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

[Mike Dahmus]

Robbin wrote:

>What it is starting to look like is some of the Bike people have a mindset
>of a WAR with the property owners on Shoal Creek. Why are we fighting? Shoal
>Creek is a nice and safe place to be -- whether you are walking, running,
>riding, driving, or living there (yes, people do other things besides drive
>or ride a bike down SCB). Why not try to co-exist? I truly believe that that
>was and still is the concern of the neighborhood residents and property
>owners (I know it is for me). Fight for something which is important -- all
>this is doing is creating a negative image of bicyclists.
>
Having cars parked in bike lanes is a long-term problem for all cyclists 
in Austin in any number of ways. More importantly, the political message 
sent by Jackie Goodman when she gave the neighborhood what they wanted 
(parking on BOTH sides of the street prioritized over bike lanes) is 
going to hurt us for years and years to come.

Shoal Creek is USUALLY a nice place to ride IF you're a expert cyclist 
AND the car drivers are in a good mood that day. A novice is, sooner or 
later, going to get killed by a car when they swerve out of the "bike 
lane" around a parked car and the car driving by isn't expecting them to 
leave the "bike lane". A parked car in a lane designed for travel is 
universally a bad idea, whether that lane is reserved for cyclists or a 
general-purpose travel lane. That's the whole reason we don't normally 
allow parking in bike lanes -- the same reason you don't allow parking 
in the right lane of Koenig Lane, for instance.

Even before somebody gets killed, allowing parking in bike lanes creates 
the appearance of conflict among cyclists and motorists when motorists 
expect cyclists to ride in the bike lane as long as possible while the 
cyclist merges out into the vehicle lane (usually appearing to be too 
early to the motorist). I get honked at and "waved at" quite frequently 
on Shoal Creek while executing this legal and responsible manuever even 
though I attempt to reduce the delay to the motorist as much as possible.

All the neighborhood had to do to solve this problem was act responsibly 
- Shoal Creek was a minor arterial (later forcibly reclassified to a 
neighborhood collector. NOT a "residential street") - which means that 
MOST of the people travelling on that road, by design, don't live on the 
street and MANY of them don't live in the neighborhood. Through travel, 
whether cars or bicycles, is SUPPOSED to be prioritized over on-street 
parking in that case, but the city staff went above and beyond and came 
up with a way to preserve parking on one side of the street while still 
meeting the non-negotiable primary mission of the roadway.

The neighbors were so unconscionably greedy that parking on one side 
wasn't enough for them. Never mind the fact that in the two center-city 
neighborhoods where I own property, parking is restricted all over the 
place, even on some truly residential streets.

The Shoal Creek Debacle of '00 hurt us in 2003 when a church was able to 
convince most of the UTC that allowing parking in bike lanes was no big 
deal - so they approved (over my no vote) allowing it in certain parts 
of the bike lane on Bull Creek Road. That's just the first instance of 
Shoal Creek setting a negative precedent - I fully expect more.

So for you (whomever you are) and especially Thorne -- if you think this 
is no big deal, you'd better think again. This was the biggest loss for 
bicycle transportation in our city in a decade or more. The 
ramifications, even if no kid riding to Northwest Park ever gets killed 
by a car because of it, are just beginning to be seen.

- MD