HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/4/2018 Item 15, Mohan
Purrington, Teresa
From:Terry Mohan <mohan2416@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, September 3, 2018 12:26 PM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Anholm Bikeway Agenda Item #15
Council Members,
I took the opportunity to ride the Anholm Neighborhood on my Trike this past week to see what the problem
was with bicycle safety in that area that constituted pitting neighbor against neighbor and the involvement of
non-city resident agitators. Having ridden a bicycle for sixty years and growing up and cycling in a city ten
times the size of San Luis Obispo this whole safety thing is blown out of proportion by, as evidenced by the
recent opinion piece in the Tribune, neurotic parents who don't want their children to grow up.
There is very little danger of children riding in this neighborhood if they are taught the rules of the rode that
they are the slowest moving vehicle and should stay to the right for automobiles to pass. The most dangerous
thing I saw in my rides was the marking allowing the bicycle riders to use the whole street on Broad and
Chorro. This gives the riders the sense of entitlement to block traffic thereby angering motorist and
endangering themselves. As a professional truck driver, I am required by law, as are all motor vehicles, that if
you cannot keep up with the speed limit you have to move to the right to allow traffic to pass. This is a basic
rule of the road and to teach children that they don't have to obey them puts them in more danger now and when
they become automobile drivers. As far as the neurotic parents if they are not confident enough to ride in traffic
they should get off their bikes as they are a danger not only to themselves but to others using the street. We
cannot close off all of our roads to accommodate their neuroses.
To close off a street to placate the few bicyclists in the Anholm neighborhood is extremely poor
planning. Logically anyone coming from downtown should be directed to use the Lincoln/West alternative
route. Neither Lincoln or West have any stop signs and are twice as wide as either Broad or Chorro. This will
greatly increase their travel except for those cyclists, of which there are many, who don’t believe in stopping at
stop signs. Using the full green stripes like the one on Madonna and Higuera, where it is completely
inappropriate but leave it to Cal Trans to waste money, at Chorro and Murray and Mieneke as well as Broad and
Romona to allow protected left turns for those riders who which to cross Foothill at the light at Tassajara.
Common sense must be used here as bicycles will never be the primary mode of transportation in San Luis
Obipso no matter the believe of some misguided individuals. It is just to hilly and you can’t force people to
exercise because you think it is in their best interest. Just look at Laurel Lane where new protected bike lanes
are being installed. Only a fool would attempt to climb that hill when you can easily go up Orcutt Road and cut
through the neighborhoods. While the only people you see coming down are free wheelers just looking for the
thrill of going fast and ignoring the stop signs.
I hope this council does not make the mistake of a past council who placed a circle at Chorro and Lincoln to
calm traffic only to have to remove it later after numerous complaints from city residents. To correct the
mistake of closing Broad Street will be costlier. To save city residents from future expenditures I hope you will
use common sense and reject the current Anholm Bikeway plan.
Terry Mohan
2416 Santa Clara
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
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