I'm OK with having another RtD in another location. As a matter of fact, I pushed Mayor Dave to locate one event in an area of the city where there are not the great biking and walking opportunities that already exist in downtown.
The downtown event is hugely successful - more so than I think many local people realize - in part because of the location. Riding up East Washington or along John Nolen Dr with no traffic is something that most people never get a chance to experience. The views are great, and the intimacy of the downtown neighborhoods makes it a fun family-and-friends activity for many people that wouldn't ride a bike on the street under other circumstances. You will see little bitty kids - tricycles or bikes with training wheels - on John Nolen Dr or Bedford. Everyone is so excited and smiling. Another aspect that I think many people don't recognize is the number of people that come in from out of town. This event draws people from all over the Madison metro area, but also as far away as Chicago. (Yes, at every event I've talked to people who came up to make a weekend of it in Madison, based around the Farmers' Market one day and RtD the next.) People are coming from all over the state, MN, IA, and other areas several hours away. Maybe some of those people would come back and shop in the stores that are being "hurt," because they actually SEE the stores as they ride by, vs. driving by in a car, or not going by at all. On the other hand, many cities use these Sunday Parkways/Ciclovias/Open Streets to bring a safe and fun event to neighborhoods that really have no opportunities for this close to home. Poor neighborhoods, or neighborhoods with no good trails or walkable business districts get a chance to be out on the street - in the middle of the road that runs through their neighborhoods, without the fear of getting hit by a car. I think that is a goal that is worth striving for. Maybe close part of South Park St, or Sherman Ave, or Northport, or even a place like Midvale (which has two schools on it), or Milwaukee St (which I think has three school zones), but can be huge barriers for people in the area to cross on foot/by bike. My biggest gripe about the Mayor cancelling the second Ride the Drive is that he announced it three days before this year's event! Couldn't he have waited until afterwards to announce to the press that the second one wasn't going to happen? It just seems like a Grinch-like timing. "Bah, humbug, hey, I can't cancel this one, but I'll cancel the other one." Wouldn't it be better to soften the message by saying NEXT WEEK, something like, "Wow, that was such a great event. Everyone had a great time. But the downtown location is a burden for some of the downtown residents and businesses. I think we should try doing it in another area of the city, and for that reason, I'd like to not hold the second one, especially because it is a football weekend, which is already tough, but use this as an opportunity to think of another location that bring this great event to other areas." Just my random thought. YMMV. Robbie Webber On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Brenda Konkel <[email protected]>wrote: > There's this . . . might help explain. > > http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/blog/index.cfm?Id=490 > > My understanding is he is looking to move it around the city, and starting > next year would have one on the north side (too much construction this > year), wasn't clear if there would be two next year (same location and > north, or just north), but that was kind of my understanding. Might be time > to start thinking about other areas that might be good for such an event. > > fwiw - It's hugely disruptive to those of us who live downtown and have to > deal with many many downtown events. This one seems to be worse in that > there was little planning to accommodate some of the needs of downtown > residents, especially dealing with the one way streets and people having to > back down the streets or drive the wrong way just to get off their block. > Also, there needs to be better notices to those who are impacted and better > detour signs. imho. > > Brenda > > > On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 11:33 AM, Ross, Arthur <[email protected]>wrote: > >> There are several business associations downtown (Downtown Madison Inc., >> Greater State Street Business Association, Business Improvement District). I >> am not sure what formal positions any of them have taken on Ride The Drive. >> I have heard from some small business owners that Ride the Drive is good >> for some businesses but bad for others. Good for some of the outdoor café >> restaurants and some retail near the booths where people are stopping and >> walking around, but bad for higher end restaurants and more specialty / >> destination retail, especially clothing stores, book stores, etc. The >> businesses I have heard from seem okay with one event per year, but are not >> happy about two. >> >> Arthur >> >> Arthur Ross, Pedestrian-Bicycle Coordinator >> City of Madison Traffic Engineering Division >> 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Suite 100 >> PO Box 2986 >> Madison, WI 53701-2986 >> 608/266-6225 >> _______________________________________________ >> Bikies mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > >
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