BIKE: Mostly Well-Done AusChron Article on SCB (Bury the Hatchet)

[Lane Wimberley]

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 22:23:35 -0600, Stuart Werbner <stuwerb> wrote:
> I thought the article in the 1/14/05 Chronicle on SCB was very positive and
> very well done, except for the last part of the article. Daniel Mottola put
> together a pretty accurate summary on the 5+ year SCB process.

I don't think "accurate" is the word I would have chosen.  I think Mike Dahmus 
has pointed out several inaccuracies in the article.

> A couple of points the article missed:
> 1) There were fruitless efforts by the SCB residents to have traffic calming
> installed YEARS before the SCB issue came to a head in mid 2000. 

This is interesting.  Can you list any such efforts?  I'm not aware of any.

> This was
> another factor in the frustration felt by the residents -- namely that the
> city appeared to care more about cyclists passing through the neighborhood
> than the residents living along and nearby SCB, putting up with increased
> traffic and speeding/passing from Mopac bypassers.

I don't think this is quite right.  I'm sure that there were some residents 
who felt that the city was unfairly asking them to sacrifice something in favor
of cyclists, but in almost all cases, I think that the concern was based on the
residents' perception that the city was asking them to sacrifice their 
on-street parking (and, only some of it, to be sure), not that any new plan was 
going to aggrevate traffic speeds or volume.  I suspect there were also some 
residents who were concerned that the plan initially proposed was simply 
ugly or somehow unappealing, or that the city was effectively passing up 
an opportunity to do something better, like introduce traffic calming or better
pedestrian facilities.  But, it is definitely the case that a
significant portion of
the momentum to preserve ALL on-street parking came from a small, loud 
minority, and the leader of that faction happened to be a SCB resident with
some five or six cars and a rather short driveway.  It is interesting
to note how
the final part of the charette's mission statement, "...and to
preserve on-street parking,"
stands out like a sore thumb from the rest of an otherwise admirable 
collection of goals.

> In the late spring (or early summer) of 2000, the city notified residents
> that SCB was going to be restriped and that bicycle lanes would be redrawn
> that would prohibit on-street parking.

To be clear, to prohibit *some* on-street parking; parking would still
have been allowed
along one side of the street, which was more than adequate for the number of
cars parked there even during peak parking demand.

> 2) The last sentence in the article seems to imply that the OUTCOME of the
> process may become a model for future roadway projects. This is incorrect --
> it's actually the PROCESS itself that is now becoming the model, i.e., the
> process of involving stakeholders and city staff in a non-confrontational
> and collaborative manner to develop a consensus solution. 

And, in my opinion, this is exactly the tragedy.  The process is flawed if 
it allows a majority to select convenience to the exclusion of the safety of 
the minority.  At best, the process will have resulted in calmer
traffic -- if we're lucky --
and we all benefit from that.  But, in the end, we still have parked cars in 
bike lanes on SBC, and will likely have parked cars in bike lanes all over the
city from here on out.  Moreover, if, as a majority group, non-cycling
residents want to impose any
other cycling-unfriendly measures in their neighborhoods, they now have a 
clear method for achieving their goals.

But, the real tragedy in the case of the SBC debacle was that the
process allowed
a minority to ensure that a truly excellent alternative, which
preserved more-than-adequate
parking on *both* sides of the street AND introduced traffic calming
measures AND
prohibited parking in bike lanes, had no chance.  Their only objection
was that *some*
parking was lost.  (I don't buy the pedestrian objection, as the final plan 
is no better for pedestrians, and they aren't clamoring about that ... because
they can park wherever the hell they please.)

-Lane

-- 
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the
human race."
- HG Wells