Yes, January 13th was a bitter cold night, and I was the only one who showed up on a bike and the only one other than the city engineer to speak in favor of the overpass. I also submitted written comments but I was definitely outnumbered. Most people didn't want the overpass as it would allow unwanted people from either side to get to the other side, the two property owners affected were also very adamant about the damage the ramps would do to their economic viability, yada, yada, yada. (The usual arguments presented against paths or trails of any kind.) I was very surprised that a neighborhood police officer from the South Precinct spoke against it. He thought it would be too hard to chase suspects across the bridge.
Anyway, Larry Nelson's comments about how this project was lost before it even got started seem very accurate in hindsight especially after actually being at that meeting. The neighborhood thought that this project was sprung on them without any input from them at all. I think his suggestions very directly answer the challenge of Matt's email of how we prevent this kind of project from being killed in the future. It starts with involving the neighborhood, getting the project on the long range bike plan and the neighborhood plan, etc. But Matt's point is also well taken. We need people to show up. Considering that this was one of the few such meetings that I have attended I can't really chastise others too much, but it does raise the concern of how can we recruit new people to get out and attend meetings. Any suggestions? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ,__o John Rider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _-\_<, CYCLING IS LIFE! (*)/'(*) The Rest Is Just Details ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matt Logan Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 8:57 PM To: 'Larry Nelson'; [email protected] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Jeanne Hoffman'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Tim Bruer'; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [Bikies] PBMVC 10/25/2005 (Perry St. Overpass) > From: Larry Nelson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Matt was misinformed on one of his facts, that being "only business >people supporting the Todd Drive project showed up". Matt didn't get >that information from city staff at the PBMV Meeting and it didn't come >from the attendance sheet of the January 13, 2005 Perry Street Public >Information Meeting. [snip...] Larry, thanks for keeping us bikies up on our facts! It is true, I did not obtain my information from the sources you cite below. What is certain is that not enough people showed up to the January 13th meeting to make a difference. As Paul T. O'Leary suggested in a spinoff thread, notifying the public is important, and I'll do a better job of keeping everyone up to date on the items that I am aware of. After digging through my archives I discovered that the notice for the Jan. 13 meeting was posted to this list on December 29th 2004. I checked my personal PDA, and the meeting was in there for Thursday January 13th, I just didn't attend, or follow up with written comments. One problem I can see from my perspective (besides me slacking off) is the location of the meeting. Jan 13 was probably quite cold, it was dark, the location was not centrally located for the core bikie community, and was separated by the beltline for the people I believe would most directly benefit from the construction of the overpass. --- FYI, here is the notice I dug up: Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 15:19:51 -0600 From: Robbie Webber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Subject: [Bikies] Jan 13 - Perry St overpass of Beltline Passing on a notice of a public meeting: ************************************ Notice of Public Informational Meeting Perry Street Bike/Pedestrian Overpass South Madison Beltline USH 12 City of Madison, Dane County Project I.D. 1206-06-03 ALL INTERESTED PERSONS ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that Mead & Hunt, Inc., consulting engineers, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) will host a Public Informational Meeting on Thursday, January 13, 2005, in the community room at Fire Station No. 6, 825 W. Badger Road, at the intersection of Perry Street and Badger Road, in the City of Madison. The meeting will consist of an open house format from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, with a presentation at 7:00 pm. After the presentation people are encouraged to review exhibits and ask questions about the project. The proposed project consists of constructing a new pedestrian overpass crossing Madison~Rs South Beltline at Perry Street. The overpass will be located approximately 0.15 miles west of the junction of the Beltline with U.S. Highway 14. The total project length is not anticipated to exceed 1,300 feet. The purpose of this meeting is to solicit public input on the preliminary design for this project. Persons with concerns for pedestrian and or bicycle access at this location are encouraged to attend this meeting or provide comments to WisDOT or Mead & Hunt. The meeting location is handicap accessible. The hearing impaired can contact Mead & Hunt by e-mail or call through the Wisconsin Telecommunications Relay System at (800) 947-3529 to request an interpreter if they plan to attend the meeting. Persons who cannot attend this meeting but have questions or wish to voice their opinions and/or concerns, may contact the following: Mead & Hunt, Inc. 6501 Watts Road Madison, Wisconsin 53719 (608) 273-6380 fax: (608) 273-6391 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mike Rampetsreiter, P.E., PDS Project Manager WisDOT ~V District 1 (Madison) 2101 Wright Street Madison, Wisconsin 53704 (608) 246-7917 fax: (608) 246-5380 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 15:58:42 -0600 From: Robbie Webber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Subject: [Bikies] Perry St overpass of Beltline - part two After sending the message as a courtesy to the consultants, I pulled out the city bike map. Boy, do we need this connection! As anyone who as biked Fish Hatchery Rd or Seyne Rd knows, getting over Although there are "bike lanes" on Fish Hatch, there is also a big interchange. If isn't pretty folks, to have people acelerating and deacelerating in the same lane, weaving behind and in front of you, and generally terrorizing all but the most hardened cyclist. Seyne Rd is a lovely bike route, but if you follow it north past the Cap city Trail, you get dumped on Fish Hatchery - yuck! For recreational bicyclists, commuters, and anyone wanting a better "escape route" across the Beltline, this will be great. Hope people come out to support the project and to comment on the design. -- Robbie _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
