Bicycle Advoctea working against themselves?

On 2016-05-19 12:09, sms wrote:
On 5/19/2016 11:10 AM, Tim McNamara wrote:
Another thing I have noticed about bike advocates, at least here in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul area. They push hard for bike lanes and want them
on what are really the worst routes for cycling: very high traffic
roads which are typically also bus routes. They consider getting an
inadequate bike lane on a bad road- which creates a miserable riding
experience- as a victory. Often there is a very nice alternative one or
two blocks away and they fight tooth and nail to prevent that from being
used. The most recent example is the proposed Cleveland Avenue route in
St. Paul MN; the street isn't even wide enough for long stretches to
have two full width motor vehicle lanes and two full width bike lanes,
even when car parking is banned. But 1/4 mile east is a very pleasant
street that goes through to all they places they wanted.

Apparently making bicyclists suffer to teach drivers a lesson is
progress. Or something.

I was at a Planning Commission meeting for my city a week ago. A
developer was presenting their case for approval of a plan to demolish a
342 unit apartment complex and to replace it with a 942 unit apartment
complex. Since a major concern of the community about their project is
traffic impact, they must have mentioned bicycles 100 times in their
presentation.

They do not want to provide adequate parking for the apartments and they
claim that the residents will be commuting by bicycle (highly unlikely).


Even if there was a pristine and nearly complete bike path network like
we have in Folsom 5% would already be a lofty number. And only if it's
not raining. This ain't The Netherlands or Denmark.


They are planning to put in a little plaza for cyclists, including
non-residents, with some bicycle repair stands and some air compressors
to encourage cycling, and a coffee and juice bar. They kept talking
about how cyclists would be stopping at the plaza to repair their
bicycles and to have a coffee or juice.


Put a brewpub there instead of some juice bar. That is going to work :-)



The apartment complex is on the one N-S route in my town that cyclists
avoid like the plague. It's got high-speed on and off-ramps to I-280,
that require lane veering in both the northbound and southbound
directions. Traffic on the road will be getting much worse as soon as
Apple opens their new campus. Steve Jobs tried to buy this apartment
complex, which occupies the southwest corner of the parcel, and demolish
it but the owner would not sell.
,1010m/data=!3m1!1e3


Now they want to cram 942 units in there? Highrises? Out here that would
be one or two horse ranches.


See the helmet-less cyclists on the right in
http://www.hamptonscupertino.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/dog-park-people-at-table-reclaimed-h2o-bike-commuter-montage-1440x407.jpg
and then see the statement "Stay safe and please remember to always wear
a helmet when riding a bike."

The developer's idea is that Apple employees will be anxious to rent
these apartments, which will probably rent for $4500 for a 2BR. But
Apple employees don't like living in Cupertino, they like living in
cities where the sidewalks aren't rolled up a 9:00 p.m., and Apple
provides free transportation from more desirable areas. If Apple
employees do end up renting there, they won't be cycling to work they'll
be walking.


But they'll almost all have cars for longer trips and those must be
parked somewhere.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/