BIKE: IMPORTANT REMINDER: Shoal Creek Blvd. Public Hearing TODAY

[Patrick Goetz]

What: Shoal Creek Blvd. Public Hearing
Where: Gullett Elementary School Cafeteria, 6310 Treadwell Blvd.
When: 7pm

It is very important that as many bicyclists as possible show up to this 
public hearing to speak their mind, particularly since there will be a 
handful of bicyclists with an agenda who will be speaking in favor of 
the barriers in the former bike lanes.  Anyone involved in protest or 
public policy knows that if the powers that be want something which goes 
against the interests of a particular group, they will use the support 
of just one member from this group to justify screwing the entire group.

There are bicyclists out there who will tell you that bike lanes are 
entirely unnecessary and that, as long as you have a piece of styrofoam 
glued to your head, nothing bad can happen to you.  These people are 
fools, and worse!  What they don't tell you is the per capita serious 
injury and fatality rates of bicyclists in this country is more than 10 
times as high as in other industrialized countries.  What they don't 
tell you is the serious injury and fatality rate per capita has gone up 
at the same time that helmet usage has gone up.

The only way to counteract this is through sheer force of numbers.  We 
need 10 bicyclists for every helmet looney and bicyclist-hating neighbor 
  in order to have any chance of influencing the status quo.

Recently I've been trying to convince someone who currently lives on the 
South side to move into my duplex, the draw being that she can starting 
biking to work (just north of Hyde Park to Mopac/Far West).  Oops, most 
of the commute is on Shoal Creek Blvd., so this is no longer a 
particularly attractive option, since being channeled directly into 
heavy rush hour traffic every couple of hundred feet isn't as much fun 
as we've been led to believe that it is.  Consequently, she continues to 
drive to work every day.  This is just one anecdote -- there are 
thousands of job sites accessible from SBC.  Over the next few years, 
the SCB debacle could prevent TENS OF THOUSANDS of potential commuter 
bicyclists from switching to a bike commute. 10,000 people spending 
$1000/yr unnecessarily on gas will cost our community $10,000,000 
dollars per year!  This is f***ing insane!!!  If the people behind this 
decision were trying to destroy Austin, they couldn't possibly have done 
a better job short of dumping 100 lbs of ricin into the water supply.

-------------------------------
I've appended a letter I received in my capacity as a UTC commissioner 
below, simply because I think it's very well written and clearly 
explicates what the problem is.  Note from the letter that this isn't 
even a CBD bicyclist, simply an ordinary Austinite with at least a small 
modicum of common sense and thinking ability.
-------------------------------

Dear UTC members and City decision-makers,

I am unable to attend the public hearings regarding the Shoal Creek 
bikeway in person, but I hope you will take my comments into account.

Recently I drove north from 2222 on Shoal Creek Blvd for the first time 
in several months.  I was stunned to see the "curb islands" in the 
middle of the bicycle lanes.  What possible purpose can these serve? 
Was this an attempt to prove the saying about how disastrous decision by 
committee can be?  The only thing that this design achieves is to make 
the road extremely hazardous to cyclists.  Imagine a cyclist and car 
heading in the same direction and arriving simultaneously at the curb 
island.  What happens? Cyclist must suddenly swerve into the auto lane 
in order not to find himself flying head over heels after crashing into 
the island.  If he's lucky, the auto driver is paying attention and has 
slowed and/or left extra space to allow for this situation.  If he's not 
lucky, the auto driver is the typical oblivious driver who thinks that 
the road belongs exclusively to him, and if some dumb cyclist comes into 
his lane, well, too bad, maybe he deserves to get hit.  Your design will 
only exacerbate such dangerous attitudes on the part of automobile drivers.

I am an occasional cyclist, but living south of the river, I have 
rarely, if ever, biked on Shoal Creek Blvd.  Nonetheless, I feel very 
strongly that the road needs to be made safe for cyclists, even at the 
expense of automobile drivers.  Burnet is simply not an option for 
bikes.  Shoal Creek Blvd has signs designating it as a bicycle route; it 
ought to be a good one.

As a taxpayer I want to see transportation systems that allow safe 
walking and cycling all over our city.  Oil prices are going to continue 
to rise, taking gasoline prices along and making our auto-only 
transportation habit unsustainable.  In addition, we already have air 
quality problems.  As a city, we need to be creating numerous 
non-automobile transportation options THAT DON'T ENDANGER THE LIVES OF 
THE TRAVELERS!  In other words, let's make it SAFE to walk or bike in 
Austin.  Right now, one main reason why I don't bicycle more is exactly 
because I feel threatened by cars that drive much too fast on almost 
every road.  Now the city has just invested tens of thousands of dollars 
making the situation worse.

I hate to think how much of our tax money was spent on this foolishness 
that will serve only to endanger cyclists' lives, while not requiring 
automobiles to slow down one iota.  If you are going to do anything on 
that road, the islands should be in the center, perhaps at 
intersections, to force the cars to slow down, not the cyclists.  As 
someone who drives my car on that road, I am happy to brake for 
cyclists. It is not cyclists who endanger lives and health of children, 
pedestrians, other drivers, other cyclists, cats and dogs -- it's cars.

Please remedy this situation as soon as possible.

Thank you kindly.

(name withheld)