Here's the letter I emailed to Satya Rhodes Conway, my city council rep, a few days ago. (Satya's email address is <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> .) I thought I'd share it here in hope that it may inspire others to write letters or otherwise get involved in this campaign. If you live in the area and want to get involved further, you can call Michael Shinner at 241-1848 and be put on a list to be notified when there are public meetings to testify at, etc.
******************** Dear Satya, Hi, I'm one of your constituents, living at 1418 Fremont Avenue. My partner and I, who have lived at this address for more than 12 years, have taken up bicycling in recent years for recreational, physical health, and financial reasons (cost of gas), as well as for convenience -- we have found that it can sometimes be simpler and even faster to hop on a bike to go to the library or grocery store than to drive and navigate traffic (and construction!). Both of us commute by bicycle to jobs downtown as well. I'd also like to mention that we are supporters and patrons of many of the businesses in our neighborhood -- i.e., along North Sherman. We patronize The UPS Store, Dorn True Value, Pierce's Grocery, Northside Animal Hospital, and Noah's Ark pet store, among others. We're pleased about the many areas of Madison (and the surrounding region) that are bike-friendly, with either designated bike lanes on regular streets or dedicated non-motorized-vehicle bike paths. We use all of these frequently. Out on North Sherman, though, which is an unavoidable part of our route to almost everywhere, we're often frustrated. It's unsafe for us, and annoying to drivers, if we ride in the street, which has no shoulder, let alone a bike lane. We ride on the sidewalk, which is treacherous for us because of traffic shooting out from stores, banks, gas stations, and restaurants, and frightening for pedestrians, especially those who are frail and/or elderly and can only move slowly or with walkers. We ourselves are extremely cautious and respectful of pedestrians, always signalling and vocally announcing our presence, and even dismounting from our bikes and walking around pedestrians who seem unsteady. We are not sure that all bicyclists do the same. We were delighted to see construction begin on North Sherman this summer, in spite of the many temporary inconveniences (including the phone outage a few weeks ago!) that it entails. We were almost certain that the construction would include putting in either a bike path or a bike lane, since we knew that such developments have been talked about in the city for years and are sorely needed, especially as more and more of this city's residents take to alternative forms of transportation to reduce congestion and pollution and save fuel. I'm sure you can imagine our great dismay when we discovered that not even a bike LANE is part of this construction plan! I've heard that there has been opposition from some neighborhood businesses to the idea of limiting auto traffic to one lane in each direction, with a shared turn lane, so that a bike lane can be included on North Sherman. I can't imagine why this is so! North Sherman has had problematic traffic problems for as long as I have lived in the neighborhood. Two lanes in each direction give the street too much of a "highway" feel, with the result that most drivers exceed the 30 mph speed limit most of the time -- some drastically. It's a very unsafe street for people on foot, particularly those who must cross North Sherman, and especially those who are frail -- for instance, some of the elderly residents at the retirement development across from Northgate. Reducing the traffic to one lane in each direction might actually be a way to slow traffic down enough for drivers to NOTICE that there are local businesses there! It might also discourage some of those who use the street simpl y as a thoroughfare -- a way to get somewhere else fast, with no intentions of patronizing any of the businesses that are on the way. Neighborhood businesses should also be aware that many of their loyal customers and would-be customers ARE pedestrians and bicyclists, and that we will be BETTER able to patronize these businesses if North Sherman is more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. Please pass my message on to anyone who has influence in this matter. I am also more than willing to speak to anyone in person about these concerns. JoAnne Lehman *********************** _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list Bikies@danenet.org http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
