It’s back! You may recall that last February, City Council took a first look at the new draft Public Spaces Bylaw (Bylaw 20700). Faced with substantial opposition from a wide range of community groups, including Paths for People, Council sent the bylaw back for redrafting, with instructions for administration to do additional research and data analysis, including looking at anti-racism, criminalization of poverty, and alternatives to fines.
Administration has now prepared a new draft of the bylaw, accompanied by a Gender-Based Analysis+ (GBA+) document, jurisdictional scan and environmental review.
Let’s check back in on some of the things that particularly concerned us in last year’s version of the bylaw:
1. New fines in public spaces
The 2024 draft bylaw introduced new $250 fines for: riding on the grass in a park; using sidewalk chalk on a public sidewalk; and using amplification (e.g. to play music) in a public space.
>> Removed, although damaging a park surface or using washable paint could still incur a fine.
2. Fines for biking/rolling on the sidewalk
The 2024 draft increased fines for biking, scootering, skateboarding, rollerblading, or rollerskating on the sidewalk from $100 to $250.
>> No change, plus the 2025 draft has additional changes and restrictions.
15 year olds would no longer be allowed to ride/roll on the sidewalk. Plus, new fines are listed for: failure to yield right of way; failure to alert prior to overtaking; unsafe overtaking; unsafe operation; and causing damage to a park surface.
3. Permit requirements for events in public spaces
The 2024 draft bylaw required permits for gatherings over 50 people.
>> Permits still required; the number has been increased from 50 to 100 people.
4. Broadening of “inappropriate transit behaviour”
The 2024 draft bylaw included broad definitions of “inappropriate transit behaviour” such as spilling food or waiting at a stop for more than one train.
>> Some changes: fines for spilling food or riding past a stop more than once have been removed, while others remain.
Foundational Concerns Remain
There are some small wins here, especially in the removal of fines on things like riding your bike on the grass, using sidewalk chalk, or spilling your snack on the bus. However, these changes are minor and our fundamental concerns with the bylaw as a whole have not been addressed. As currently drafted, the bylaw continues to include significant fine increases for cycling, scootering, or rollerblading on the sidewalk – even where no other safe infrastructure exists. In addition to decreasing safety for users of active transportation, this opens the door for highly selective enforcement, likely on marginalized communities within our city. It also poses barriers to using public spaces for community gatherings and protests.
As a whole, the bylaw sets the stage for criminalization of a whole range of activities, and is likely to disproportionately impact certain communities and activities. The updated draft of the bylaw has not addressed these concerns and does not support the type of vibrant, inclusive city that we are working to build.
We have called upon Council to reject this updated version and direct Administration to more substantively address the concerns of the community before this can be passed. You can check out our letter to Council below – and if you feel inspired, send one yourself! The revised bylaw goes before Council on February 10, 2025, and we’ll be watching closely.
Letter to Council
Dear City Council,
Paths for People has reviewed the updated draft Public Spaces Bylaw, and we have a number of concerns about proposed draft Bylaw 20700.
We were encouraged to see the removal of fines for certain offences, such as riding on the grass in a park or using sidewalk chalk. However, we feel that these positive changes are relatively minor and the broader concerns that we expressed in February 2024 have not been substantively addressed in the new draft.
In particular, we have continued concerns about the proposed fine increases for cycling, riding a scooter, rollerblading or rollerskating on the sidewalk. Paths for People’s mission is to make Edmonton a friendlier place to walk, roll, and cycle. Cycling is one form of active transportation that many Edmontonians enjoy because it allows them to exercise and get to their destination in an efficient manner without getting stuck in traffic or contributing to air pollution. However, for some Edmontonians, cycling as a no-cost transportation option is a necessity as opposed to a choice. We look forward to the day when safe, protected active transportation infrastructure will be found everywhere across the city but in the meantime, our fellow car-free citizens still have places to go in a city that is largely designed for motor vehicle traffic.
Some cyclists in Edmonton prefer to ride on sidewalks rather than roads that they share with motor vehicles because they feel safer doing so. This may be because the area of the city they travel through is busy and lacks cycling infrastructure or because they do not feel comfortable on the road because of their level of cycling experience. Not every adult has the opportunity to learn to ride a bicycle during their childhood. Unfortunately, Edmonton’s draft Public Spaces Bylaw continues to prohibit cycling on sidewalks in all circumstances with offenders being fined $250 for a first offence and double that for subsequent offences.
Bylaws regarding cycling have historically been applied disproportionately against marginalized groups in the community and we are concerned that the proposed new bylaw will continue to affect these groups adversely. Studies around North America have shown that enforcement of laws related to sidewalk cycling is disproportionately applied against racialized people in low income neighbourhoods and available data show that policing in Edmonton follows this trend. It should be noted that these same neighbourhoods where tickets are issued have also historically had less safe infrastructure to allow people to ride safely on the street. In Edmonton, the City’s own crash analysis report found that crashes were concentrated in 15 neighbourhoods in the city which are home to a higher proportion of low-income households, Indigenous Peoples and linguistic minorities.
We need to be clear about the causes of crashes in the city. Most are caused by motor vehicles (80% of crashes in Edmonton were caused by driver error), not cyclists on sidewalks.
Administration knows this: on several of these items, the current draft bylaw goes directly against administration’s own GBA+ report’s recommendations. For instance, the GBA+ report recommends allowing “bikes, scooters etc on sidewalks in areas where protected active transportation infrastructure does not exist”.
In addition, we continue to have concerns about a number of the barriers created by this draft bylaw to events happening in public spaces. As a group that frequently holds and attends public events, and seeks to energize public spaces in the city, this new draft of the bylaw does not substantively address our previously stated concerns. Requiring permits for events (even with a slightly increased number) limits informal public events, discourages community groups from organizing due to administrative barriers, and provides the City Manager with significant power to approve or deny a permit. Plus, once again, Administration has failed to take its own GBA+ report’s advice about allowing for demonstrations and rallies as protected under the Charter.
We continue to question the rationale for multiple elements of the bylaw. We believe that it needs additional, substantive revisions to address continued issues associated with selective enforcement and disproportionate impact on marginalized groups within our city. Other organizations who work directly with marginalized and homeless groups in Edmonton have identified numerous other concerns with this bylaw that are also not addressed by the revised draft.
On February 10, we call on City Council not to approve this version of the bylaw, and to direct administration to make additional changes that address the significant issues raised by community organizations across the city, including Paths for People. We hope that a future draft will be more reflective of the equitable, inclusive Edmonton that we want to build.
Sincerely,
Paths for People Board