lanes (on road) seem to be a little bit of the thorn for the mayoral candidate. He correctly points out that bikes don't travel at the same speed as cars and as a result can be downright dangerous for a cyclist. He seems to propose bike trails, I suppose similar to the ones found in Edmonton, AB. The idea of getting rid of bike lanes just because of high speed vehicular traffic makes little sense in the long run.
The Netherlands and Japan have very different ways of integrating biking into the system. For example the Netherlands has completely separate bike lanes in urban, suburban and rural areas. On top of having bike lanes they have separate bike intersections as well. Not only does this make it safe to ride a bike, it also understands the principles of the bike. Bikes fare poorly in frequent start and stop situations unlike cars. The candidate talked about some cyclists in the city weaving in and out of traffic and sidewalks. One of the reasons for that happening is to do with poor bike etiquette and education. In Japan, even in a big city like Tokyo, all modes of transportation share the road, pedestrians and bikes share the sidewalk when there is no clear delineation between the two.
Many of the minor roads in Tokyo have low speed limits 30 and 40 kph respectively and as a result biking and walking is relatively safe. It is possible that considering the candidate graduated from the U of S's school of Urban Planning in the late 1980's he seems to have an outdated view when it comes to biking.
I found his take on Transit i.e. the BRT quite interesting due to the reason that he proposes that the BRT bus stops be modular and those can be built by metal fabricators in the city. The reason stated for the stops to be modular is so that the stops can be moved when the BRT routes change. Most if not all of the bus stops built in Saskatoon are modular, including the transit way in the downtown core. The only difference is that the bus stops now are not manufactured in Saskatoon. I presume he was talking about metal fabricators because he has had experience working with them when he was a Mine engineer for AMEC. The term pivoting which has been thrown about by the media in recent months comes to mind.
He also talks about battery powered electric buses and how inefficient they are to manufacture and maintain, which I partially agree with. He goes on to talk about electric buses that he took in his youth. After a little bit of digging, the electric buses he was talking about were trolley buses and they plied the streets of Saskatoon until about the mid seventies. This was something I did not know even existed. Based upon what Cary has written about transit and biking, he seems to be running on old campaign messaging, which is waiting for the need, instead of build it and they will come, which is used by big business. He is running a campaign using open letters which seem disorganized for a mayoral run. There is no campaign team and/or volunteers. As a person running for office, regardless of whether it maybe a mayoral run or a trustee you should be able to work with others and it does not seem to be the case with the candidate right now.
There are many factually inaccurate statements in your post. Perhaps you are not sourcing legitimate places to do your research.
I am meeting with many groups of people in Saskatoon. And I have responded to every request made of me.
If you wish to speak directly to me then make the request yourself on my website. If not, then I will continue to talk with others about current issues facing them.
Thank you for your response. The information I had used was from both your LinkedIn profile and the website. If there are any inaccuracies, I would like to know about it and make corrections and or reflect that in a new post. ( I am not sure if it is to do with bike lanes)
I did not graduate from the RUD (Regional Urban Development) program at the U of S. Back then they were losing their accreditation and for my attempt to be a military pilot I needed to have a Bachelors of Science. So while I took a lot of planning courses and I am a registered professional planner now, this was the situation back then.
I was never a Mine Engineer at AMEC. I was a Senior Underground Mine Designer - which means I did the technical drafting and site considerations working under a host of senior mining engineers. In other words, I am an A.Sc.T but not a P.Eng. And while I was not trained in mining from tech school, I have decades of mapping, exploration, and underground mining experiences which led me to that position.
I have been a Manager of Research and Development at two production enterprises. 1 being architectural, and 1 being modular structures.
My comments about the BRT structures not being modular are misunderstood. Yes - any fabrication facility might make a host of products for use at a bus stop - including the enclosure. But from the BRT presentations I have attended, and the conversations I have had with these team members, I was directly told that these BRT structures will be permanently built where located. My hope is that they design what feels like a permanent structure but in the end that is engineered to be portable within a short timeframe. So alternate hard point supporting locations might exist around the city to quickly host the BRT station in the event of an unforeseen street closure, or a change in routing due to poor ridership. Flexibility can be built in with some thought ahead of time.
Bike lanes. I do not want bicycles to coexist with rolling thousand pound beasts. There has to be a better way to keep bicycles off busy traffic streets where people are at a real safety risk to instead provide a well made and safe manner for these citizens to transport themselves around the city. Of course bicycles are important. But the city can not operate with just bicycles. Next time you buy a sofa bed in the winter, decide if you could ever bring this home on your bicycle no matter how die hard you are. Also, if the street or trail was not kept clean by another powered vehicle, you would not go far in the winter regardless. A dense city with great train connections can do a lot better like those in Europe for example. For the next 50 to 100 years, that won't be Saskatoon most likely and everyone should understand this. But we still have to work to improve things that make a lasting difference. Our city currently continues to spread its waistline while still not yet providing adequate services for the interior. So antiquated view? That's your call. But I sincerely want bicycles to be safely on their own away from heavy traffic areas and that would be my focus as a planner and Mayor.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThere are many factually inaccurate statements in your post. Perhaps you are not sourcing legitimate places to do your research.
I am meeting with many groups of people in Saskatoon. And I have responded to every request made of me.
If you wish to speak directly to me then make the request yourself on my website. If not, then I will continue to talk with others about current issues facing them.
Regards,
Cary Tarasoff
Hi Cary,
DeleteThank you for your response. The information I had used was from both your LinkedIn profile and the website. If there are any inaccuracies, I would like to know about it and make corrections and or reflect that in a new post. ( I am not sure if it is to do with bike lanes)
Cheers
Vasanth
Hello Vasanth,
DeleteI did not graduate from the RUD (Regional Urban Development) program at the U of S. Back then they were losing their accreditation and for my attempt to be a military pilot I needed to have a Bachelors of Science. So while I took a lot of planning courses and I am a registered professional planner now, this was the situation back then.
I was never a Mine Engineer at AMEC. I was a Senior Underground Mine Designer - which means I did the technical drafting and site considerations working under a host of senior mining engineers. In other words, I am an A.Sc.T but not a P.Eng. And while I was not trained in mining from tech school, I have decades of mapping, exploration, and underground mining experiences which led me to that position.
I have been a Manager of Research and Development at two production enterprises. 1 being architectural, and 1 being modular structures.
My comments about the BRT structures not being modular are misunderstood. Yes - any fabrication facility might make a host of products for use at a bus stop - including the enclosure. But from the BRT presentations I have attended, and the conversations I have had with these team members, I was directly told that these BRT structures will be permanently built where located. My hope is that they design what feels like a permanent structure but in the end that is engineered to be portable within a short timeframe. So alternate hard point supporting locations might exist around the city to quickly host the BRT station in the event of an unforeseen street closure, or a change in routing due to poor ridership. Flexibility can be built in with some thought ahead of time.
Bike lanes. I do not want bicycles to coexist with rolling thousand pound beasts. There has to be a better way to keep bicycles off busy traffic streets where people are at a real safety risk to instead provide a well made and safe manner for these citizens to transport themselves around the city. Of course bicycles are important. But the city can not operate with just bicycles. Next time you buy a sofa bed in the winter, decide if you could ever bring this home on your bicycle no matter how die hard you are. Also, if the street or trail was not kept clean by another powered vehicle, you would not go far in the winter regardless. A dense city with great train connections can do a lot better like those in Europe for example. For the next 50 to 100 years, that won't be Saskatoon most likely and everyone should understand this. But we still have to work to improve things that make a lasting difference. Our city currently continues to spread its waistline while still not yet providing adequate services for the interior. So antiquated view? That's your call. But I sincerely want bicycles to be safely on their own away from heavy traffic areas and that would be my focus as a planner and Mayor.
Thank you
Cary