At 02:24 PM 10/20/2005, Michael Rewey wrote:
[SNIP] Many of the Paths in Madison have
been built or were more easily built because there were
champions. This is one of them. Unfortunately it may have
delayed other projects because of city budget constraints. [SNIP]
I wouldn't say that other projects may have been delayed because of budget
constraints. I'd say other projects may have been delayed due to the city's
(and the State's) misplaced priorities, specifically, spending way more on
accommodating cars than bikes, buses, and pedestrians combined. (Although,
to his credit, Mike has consistently advocated for accommodating bicycles,
even when he was overseeing ever larger roads for WisDOT).
This is why every neighborhood in the city battles each other at PBMVC
meetings for a piece of the $200,000 the city spends annually (on the
Neighborhood Traffic Management Program) to make streets more walkable.
Meanwhile the City spends 20% of $60million ($12,000,000) over ten years on
East Washington Ave alone. All so that we can continue to funnel as many
cars and trucks in and out of the city as possible every day. Until the
Mayor proposed a radically different vision for what East Wash should look
like, the smallest accommodations for other road users (e.g. colored
crosswalks and curb bulb outs that were eventually included) were touted as
"not feasible," meaning, of course, not a priority.
I think it's high time for some new priorities.
Chuck
_______________________________________________
Bikies mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
