Mark Knapp raises some interesting questions about the bicycle and how it fits in the culture of Minneapolis.
Mark feels that the Minneapolis five year plan falls short of any real commitment to alternatives to the car culture. He concludes that bicyclists are being offered "crumbs." Although the budget process in not yet complete the current capital funds for bicycle trails scheduled over the next five years total $10,690,000. On a yearly basis that equals $2,138,000. That is not too crumby in my accounting. Mark brings up a good point when he points out that the city planners were not kind enough to reschedule their bicycle get together for when bicyclists could actually get to the meeting. Apparently this must be part of the proposed bicycle culture. If I understand what Mark is saying if it snows or the weather is bad bicyclists are not expected to show up at meetings. It makes one wonder, are they supposed to show up at work if it snows? Or is the city also supposed to have a road way system and mass transit system for when the bicyclists need them? Mark appears irritated that the city continues to build parking ramps and lots, and as he says "paving....always more paving." I am happy to report that the city is also building parking for bicycles. They currently are scheduled to build approximately 500 bicycle parking spaces each year for the next five years. I have not figured out how many miles of bicycle paths are being paved with the balance of the $2 million plus per year but I am afraid there will be more paving. Paving for bicycle trails. Mark belittles the cities bicycle efforts with one of his closing thoughts. He asks "Does the city really expect to get people out of their cars this way?" This begs the question, who made it the cities job to get me out of my car? I suffered a back injury three years ago, not biking but at work. I got there in my truck. I'm hoping next summer to be back on my bike, for recreation. I support the Park Board's efforts at creating bike paths. I also support the cities efforts to create pathways for bicycle commuters. I think however that the $2 million plus per year is an adequate investment for now. If we keep building bike parking spots, and they keep staying full throughout the year, yes in even in bad weather, then I support a continued investment by the city to further develop the bicycle network. In this climate I feel there is a limit to how many daily commuters we can expect on bicycles. Estimates I have heard provided to support the bike commuter system usually have averaged around 2,500 people. I think there is a hard core of folks who want to ride their bikes to work, especially if the weather is good. I don't believe it has been proven that bicyclists will ever be more than a minor portion of our transportation system. If you want to prove me wrong, get out there and ride your bike to work tomorrow. Regardless of the weather. Bob Gustafson MMM __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
