Re “Coalition shmoalition,” Letters, Dec. 11: MRL14, brave soul that he/she is, thinks so little of coalitions that he/she says: “You can’t just combine the three losers and say that because more than 50 per cent of the country voted for them, one of them should run it.” I guess it’s better to let a guy who got 37.6 per cent do it all on his lonesome.

Two heads, and it is only two, might well be a problem if they happened to be inconveniently attached to the same body. While I believe that too many cooks can spoil the broth, I also believe that, in politics as opposed to cooking, two heads are always better than one. I’ll take Layton/Ignatieff any day over a heavy-handed Dr. No. After all, democracy’s supposed to be about co-operation. That’s what it says in the textbooks anyway. GEOFF RYTELL

THE BEST = THE WORST
Re “Some of your Loving,” Street Spirit, Dec. 11: This group of Toronto indie farts sucks. Some of their work independent of The Best might have some redeeming qualities, but I’ve seen them live more than once and they are no good. In my opinion, it would be better to stay home and listen to all the original versions of the tunes they cover. SUPERSTUPID VIA EYEWEEKLY.COM

MAKE BIKES AD-FREE
Re “Bike-sharing ad absurdum,” City, Dec. 11: The manner in which the chair of Toronto’s Cycling Committee, Councillor Adrian Heaps, is managing Toronto’s attempt to build a public bike-rental system is sub-optimal at best, and a sellout at worst.

The question is whether Toronto will issue a competitive Request for Proposals for a bike-rental program and then pick the best proposal; or whether the city will sole-source the deal to Astral Media without having seen all the available options.

Adrian Heaps and his staff appear to be the only people at City Hall who believe that the city’s street furniture contract grants the “right of first refusal” for a bike rental program to Astral Media. I’ve read the contract and the associated City Council decisions, which authorized the contract. The contract makes no such grant and senior transportation services staff have confirmed as much.

On the other hand, the contract does grant Astral a monopoly over elements on Toronto’s road allowance that contain advertising. This means that Toronto cannot go forward with a competitive RFP for bike sharing unless the city specifies that the bikes don’t have ads. Thankfully, the ad-free bike model has proven successful elsewhere. Paris’ 20,000-bike Vélib’ system doesn’t have ads on it because ads on bikes don’t make money.

Incidentally, the Vélib’ bikes are subsidized by way of a payment-in-kind made by Paris’ street furniture provider. This could be what is confusing Mr. Heaps into thinking that bike rentals and street furniture go hand in hand; but Heaps ought to note that the Vélib’ bikes were selected after a competitive RFP, which included a bike-rental element. Heaps should also note that Toronto’s street furniture RFP was not graded on bike rental, and that it requires Astral Media to make payments in cash.

At this point, Mayor Miller needs to clear up this mess and ensure that Toronto obtains the best bike-rental program for its money. To do that, he should ensure that the system is advertising-free — that’s the only way the system can be purchased by way of a competitive RFP. RAMI TABELLO, CO-ORDINATOR ILLEGALSIGNS.CA


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