Bike lanes seen as taking something away from people

Another LTTE, from the Alexandria Times

I was astonished to read the audacious misrepresentations in Jonathan Krall’s column.... he asserts, without any proof, that receiving a bronze award for bike-friendliness has made Alexandria “more attractive to new residents and businesses.”

There may be no "proof" of this, but it's not like it's a crazy idea. It's something LAB says and there is evidence that being bike friendly (recognized or not) attracts business. 

Old Town merchants have successfully protested this plan, not buying into Krall’s idea that their sales would improve if customers can’t park their cars.

According to Jonathan Krall, "At the November 25 public hearing, supporters included the Environmental Policy Commission and, via letter, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the chair of the Transportation Commission. A regional bicycling and a regional “smart growth” organization also sent representatives to speak up for health and safety. Neither the Alexandria Chamber nor any other business association was in evidence." As someone said "I submit that misrepresentations make rational discourse impossible. "

At the October 30 meeting on this project, King Street residents protesting this plan were families with young children and older residents concerned with safety issues.

Many cyclists have young children too - not that that's relevant. King Street residents are not fighting for safety. They're fighting for their own convenience OVER safety. She gives that away earlier when she writes that

What [Krall] doesn’t tell you is that this cannot be done on King Street — as the city has suggested — without taking away the parking spaces on the thoroughfare....

and most tellingly

If you want to take something away from people, back up your desire to do so with facts.

She thinks she owns that parking, and that it will be taken away from her. That's the issue here. Not safety. 

Then she doubts that more people are biking.

Krall wrote that “more and more riders are using bicycles to drop off children at school and pick up groceries from the store.” Where’s the proof?

There's data that more people are commuting by bike. There's data that more trips are being made by bike. There's data that Bike to school day participation is going up. There's data dealing with increased use of Capital Bikeshare. There's data on increased bike sales. But mostly, it should be apparent to anyone with eyes. 

Then she throws out some dubious facts as well

moms continue to get their kids to and from school in the traditional way. And not one of them could possibly schlep home the groceries to feed their young families by bicycle.

Really? Not one. Where's the proof? [Maybe they need some bike lanes]. And the use of "young families" is so "Won't someone please think of the children" that it's almost a parody. 

Just picture a mom picking up her three kids and four bags of groceries and trying to figure out how to safely attach all to her bike, especially in the rain.

Sounds impossible. 

Or maybe you just keep the kids home on bad weather days and starve them.

That does sound like the only reasonable alternative. Or maybe you just drive your kids to school. Krall is not saying that everyone (or anyone, for that matter) has to bike their kids to school. Only that more people are choosing to do so, and that this is a reason to improve the bike network. This is about allowing people who to bike to do so safely. It is not about forcing people who want to drive to give up their car. But they may have to give up their free, spillover parking for a better bike network. And that is price that Esther Goldberg is not willing to pay for cyclists with young families. 

Comments

[New Yorker]

Funny how the reverse is never true. That is, "Just picture a mom after she's dropped off her kids and four bags of groceries, trying to figure out what she's going to do with the giant SUV, especially when the weather is perfect."

[washcycle]

Or how she will fit exercise into her busy day.

[Greenbelt]

Guess it's time to stop biking to Alexandria to spend money.

[SJE]

The situation is analogous to the one I am facing, with the CCT iced over I am driving to work. A lot of my colleagues would rather not be adding to traffic, but there is no safe route.

[Crickey7]

It's always a false choice. That promoting bike use means banning car use. No one is saying that. For the majority of the daily trips where you are carrying very little, biking is an option. Not a requirement. And it ought to go without saying that if you need to use a car becuase you have a lot to carry, you can. And the roads will be less crowded with cars, and there will be plenty of parking (because cyclists don't need car spaces).

[Crickey7]

I hadn't tried the CCT, since I was pretty sure the annual Dalecarlia Reservoir ice mound would be there.

So I biked on the roads instead, and was treated to the wonderful experience of biking completely legally in my lane while a driver illegally talking on a cell phone illegally kept honking his horn at me.

I swear, if I see one more "all bikers run red lights" post, I'm going all post-al on them.

[The Edge]

Picked up dinner last night from the Takoma Park food trucks on my bike and rode it home. Well, I rode the bike home, not the food.

[Brendan]

Bicycle die in protest on King Street.

[oboe]

So I biked on the roads instead, and was treated to the wonderful experience of biking completely legally in my lane while a driver illegally talking on a cell phone illegally kept honking his horn at me.

It has nothing to do with scofflaw-ism and everything to do with your existence.

[elizqueenmama]

Just picture a mom picking up her three kids and four bags of groceries and trying to figure out how to safely attach all to her bike, especially in the rain.
Well, yes, I can picture this, because I've done it many times. In Eckington DC in case you were wondering.
But can't at the moment because somebody stole my Xtracycle, AND my oldest daughter's Opus Rambler on Friday. ARGH ARGH ARGH.

[Catherine]

I was on that streach for 3 round trips last week (twice on weeknights between 7 and 8:30pm and once on Saturday 9pm and midnight).

Never once more than 5 cars parked there, usually 3 and once only two. A truck is clearly warehoused there, and probably is in violation of the 72-hour rule or whatever it is (even with RPP you can't leave a car in a space for more than a certain amount of time).

And just generally, these people are *so* out of touch with reality and *so* entitled I honestly am taken aback. I also wonder if the writer of this particular letter to the editor is the same woman who dramatically entoned at the November meeting "think of whose blood will be on your hands" while objecting to a BIKE LANE and clutching her baby. It sort of sounds like her.

[T]

Her longer rant (http://spectator.org/articles/56526/complete-streets-occupiers) is actually even funnier.

[ACyclistInTheSuburbs]

The Transportation and Enviro Services Dept of the City of Alexandria has decided to proceed with the bike lanes (modified to retain a few parking spaces at the top of the hill).