Daniel Lambert, President of the Westmount Cycling Association, recently spoke with Michelle Lalonde, a columnist with The Gazette, to discuss Westmount’s current inaction with regarding to promoting cycling.
The resulting article, “Small Measures Add Up,” was published in the December 28, 2009 edition of The Gazette. An extract from the article is given below:
Montreal is promoting year-round cycling, investing heavily in infrastructure and keeping many key cycling routes cleared of snow in winter, including the Claire Morissette path on de Maisonneuve. Westmount’s decision to close its section of this key east-west link means Westmounters, N.D.G. residents and others from points west are less likely to choose this healthy, non-polluting form of transportation to get downtown. And there is little pressure on boroughs like N.D.G. to keep their sections of that path clear of snow if Westmount’s section is closed.
Daniel Lambert, president of the Westmount Cycling Association, is leading a push to get Westmount council to improve cycling infrastructure and to join Montreal’s remarkably successful short-term bike rental program, Bixi.
“Our mission is to promote cycling to limit climate change,” he said.
Lambert, 60, is not your stereotypical cycling advocate. A former executive with Rio Tinto, Lambert has been using his bicycle as his main form of transportation – year-round – for 15 years.
“Westmount appears to be stuck in the last century,” he said. “It’s shameful. We want Westmount to catch up with many major cities, including New York, Boston, London, Paris, Copenhagen and Montreal, that have recognized the importance of cycling to reducing pollution and climate change.
“It does seem odd that Westmount, so advanced on issues like recycling and composting, seems so slow to promote cycling as an alternative to driving.
Click here for a link to the full article and to see a photo of Dan and Roger Jochym (WCA Vice-President) riding at the critical portion of the bicycle path, between Greene and Atwater, where car parking is reinstated during the winter months.
Contact us to let us know what you think about the article by either leaving a comment below or sending us an email.
You can also contact Westmount Mayor Peter Trent (pftrent@westmount.org) and tell him what you think!
L'association des piétons et cyclistes de westmount (APCW) Association of Pedestrians and Cyclists of Westmount 