Advocates for improved cycling infrastructure in Windsor feel they’ve been unfairly targeted by recent comments from the mayor. Shown here at Lauzon Parkway and Tecumseh Road East on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, is a young cyclist crossing the street amidst SUV traffic. Windsor’s bicycling advocates are taking issue with the mayor’s description of some of them being less than collaborative when it comes to their advocacy work.
At least part of the reason city council last week decided on “shaking up” its advisory committees was the politicians’ perception that a number of the members they’d appointed had gone beyond just dispensing advice.
“We’ve had some committees where some of the members that we appointed use their position to weaponize their position against city hall,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said last week.
Asked to elaborate, the mayor named the Windsor Bicycling Committee as one such advisory body that has been “weaponized against the city.”
The dictionary definition of weaponized is “exploited for the purpose of attacking a person or group, or for spreading discord.”
“I really don’t know where this is coming from. I consider it unfriendly language,” said two-term bike committee member Klaus Dohring. “I certainly did not feel that anyone was weaponizing anything.”
The local businessman said members of the committee have been “very active advocating for improved bicycling and active transportation … but I’m not aware of any hostile atmosphere.”Dohring sees that advocacy work as having led to progress, with “growing support” in recent years in the community for cycling and active transportation.“Weaponized? […]
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