The second public meeting for the Eastern Downtown bike lane project
was a welcome change from the first, and contained good news: According to
the latest data from the project study team, the bike lane would—at most— affect 190 of 1,800 metered spaces and 10 out of 230 Sunday angled spaces. Traffic time increases would vary from three minutes to upwards of 20, depending on the alternative, and under the third alternative, morning traffic waits would actually
decrease.
If you weren’t able to make it, here’s what you missed:
The temporary event bike racks DDOT provided were overflowing, with a bike locked up to every signpost and fence within two blocks of the building, as WABA supporters from the community came out in force on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Around 300 people attended the meeting total. At least half were there to support the project. Regardless of their position on the project, every person who walked in the door got a warm greeting from a WABA volunteer, and a bright green sticker that said “Safe Streets.” They also got a flyer for
bike camp and a coupon for a free
WABA city cycling class.
DDOT displayed new information about the project on
presentation boards outside the meeting space, and DDOT staff circulated through the open house to answer questions. The meeting itself was professionally facilitated; everyone in attendance agreed in advance to listen respectfully and to keep their testimony to within the allotted time (2 minutes for individuals, 5 minutes for organizations).
DDOT Director Dormsjo opened the meeting by walking through the project planning process, the goals of the project, and emphasizing that DDOT leadership was there at the meeting to listen. Indeed, a panel consisting of of Mr. Dormsjo, DDOT Deputy Director, Associate Director of Planning, Policy and Sustainability and several other high-level leaders of DDOT sat at the front of the room for the duration of the meeting to listen to the testimony of the 50 people who signed up to speak. Only 8 of the 50 speakers opposed the project.
People from all walks of life, ages, genders, races, income brackets and levels of experience on a bicycle testified in favor of the project, demonstrating the wide range of people who ride, the reasons they ride, and their desire to be safe while doing so.
The tone of all participants was decidedly respectful. Though there was still disagreement about the project, it was civil.
A big thank you to WABA members and supporters who turned out big for safe streets. Together, we have shifted the conversation from “Should we do this?” to “Which alternative makes most sense?” and we did that by showing the incredible diversity of the people who benefit from safe streets and why they matter, on a personal level, to all of us. We still have work to do in the upcoming months to get this project across the finish line, but the balance has started to shift.
Click here to check out the list of businesses in the area who support the project.
Next up: if you live in the project study area, please attend your upcoming ANC meeting and ask for a resolution of support for the project.
March 1, 2016 — ANC 6E Meeting (11 blocks in project area)
March 2, 2016 — ANC 2F Meeting ( 5 blocks in project area on 9th)
March 3, 2016 — ANC 1B Meeting (2 blocks in project area 6th & 9th)
March 14, 2016 — ANC 2C Meeting (9 blocks in study area)
Look up your ANC here.
If you’d like to join the group of WABA volunteers working to build support for this project, email
advocacy@waba.org and we’ll get you plugged in.