If only I could have found a bike rack in the parking ramp between Johnson and West Dayton Street on Thursday night, I would have not been nearly so frustrated. Why don't they just take a car stall or two near the entrances/exits onto to Dayton and Johnson and put some racks in for the few days they take them off of State Street.
Ann M. Freiwald Schreiber Anderson Associates 1435 E Main St. Madison, WI 53703 www.saa-madison.com Voice: 608.441.3580 Fax: 608.255.7750 >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/31/03 09:40PM >>> What changes would I suggest be made in how the City treats bicyclists during the Halloween Party? I am sure a lot is going to change based on the problems encountered this year. So while I could suggest some specifics based on what has happened so far this year, I think it is more valuable to suggest changes to the process of how the City thinks about bicyclists. Those involved in planning should try to think like a bicyclist. Ideally planners would actually have tried a bike heavy lifestyle for a few months, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen. Fortunately, there is a quick way to get into the ballpark ? think this way: 1) A bike lane/path = a major arterial roadway. ================================== If the city was going to close a major arterial, would they just close it and let motorists sort the rest out for themselves? Of course not! Such poor planning would result in major traffic problems. A road closure would be accompanied by setting up a convenient and well marked detour. The same thinking must be used for bike path/lane closures. 2) A bike rack = a parking garage. ========================= Would the city just close a parking garage and leave it at that? Of course not! Such poor planning would result in a flood of cars parking in areas that caused problems. A parking garage closure would be accompanied by a combination of decreasing parking demand and/or increasing parking elsewhere and providing clear directions to the alternate parking. The same thinking must be used for bike parking closures. 3) A bike = An SUV. =============== If a bevy of SUVs were parked in an area that needed to be cleared for a special event would the City drill out the door locks to gain access and tear up the steering columns to hotwire the engines for the purpose of driving the SUVs to the impound yard? Of course not! The city would call in a towing company, who would provide a means of impounding the SUVs without damaging them. The same thinking must be used when handling bicycles that must be moved for special events. [SUGGESTION: Now that we know bike rack removal is going to be a regular happening, how about lining state street with a new type of bike rack that can be easily disentangled from bikes locked to it, but only when the rack is physically removed? Then the city could remove the bikes from the racks without hacking off their locks! Or better yet, re-attach any unclaimed bikes back to the same rack when the racks were replaced! Now that would be "bike friendly"!!!] Addtionally, once the SUVs were impounded, would the city just wait for the SUV owners to figure out how to get their vehicles back? Of course not! The owners would be sent a notice in the mail when possible ? and the police would provide phone numbers to the media for the SUV owners to call to help speed the process of recovering their vehicles. The same thinking must be used when handling bicycles! > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Bikies] bikes off state street > From: "Marjorie Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, October 31, 2003 3:33 pm > The City of Madison has requested that the Bike Fed present ideas for > how > to improve the Halloween bike parking situation on State Street for > 2004. _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
