Are suburban cyclists being forgotten in Calgary’s bike plans?
See the Calgary Herald's story at this
link.
Now what I believe is being conveniently left out here is the fact that people buy homes in communities like Tuscany for a reason and now some of them complain that their chosen community isn't offering something they want. Interestingly enough, some parts of Tuscany are approaching 20 years in age - this is not a community that has appeared in the last 5 years, know this for a fact because my sister-in-law and her husband have owned a home there since 1995.
So, complaining about the city isn't providing the right kind of cycling infrastructure to Tuscany is like complaining about the big ass things that regularly fly over someone's home in Mayland Heights - the problem was there before you bought your home. If you intended to be an avid bicycle commuter, then why would you purchase a home in a poorly serviced community like Tuscany and then proceed to bitch about it - possibly you, as an avid bicycle commuter, should have factored this in a bit more in your decision as to where to buy a home.
People buy homes in limited access communities like Tuscany for a reason, what reasons I am unsure about as it's not my cup of tea as we own mid-50's bungalow in a north central community. We have great access to cycle routes and I used to regularly commute to/from work for over 15 years before we bought our business. At the same time, I fully recognize that residing within an almost inner-city community comes with it drawbacks and I fully accept our decision to live with such drawbacks - the positives outweighed the negatives in our opinion.
Never the less, the individual complaining about Tuscany's poor ingress/egress with respect to cycling infrastructure really needs to look at why they settled there in the first place - did they really settle there because of the great cycling (in/out of the community) infrastructure or was there really another reason they settled there? It's kind of like purchasing a home in a community like Sage Valley and then stirring up the shit in the media because your kids have to ride a bus to school or you have too many planes flying over head - please, just please accept some responsibility for your part in your decision to settle where you did.
Please note that at the same time I am not saying that the city can't do better, but people like Darren Bender from the Herald article don't seem to be mindful of the fact that they settled into a community with certain drawbacks/deficiencies that were already there and which were probably more than evident when they were looking to purchase a home in that community.
Threaded Mode