BIKE: Re: Small but significant error in "Seeing the beauty of a thinner Shoal Creek"

[Lane Wimberley]

My reply to Patrick's... sorry for any duplicates.  -Lane


And, just to be even more clear (sorry if I'm contributing to a long,
drawn-out argument), "activist bicyclists" had little or nothing to do
with the debacle initially.  The cyclists I know would have been
perfectly happy with the original city plan of allowing parking on
only one side of the street, giving bicyclists obstacle-free bike
lanes.  It was a few noisy neighborhood residents who raised a stink.
Then, cyclists would have been happy with the proposed (and
almost-tested) so-called "neighborhood alternative," which allowed
parking to alternate sides, again providing cyclists with an
obstacle-free bike lane.  Again, neighbors complained (although I
believe that the official reason that the idea was rejected was that
it failed the "test," which is ludicrous since the plan that is now
being implemented fails against the same criteria).

Finally, five cars over a four-mile (not five) stretch of SCB is a
drastic exaggeration.  I don't remember my car counts from a few years
ago at the moment, but I want to say it was typically more like 30 or
40, and at times could range up to 80-100.

But, that's not really the issue.  All we wanted was a dedicated,
obstacle-free bike space in the interest of safety.  What we got was
(all together now!) ... parking in bike lanes.

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