went to a meeting tonight for some discussion about the development and planning of my neighborhood and the adjoining urban neighborhood
the meeting was just a few blocks away in an old church basement
it was an interesting gathering
got to see the vision of the future as displayed by some archetect or engineer
there were all sorts of fancy sketches and even a power point presentation
he used the term "ornamental trees" roughly 54 times
the term bicycle was not used once
yes... the term bike was used ambiguously in a vague sentence
there was a discussion where people played some show and tell and spoke out on the one issue that effects them directly
perhaps I should have spoken up or maybe out
not sure what gets things done
so I stayed seated
after more talking there was an "open house" which allowed for some mixing and mingling and some personal one on one
I followed along with the director of WABA and looked at some maps and some pictures
we talked with some of the planners about what was being designed and planned
there was some consideration to the bikes on the north-south route of 14th Street
but there was no measure of the bike routes/bike lane creation on the East-West routes
the people I was speaking to were referring me to the Director of WABA and the DOT folks
but...
they got paid big bucks to do studies and draw up some designs
and well
they did all this consideration for pedestrian traffic
but it appears that they did not factor in the bicycle
the roads are being thinned
the roads are already aggressive and dangerous enough for the heavy bicycle traffic
thinning the roads would make the bicycle a greater obstruction to traffic
making cycling less safe
making the bicyclist have no choice but to block traffic behind them
pissing off the car traffic
making things more dangerous for cyclists
the vision of the future did not include a better more safe world for everyone
things will be worse and less safe for the cyclist
only if the make the traffic move at 25MPH will things be more safe for the cyclist
but certainly
the cars will flow as fast as they can flow
which will be 35-45MPH
unless raised crosswalks as speed humps or some other sort of traffic calming efforts are put into place
but...
of course
there was no discussion of any of this
this guy was too busy talking about ornamental trees
not cherry blossoms
not oaks
not a breed of tree that boasts long life or fast growth
there was no talk of anything other than these trees being ornamental
it was a good meeting
I should have spoken up
the meeting was just a few blocks away in an old church basement
it was an interesting gathering
got to see the vision of the future as displayed by some archetect or engineer
there were all sorts of fancy sketches and even a power point presentation
he used the term "ornamental trees" roughly 54 times
the term bicycle was not used once
yes... the term bike was used ambiguously in a vague sentence
there was a discussion where people played some show and tell and spoke out on the one issue that effects them directly
perhaps I should have spoken up or maybe out
not sure what gets things done
so I stayed seated
after more talking there was an "open house" which allowed for some mixing and mingling and some personal one on one
I followed along with the director of WABA and looked at some maps and some pictures
we talked with some of the planners about what was being designed and planned
there was some consideration to the bikes on the north-south route of 14th Street
but there was no measure of the bike routes/bike lane creation on the East-West routes
the people I was speaking to were referring me to the Director of WABA and the DOT folks
but...
they got paid big bucks to do studies and draw up some designs
and well
they did all this consideration for pedestrian traffic
but it appears that they did not factor in the bicycle
the roads are being thinned
the roads are already aggressive and dangerous enough for the heavy bicycle traffic
thinning the roads would make the bicycle a greater obstruction to traffic
making cycling less safe
making the bicyclist have no choice but to block traffic behind them
pissing off the car traffic
making things more dangerous for cyclists
the vision of the future did not include a better more safe world for everyone
things will be worse and less safe for the cyclist
only if the make the traffic move at 25MPH will things be more safe for the cyclist
but certainly
the cars will flow as fast as they can flow
which will be 35-45MPH
unless raised crosswalks as speed humps or some other sort of traffic calming efforts are put into place
but...
of course
there was no discussion of any of this
this guy was too busy talking about ornamental trees
not cherry blossoms
not oaks
not a breed of tree that boasts long life or fast growth
there was no talk of anything other than these trees being ornamental
it was a good meeting
I should have spoken up