Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail News

An Ezine Produced by the Waterfront Regeneration Trust

March 2006

In this issue:

• Another Great Bike Show Success
• 2006 Waterfront Trail Signage Audit – Call for Volunteers
• Design Competition for Toronto Waterfront
• Mother Earth Water Walk on the Waterfront Trail

Another Great Bike Show Success

This year’s bike show turned out to be another successful one for the Waterfront Trust. This year, we unveiled our Starter’s Kits, a new promotional package containing five family-friendly, “bite-size” trips designed to introduce people to some exciting features and scenic stretches of the Waterfront Trail. The kits proved to be overwhelmingly popular, with over 300 copies sold over the course of the show! In addition to the Starter Kits, we sold over 200 map books, distributed hundreds of brochures and talked with lots of people about the Trail.
Here are some results from our brief opinion poll:

• the top two reasons people chose for traveling on the Waterfront Trail are: to enjoy the waterfront (69%); and as part of a fitness routine (56%)
• 88% of people said that they plan on checking out some new sections of the Waterfront Trail this summer
• 84% of people indicated the Starter’s Kit provided the kind of information they need to encourage them to get out on the Trail more often
• most people (44%) stay 1-2 hours on the when on the Trail. They were followed by those who spend a 1/2 day (36%) and 1 day (16%)
• the poll results show that walking is also a popular way they use the Trail – while 97% indicated they cycled, 80% of the respondants also indicated they enjoy walking as well

Out of the comments collected from the poll, the majority speak to the critical need for consistent signage on the Trail – indicating its their biggest complaint about the Trail’s condition.

2006 Waterfront Trail Signage Audit – Call for Volunteers

The Trust has heard the calls for signage from Trail users and will be undertaking a signage audit this summer to identify signage deficiencies. The main goal of the Trust is to ensure that Trail users can get from one end of the Trail to the other relying on signage. Consistent, clear signage is critical to providing a positive experience on the Trail to its users – to ensure safety, accessibility and encourage travel to new sections. There have been a lot of changes made to the trail's alignment over the last few years and we know from feedback from trail users that adequate directional signage is a major deficiency along the Waterfront Trail.

In order to cover the 650km of Trail we need your help!

We’re looking for signage auditors who will cycle a designated route on the
Trail (both eastbound and westbound directions):
1. To identify and report deficiencies in the existing Trail signage
2. To ground-truth the Trail route against the web-maps and identify and
report any discrepancies.

The results of the audit will provide unbiased information from a trail
user's perspective as to how well people are able to find their way along
the Trail. These reports will then be used as a basis for identifying
signage needs and will be distributed directly to each waterfront
municipality.

After brief orientation meetings the audits are scheduled to beging in early May.

If you’re interested in participating in this important initiative to
improve the Waterfront Trail or if you have any questions, please contact
Nikki Rendle at nr@wrtrust.com or call the Trust office at 416-943-8080.

Design Competition for Toronto’s Waterfront

The Waterfront Revitalization Corporation is currently holding a design competition that will see the development of a continuous promenade across the stretch of waterfront and the completion of the Toronto section of the Waterfront Trail. This is very exciting news because it means the closing in of one of the few gaps left in the Waterfront Trail! A recent news release from the Waterfront Revitalization Corporation announced the selection of five finalists in an exciting, international design competition that focuses on a section of Lake Ontario’s waterfront stretching from the Western Gap in the west to the Parliament Street Slip in the east. The selected design teams will be expected to come up with plans that “deliver continuous public access to the water and create a bold, defining waterfront identity.”

Vicki Barron, Executive Director of the Trust is chairing the community advisory panel that will advise the jury on the key elements that must be included in the design. The jury responsible for chosing the final designs consists of professionals in the field of design and architecture as well as prominent figures in Canadian culture, such as renowned filmmaker Atom Egoyan. The designs will be submitted in the second week of May and will be displayed in a public exhibition for 10 days over which the public will have a chance to give their input. The first phase of construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of this year.

More information can be found on the TWRC’s website at www.towaterfront.ca under “Current Projects.”

Mother Earth Water Walk

Adam Doerwald recently shared with us information about an upcoming walk he is helping to organize on the Waterfront Trail. The Mother Earth Water Walk is an annual event for a group of Anishnawbe women who walk around each of the Great Lakes to raise awareness on water quality. This year they will be walking around Lake Ontario. Here is more information on their journey:

“On April 29, 2006, a group of Anishnawbe women will be starting the fourth chapter of an undertaking that has been in the works since 2003…and this year’s walk is for Lake Ontario.
While their primary concern was, and still is, the physical and spiritual well-being of the water itself, it soon became apparent that the people they met along the way were also influenced by the determination of these women. Soon the walk became an act of solidarity between communities that share a common ground in the deplorable condition of the lakes, streams, and even the drinking water around them.

From my own experience of walking with the women, I’ve noticed that even the simple act of participating can be an edifying experience. Walkting along a section of shoreline can reveal both tradegies and hopefulness that can’t be observed from a disctance, or from within a care. But joining in the walk…you might find friends that you would not have expected to see there…you may meet people from distant places who have their own stories and reasons for joining the walk.
This year’s walk around Lake Ontario will be the most population-dense and urban walk yet, and is sure to have its own unique set of hardships and benefits. Myself and the water walkers are appreciative for the safety and relative tranquility that the Waterfront Trail promises to provide... I encourage all of you to do what you can for the well-being of the water, our most precious resource.”

For more information or if you are interested in joining the walk, visit www.motherearthwaterwalk.com.

Cheers!
Vicki Barron, Executive Director;
Marlaine Koehler, Program Director;
and Nikki Rendle, Editor Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail News

The Waterfront Regeneration Trust
372 Richmond Street West, Suite 308
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 1X6
Tel: 416-943-8080
Fax: 416-943-8068

www.waterfronttrail.org

Purchase your copy of the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail Mapbook at Mountain Equipment Co-op (400 King Street West) and Sporting Life Stores in Toronto (1-877-772-2262 to find a store location near you).

Thank You to Our Supporters!:

• CIBC
• The Lake Ontario waterfront municipalities, conservation authorities and community groups
• The Eastern Lake Ontario­St.Lawrence Waterfront Working Group
• MapArt
• Niagara Freewheelers Bicycle Touring Club
• Regional Niagara Bicycling Committee
• St. Lawrence Cement
• Tilley Endurables
• The Trust would also like to thank the Canada-Ontario Infrastructure Program (COIP) for its generous support of the 51 projects that comprise the Lake Ontario Waterfront Investment Program.