HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/10/2018 Item 1, Klisch
From:Steve Klisch <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Agenda item - Anholm Bikeway Plan
Dear Mayor Harmon and City Council Members Christianson, Gomez, Pease, Rivoire,
I respectfully request that you pass the resolution being presented on April 10th, 2018 that adopts the Anholm Bikeway
Plan as agreed upon during the City Council meeting on February 20th, 2018.
As the resolution is presented, there is a timeline for staff to present a final plan while continuing to consider protected
bike lanes or bike boulevards during phase 1. This accelerated timeline is feasible because City Staff has already
conducted extensive research and considered alternatives with community input and compromise.
Although I have regularly bicycled in this area between my home (north of Foothill Boulevard) and downtown over the
past 18 years, I am always afraid of being struck by speeding and/or distracted drivers, especially if my children are with
me. It is my impression that city staff produced evidence that many drivers are exceeding posted speed limits in this
area. The data regarding the prevalence and risks of distracted driving are startling; e.g., “distracted driving is
dangerous, claiming 3,477 lives in 2015 alone” as stated on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website
on Distracted Driving:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving
Simply put, I believe that any plan that does not include protected bike lanes or bike boulevards on Broad and Chorro
streets will not encourage me, and others, to take more trips by bicycle, especially with children. This is not simply my
belief; it is a conclusion that has been consistently supported with scientific data. For a nice summary of this issue, I
suggest the following article published in Scientific American titled “How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road: To boost
urban bicycling, figure out what women want”:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/getting-more-bicyclists-on-the-road/
In the days surrounding the February 20th meeting, my family and I counted the number of parked cars on Chorro Street
between Lincoln and Mission. Using the city staff estimate of 81 parking spaces, on 6 occasions we calculated an
averaged parking space occupancy rate of 26% (range 19%-30%). I believe a better and more efficient use of that space
would be to replace the parking on one side of the street with a protected bike lane.
Lastly, I believe the resolution agreed upon during the City Council meeting on February 20th, 2018 was an important
step toward a local commitment to urgent action on climate change. In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted 17
Sustainable Development Goals. One goal is to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” as stated
at
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change-2/
On that website, the UN states “Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting
national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more
tomorrow. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most. Emissions anywhere affect people
everywhere.”
The ethical road forward for our community is to take urgent action, and make some sacrifices, in order to reduce pain
and suffering including for the poorest and most vulnerable people, and for our own children and grandchildren. We
know of many children in our community who are willing to replace automobile trips with bicycle trips. The least we can
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do for these children, especially after our and previous generations have dumped this climate change problem into their
laps, is to provide them with the safest bicycle routes possible.
Thank you,
Steve Klisch
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