It certainly has been an eventful year for Streets are for People! …with more velorutionaries than ever joining the gang.

We saw another 7 fun and people packed Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington Market.  We pushed the dead Petition Car to Queen’s Park where the “not one more dollar to car culture” petition was read in house. We partnered with Eco-Sanity on an Earth Day Celebration and lead a parade calling for a U-turn on climate change.  At various times this summer we threw a picnic in the middle of Bathurst construction, played bike polo in the round, and reclaimed Bloor and Spadina for 10 minutes on the Blackout Anniversary, turning it into a public square, complete with fountain and Italian plum trees! We had the best World Carfree Day ever, with punk bands, hair salon, piano, and even a pedal-powered sound system (thanks Mr Something Something) in parking spots all day before a parade and mass ride converged on Queen and University. 

What a load of fun actions went down this year.  Every one of you who showed up and lived out the change they want to see in this city and our world sent out a great message of hope.  We got to share that message through an art show at the Toronto Free Gallery, hauling a ton of stuff there via rikshaw and bike trailer to recreate our tree-fort headquarters.  We got to exchange inspiration and share tactics with bike-minded people from around the globe at the Towards Carfree Cities conference in Portland, Oregon. We shared knowledge and ideas with teens who attended the CUTA Youth Summit so they could start carfree days in their own communities across Canada.

It is incredible to think that two of our core members, Michael J and Kelsey, both became parents in that time!  (Welcome beautiful babies Jozefin and Jorah.) All that is to say that Streets are for People! does go into a sort of quiet period over the winter months, but certainly not a hibernation as we are hatching plots and making plans for the year to come.  We are always in conversation about how we can continue to effect change with uncompromising, mindful and fun ways of taking back our streets.  Thanks for supporting us and stay in touch!

Shamez

Streets are for People!