This week, the Toronto Star reported that Doug Ford and his brother, Mayor Rob, received “a few phone calls” from motorists indignant that the city closed down both the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway last weekend – as it has for many years – to accommodate the Becel Ride for Heart bike event. Participants raise funds for the prevention and treatment of heart disease and stroke.How many Torontonians didn’t know that the two expressways were going to be inaccessible to drivers on Sunday? The information appeared in all the major daily newspapers, a good many smaller community papers, on every local TV and radio station, and in numerous places online. Perhaps people were too busy worrying about whether Justin Bieber was breaking up with Selena Gomez to pay attention.If you knew that you couldn’t use the DVP or Gardiner and still became indignant, well, perhaps it’s your own fault. Smart drivers should know alternate ways to get around town, because, sooner or later, you’ll get caught behind a collision or, most likely, road construction. Hey, it’s Toronto in summertime; traffic snarls due to street closings or obstructions should be as expected as raccoons suddenly invading our lives.Doug Ford suggests that organizers should hold these events in parks. Can you imagine 13,000 cyclists riding through High Park? Or, how about one of the parks that line the Don Valley cycle path? I can just imagine Councillor Ford talking to the media next year, because he received “a few calls” from citizens indignant that some bike ride or foot race prevented them from using the swings.This year’s Ride for Heart has raised more than $3 million. Councillor Ford and his callers must be lucky since, apparently, none of their family and friends suffer from heart disease or stroke. Surely, that’s why they’re so indignant about the good work the Heart Riders are performing. For the rest of us who suffer from these conditions, or know someone who does – or support the dozens of other causes that benefit from walkathons and road races each year in Toronto – blocking the roads is worth the delay. Perhaps the closures could be better advertised in advance, or detours better organized. But removing such events from city streets entirely seems not only impractical but cruel.Mayor Ford is, as usual, silent on the issue, content to let his brother speak for him. Another, classier, mayor would have spoken out already by congratulating the organizers and participants for working so hard for a good cause. The mayor’s silence and his brother’s public criticism is far, far from class – it’s just crass.