“It is a perfect day for a bike ride!” That’s not something you expect to hear from Toronto’s incomparable chief city planner on the first weekend in November. But this was exactly what was said by Jennifer Keesmaat and reiterated by this writer and sixteen other lucky ULI members who got to ride on the sold out annual ULI Bike Tour. This year, the route was inspired by our chief city planner’s #CityResolve commitment to “Bike the Humber” ravine with ULI.

At 10:30am on Saturday November 5, an excited group of urbanists met at Amsterdam BrewHouse on Queens Quay. Once assembled, we cycled along the water’s edge and made a few informed stops along the way where Keesmaat, a long time bike enthusiast, gave her thoughts and vision of the future of Toronto’s urban airport, Ontario Place and the entire waterfront community. We then made our way north along the Humber Trail where we were met by Urban Toronto and learned about the history and the controversies within the park that winds through the west end of Toronto from the city’s water edge to Finch Avenue. (We only went as far as Lawrence.)

After three and a half hours, we made it to our final destination — one of the city’s newest transportation hubs, the Weston GO/UP station. We congregated at the nearby favourite diner, PM Restaurant and over souvlaki and pita, we rehydrated and learned about the future of the Weston Community.

Our trip took us on a few detours as well as some unexpected but wonderful surprises. By the end, and I say this with confidence, we finished the day feeling energized and inspired by the beauty and dynamism of our great city and honoured to have shared with experience with one of our city’s greatest champions.

This day was not only a way for Jennifer Keesmaat to fulfill her #CityResolve and show her passion for our great city and the extensive active transportation networks we so often take for granted, but also a rare opportunity for ULI members to leave the hustle and bustle of the downtown core and get some one-on-one time with one of the most powerful urban planners in North America.

If you missed this event, stay tuned. We will be launching our third annual #CityResolve soon! #CityResolve began in 2015 as a way to introduce a broader conversation about how individuals and their small personal actions or contributions are able to make the urban region more livable, prosperous and friendly. Its aim is to engage people through social media to set goals that benefit the city at large.

You can see previous coverage of the campaign here:

http://toronto.uli.org/press-releases/cityresolve-winner-announced/