by: Mike Norris
So last night was the public hearing on the residential parking permit program proposal - which I've been paying close attention to since implementing it would involve removing some of a bike lane along Washington Boulevard, just south of the train station. Fearing a Big-Three-Automakers-busted-for-flying-to-the-bailout hearing-moment, I really wanted to dress like Randy from A Christmas Story and ride a bike to the hearing. However, my wife talked me out of potential hypothermia and my 3,300 lb. SUV was pressed into service.
I wasn't alone: the bike rack in front of the parking garage entrance was bare, and the cyclists I recognized who spoke in favor of bike lanes drove their cars to the hearing.
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Aside from the snippy and untrue comment from the attendee who spoke before me to say: "(drivers) pay taxes, cyclists don't!" proponents for the parking permit program made a strong case and they made it professionally - but I was glad I and the others were there to remind them that as car owners and cyclists, we pay taxes - and I pay car taxes whether I drive my SUV everywhere or whether it sits unused in front of my house for days at a time.
Like it tends to do in non Polar Vortex weather conditions.
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Mani Poola, the city traffic engineer, showed all of us the proposed changes to Washington Boulevard. As it turns out, a large chunk of that stretch of bike lane would disappear under the proposed plan, and sharrows (stenciled images of cyclists in the road) would be placed in the road near where the bike lane was removed. The net gain of legitimate on-street parking would be seven cars - seven cars in a city of 120,000+ people.
On a safety standpoint, it made me nervous: from the look of it, cyclists would move to the right to be on the bike lane for just a few seconds before merging back into traffic.
On an enforcement standpoint, it made me skeptical. The bike lane that is there now is usually covered with illegally parked cars, and I've lived in this city long enough to know illegal parking is par for the course and will happen whether a parking program is put in place or not.
On a morale standpoint, it made me sad.
I've had the pleasure of regularly visiting cities like New York, Cleveland, London, Boston and Washington D.C. and being able to ride on mile after mile of bike lane that didn't exist on my previous visit. The question I keep coming back to is how is it going to look when Stamford is tearing things down when so many great cities are building things up?
I'm hoping the leadership of this city works with the proponents of the parking program to find a solution to their problem that doesn't involve taking a fragmented and incomplete city cycling infrastructure and making it worse.
Mike Norris is the founder of DIYBIKING.COM, a site dedicated to casual cycling, random builds, and bike travel. He is a member of the Connecticut Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Board and owns one 3,300 lb. SUV and 11 1/3 bicycles. He lives and works in Stamford and can be reached at connecticutmike@gmail.com
* If you have an opinion on this issue, please send a message, by January 28, to Mani Poola: Traffic Engineer, CIty of Stamford, 888 Washington Boulevard, Stamford, CT 06901.
* If you live and or work in Stamford, please take the Stamford Share the Road survey (whether you ride bikes or not):https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L9JR56Y
