October 1997 Newsletter
Calendar
Monday, 10/13/97: General Meeting
Topics: Who will the club endorse for the City Council Elections? Also, we will hold general elections for the club. All offices are up for election. The meeting will start at 6:30 and end at 9:00 p.m. It will be held in the main meeting room of the main public library. No food or drink is permitted.
Monday, 11/10/97: General Meeting
The meeting will start at 6:30 and end at 9:00 p.m. It will be held in the main meeting room of the main public library. No food or drink is permitted.
Cruiser rides
Each Monday night, starting at 7 p.m., about 15-25 people gather at the Foundry on 11 th and Walnut and cruise around town for an hour or so. Sound interesting? Call Eric at 938.1300 (daytime) for more information or just show up.
Updated Information
Gwen Vass
The information on the last two pages of the newsletter needs to be updated. I need a volunteer to call and make sure all the phone numbers are correct. Someone needs to check that the Council member list and email addresses are correct. Etc. Volunteers can take just a section of the list too. Send updated information to gwen@netone.com or leave voice mail at 303.494.7698. Thank you.
Critical Mass Rides
Bill Doub
Critical mass rides have been happening in Boulder, San Francisco, Philadelphia and other places starting at 5:00 p.m. on the last Friday of each month. These rides will continue. The Boulder Mass, as it is sometimes known, starts just east of the Main Public Library's entrance on Arapahoe near 11 th Street. I urge all of you to join us.
The July and August 1997 San Francisco Masses are the best known. In July, there were some 6,000 riders, 200 arrests, and some injuries, reported as mainly motorists beating on cyclists. In August there were some 3,000 riders, although there had been rides all week partly in response to the deaths on the streets of two bike messengers. During August the police had been warning people not to show up, and the police were out in force. The cyclists obeyed the laws, and there were no arrests or injuries. It is now thought that San Francisco may close the City's main street (Market) to cars for a mile or so, provide yellow bikes (Boulder's are green), and substantially improve various kinds of bike lanes.
One of the founders of the San Francisco Critical Mass, Chris Carlson, has said "... is not about going to the city and negotiation the terms of the experience. It's not about bicycling per se; if it were, I don't think it would have the power it has. I think it's about public space where people can come together in a spirit of celebration or protest or conviviality or curiosity and actually come out of it feeling good, like something good happened – I met other human beings."
Web Site
Gwen Vass
BBC has a web site. (We have had one for a long time, but it was static.) I will put each edition of the newsletter on the web site within a few days of newsletter publication. I am gradually placing the back issues of the newsletter on this site. Access the site at: http://www.netone.com/~gwen/bolderbicyclecommuters
Comments and suggestions for the web site would be appreciated and can be sent to gwen@netone.com .
The web site has been registered with Yahoo, AltaVista, and the Bolder Community Network.
From Past Meetings
Parking
Notes taken by Bill Doub
Michael Penny of the City's parking services division told me that it is expected that the increase to 75 cents per hour, and the extension of parking fees to Saturday, (except in parking structures) will be passed as part of the city budget. It is possible that council could call the issue up separately (not as part of the city budget). Council passed the proposal for a new parking structure at 15 th and Pearl at a recent meeting. Spence Havlick was the only council member to oppose the parking structure.
BBC passed the following motion on August 11, 1997
Bolder Bicycle Commuters supports the proposal to raise car parking fees in the downtown area to 75 cents per hour, but we recommend that it be $1.00 per hour. We also urge that there be parking fees for all commercial areas in the city, that businesses charge for parking instead of including parking costs in the price of goods and services, and that all parking validation be ended. Parking fees should correspond roughly to land value with the result that fees would probably be cheaper in the outlying areas. All parking fees should be raised gradually over the next few years until they pay for all the true costs of parking. We also support the extension of parking fees to Saturdays and are opposed to the planed parking structure at 15 th and Pearl.
Letters
This letter was written by Manfred Schwoch, not by the Bolder Bicycle Commuters.
Dear County Commissioners:
I read that a hearing took place last Thursday at which concerns were heard from residents about a proposed bike lane in Lefthand Canyon, and that the commissioners will take the issue up again at the next business meeting tomorrow at 10:30 am. As a cyclist with a long-time interest in this canyon, I would like to make a few comments and observations.
Comment and Observation #1
First, I would say that if it were not for the increasingly aggressive motorists in this county, such a climbing line would not be necessary for reasonably skilled/trained cyclists. Given the existence of such aggressive behavior, and given the likelihood that in 3-4 years this canyon will carry as much motor traffic as US 36 to Estes Park does now, I definitely support this project, though I can think of other, greater, priorities for bike lines in the county.
Comment and Observation #2
Residents reportedly raised some concerns about increased bicycle use on the road with the new climbing lane. While I did not hear the specifics of these concerns, I am well familiar with the nature of such objections.
Common objections are that more cyclists will "impede traffic", "impact the safety of drivers in the canyon," "ride two and three abreast and impede traffic", etc. This is my response to such objections.
- Impeding traffic violates traffic law, and I have always advocated riding single file in canyons and elsewhere. However, the single file traffic law seems to be more designed for the motorists' convenience than the safety of cyclists. Single file rules allow cars to speed up and slow down with less impunity.
- The above-mentioned "SINGLE FILE LAW APPLIES", whether an actual law or not, singles out cyclists for not riding single file. While I would not, as mentioned above, and do not advocate riding other than single file in our canyons, I declare this so-called "law" blatantly discriminatory in the absence of another "law", or "rule" which might be worded "NO – CROSSING – DOUBLE – YELLOW – LINE – NEAR – ONCOMING -TRAFFIC LAW APPLIES".
Over many years of cycling in these canyons I have observed that many, if not most, motorists cross double yellow lines, both on the uphill and downhill, which presents a SAFETY HAZARD for an unsuspecting cyclist, not merely a NUISANCE or impediment to CONVENIENCE. Indeed, the only fatality our former above-mentioned Bicycle Touring Group ever suffered claimed the life of a cyclist from Denver on a downhill portion of Lefthand Canyon. While there were no witnesses who actually SAW the accident (some other cyclists did HEAR the impact), I know from my experience that the cyclist need not have, as was claimed at the time, crossed the yellow line into the other lane to have been involved in this head-on crash. If the cyclist took the center of the lane, as is proper and good practice on many downhill portions (meaning motorists should NOT PASS at that time), and if the motorist, a sports car driver, crossed the yellow lane as most do, the outcome was quite predictable.
Comment and Observation #3
Those residents who fear a potential increase in traffic speeds by having more asphalt on the road are in my opinion absolutely correct. For example: The asphalt overlay of Jay Road between 63rd and 75th streets was well traveled by cyclists. As a result the traffic lanes became smoother and the tiny shoulder for cyclists became even tinier, down to a couple of inches in places. Due to this, and poor re-striping, traffic speeds went up. As a result, this road has become, in my opinion at least, more dangerous than it was previously.
Comment and Observation #4
Besides aggressive motorists, an existing danger to cyclists, there is a potential hazard in the making. In one or two places in the canyon, firearms are being discharged regularly, not to speak of the environmental trashing taking place from off-road motor vehicles. It is just as matter of time until an innocent cyclist will be shot accidentally or purposely. I take it that the Forest Service considers these activities perfectly legal. Let's hope that Boulder County does not become another Wild West County like Larimer County, where I have personally been threatened with a shotgun some years ago.
Comment and Observation #5
One final comment. When motorists appear in greater numbers at hearings of this sort than do cyclists, this in itself does not make their arguments more valid. Cyclists are by nature individualists, which is one of the reasons they took up this activity in the first place--certainly not this society, or this state, and not even this county considers this an admirable activity, as do other places in the world. But since motorists have greater ECONOMIC clout (though Boulder County cyclists are not exactly penniless paupers reduced to riding bicycles), their voices are heard, to the point that taxpayer-financed posses are set to capture packs of cyclists by car and by helicopter.
Thank you for your consideration.
Local News – Several Months Late
(This was for the February/March newsletter that was never published.)BURA
A motion was proposed (at the January 1997 meeting) to give the following suggestions in a letter to BURA. 10 voted for the motion. The motion passed.
- A mall from Canyon to Pearl on 26th St. with a bike lane closed to cars.
- Bike parking in the Mall out of the weather at all mall entrances.
- A way for bikes to get through the middle of the mall east to west.
- Institute parking fees for cars for all of Crossroads; the fees should be comparatively low and done with an electronic stick, not an attendant.
- If new businesses are parking for cars, reduce at least some of the parking already there.
- Consider using some of the money from parking fees for a parcel delivery system for purchases by people who shop via bus, bicycle, or by walking.
- Support BURA area shuttle and use parking fees to help pay for it.
- Have storage lockers for goods purchased, perhaps a 3-day limit. Also some lockers, like those at the main Boulder RTD station, for bike parking. Add more bike racks, and keep them clear of snow when they're outside. There should be racks by all entrances to shops and be well-lit.
- Tokens good for delivery of purchases should he given to those whowalk, bike, or bus to Crossroads.
- Certain streets, e.g., 30th, 28th, Pearl, and Arapahoe east of Folsom should be either one way or have on-street bike-lanes. Such bike-lanes should be either 6 feet wide or the right lanes should be shared auto-bike lanes. No additional through lanes for cars should happen anywhere around the area. On-street bike lanes on 30 th and Pearl are highest priority. - Do not, as is being done in some cases, sneak 6 car lanes onto a road that was four lanes; instead, make on-street bike-lanes of two of the car lanes, leaving one lane each way for cars.
- Reinstate the traffic islands (the ones between right hand turn lanes and intersections such as those still surviving at Valmont and Foothills Parkway) that have been removed throughout the area.
- Improve existing facilities where needed, e.g., lighting, intersections and paths, and curb-cuts (e.g. at 30th and Arapahoe). Trees where needed, e.g., on off-street path by Aspen Plaza on west-side of 30th just east of Pearl.
- Implement connecting links where useful, e.g., corners of parking lots (many are specified in the so-called Porter Plan compiled and given to city staff by Fred Porter in 1995).
- Wide sidewalks should be on both sides of the street on all arterials – must legalize bikes on such sidewalks, unless exceptions justified. Bikes must yield to pedestrians on these sidewalks. The sidewalks need to be a minimum of 10 feet in width.
- All arterials should have on-street bike lanes and multi-use off-street paths.
- We support bike lanes on Walnut from Folsom to 26 th .
Update on the Boulder Greenways Workplan for 1997
John Militzer
Gary Lacy, the City Greenways Coordinator, provided input to the City Trails Committee in February concerning work projects scheduled for 1997 as summarized below:
South Boulder Creek Connection to East Boulder Community Center An underpass at Baseline is planned along with a bike/pedestrian trail on the east side of the existing trail to connect EBCC with Gapter Road. Completion anticipated in 1997.
Four Mile Creek Broadway to Northwest Boulder (New) Community Park: A trail along the creek along with flood capacity improvements and stream / reparian restoration between Broadway and the west side of the trailer park should be completed in '97. The CEAP, City Floodway and wetlands permits are pending but should be approved in spring.
Bear Creek / Gilpin Underpass This project, opposed by BBC for excessive cost for debatable benefit, is in progress and should be completed by spring. The trail at Gilpin is still open thanks to the generosity of a homeowner who allowed a short connection through the property and driveway.
Wonderland Creek N. Goose to Valmont: The 'Junk-Yard' trail should be done in '97. It'll connect the now covered underpass of Valmont to the Boulder Creek path via the aforementioned lot and near the far-east end of 'old-Pearl.' The project will help flood capacity and re-create the stream channel which was lost with the 'good-car' lot. It'll be coordinated with the new major park site in the area.
Pearl Parkway R.O.W. to Gunbarrel As reported in an earlier BBC newsletter, this trail is expected to be funded and completed in 1997.
Goose Creek 30th to Folsom Some flood control money may be available to permit construction of the trail segment from the current terminus at 30th to 28th, hopefully including an underpass of 28th. Overall, the entire project is expected to last 3-5 years before completion. Negotiation and design in the 28th street crossing and trailer park area are to be done.
New trail and flood capacity improvements with an underpass of Broadway at Bear/Skunk-Creeks, on the north side of Table-Mesa expected in 1997. The related transportation department Table-Mesa climbing lane should also be done in '97. This underpass is going to be a fun one to watch J
Four Mile Canyon Creek connection at Sumac: I can't comment about this without a visit. It's roughly behind the Elks Lodge site.
Neighborhood Transportation Mitigation
Gwen Vass
The BBC voted unanimously for:
Contingent upon effectiveness and suitability of design for bicycles and pedestrians, and upon cost effectiveness, the Bolder Bicycle Commuters maintains the following positions on neighborhood traffic mitigation tools:
Speed Humps
Strongly in favor
Speed humps need to be designed with no slide sloping surface in the bike lane. (Across the bike lane, the speed hump must maintain a uniform cross section.)
Raised Crosswalks
Strongly in favor
Raised crosswalks should not have texture (bricks, concrete pavers, etc.) in the bike lanes or on the part of the crosswalk on which pedestrians walk.
Raised Intersections
Opposed
These intersections are too expensive.
Stop Signs
Mildly in favor
Traffic Law Enforcement
Strongly in favor
Photo Radar
Strongly in favor
Over Speed Reminder Devices
Mildly in favor
(Speed trailers, lights that flash when you're over speed, etc.)
Street Closures
Mildly in favor
Street closures must let bicycles and pedestrians through.
Medians
The BBC did not reach consensus on medians.
Some BBC members like the concept of medians as used in European wonerfs in which the medians drastically reduce the width of the lane so that the bike and auto must share the lane. Other members did not like this idea. Members did not like medians as currently known in Boulder.
Neckdowns
Mildly in favor
Neckdowns are mildly favorable if and only if they do not force cars to merge with cyclists.
Traffic Circles
Opposed
Too expensive, Dangerous, Intimidating to new cyclists, Confusing to many motorists, Seem somewhat tolerable when traffic levels are very low.
Regional Transportation Task Force
Summarized by Gwen Vass, Topic of Dave Allured and Manfred Schwoch
A coalition has been formed among six Bolder County cities to study the corridors linking the cities. Consultants were hired to study the situation. Dave Allured and Manfred Schwoch have been monitoring the situation by attending meetings in which they can not speak. The consultants have not mentioned bicyclists in their presentations and reports and have only given token concessions to transit (RTD.) Dave is planning on trying the following strategy:
- Asking the group to allow public comment for a short and defined period of time (15-30 minutes) at the beginning of each meeting
- Concentrating on emphasizing the need for a comprehensive travel demand management plan
- Asking for 8 foot wide shoulders and obvious concessions at destinations like showers and bike racks.
Council endorsement for Ruth Blackmore
A motion was made to endorse Ruth Blackmore at the January General Meeting in 1997. There were 6 votes for the motion, 0 opposed, and 4 abstainees.
Bicycle Deaths Tallied
Taken without permission from Bicycle Colorado, Volume 2, Issue 4, Winter 1996/2997
Bicycling is the leading cause of recreation-related deaths for Coloradoans under age 20, according to a recent study called Recreation Fatalities in Colorado, 1993-1995. Six children between 0 and 9 years were killed in bicycle accidents, and 10 victims were between 10 and 19 years of age.
The study, conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, looked at 252 recreation-related deaths in Colorado over a two year period. Overall, 69 deaths were attributed to injuries sustained while climbing and hiking. Bicycling was the next most common cause with 36 deaths. Snow skiing was third with 32.
In analyzing bicycling, the report states: "I is not possible to distinguish between pure recreation and transportation deaths; therefore this category consists of both types of bicycling injury fatalities. There were 36 such bicycling fatalities over the 3-year period."
- Over 85 percent (31) of the bicycling deaths were male.
- The age group 0-9 experienced a greater percentage of deaths due to bicycling than any other age group. In general, the proportion of bicycling deaths decreased as age increased.
- Thirty-four (94%) bicycling deaths occurred in streets, roadways, or highways; 27 (75%) were due to collisions with motor vehicles.
- The majority (67%) of bicycling fatalities occurred during the months May-August.
- More than two bicycle injury deaths occurred in the following counties: Adams 3; El Paso 4; Jefferson 4; Montezuma 3; and Weld 4.
Editorials
Bike Week
John Militzer
The good people at the City Alternative Transportation Center recently offered a free Schwinn bicycle plus some other goodies to the person who could come up with a worthy new name for Boulder's "BikeWeek" (hey, they do what they can with the budget they have). This is because it will now include a new and healthy focus on pedestrian issues and events in addition to the bicycle aspects. I heartily support this expansion, however I'm concerned that because of the required entry deadline (2/18), many good suggestions may be overlooked. Perhaps this paper could sponsor a similar contest for the latecomers. For such a contest, I'd be willing to contribute, at what could be an equivalent capitalization ratio: one flat beer, a half-eaten box of animal crackers and 50-cents toward 'your' next Snickers purchase at a local theater. I think my entry will be: Boulder's "pat yourself on the back for promotional brochures without doing anything substantial to placate the baby boomer guilt complexes inherent in a self centered world outlook age of immaturity so that we can leave the problems for our obviously superior children / grand children to deal with later" Week.
Humorous
Automobile Dependency Questions For Self Diagnosis:
Taken without permission from a How Now Brown Cloud publication
1. Does driving a car provide a "kick" , turn-on, thrill or "high"?
2. Would life without a car be less fun , pleasant or enjoyable?
3. If you had to make a choice, would you choose keeping your car versus keeping your current mate? (Girlfriend, boyfriend, favorite farm animal, etc...)
4. Does having a car mean having "freedom"?
5. You've been in a debilitating accident. If you had to make a choice, would you prefer to live in a wheelchair, which you could, with a little help, get in and out of now and then--or—would you prefer to be the first paraplegic on your block to be bionically implanted in the driver's seat of a new Ferrari testarossa which you would never leave, of course, but which would really be a big hit with the ladies? (Choosing the Ferrari equals a "yes".)
6. Do you frequently judge people by the type of car they own, their driving behavior, or their ability to talk their way out of speeding tickets?
7. You've been working late. Your favorite television sitcom is on in twenty minutes, but it usually takes you thirty to drive home. Do you drive over the speed limit? Even if it's the Simpsons? Even if it's a Brady Bunch rerun and you have a gut feeling it's going to be one of the ones you really like a lot? (Answer counts double if it's the Brady Bunch.)
8. Do you have points on your license?
9. Do you have a romantic attachment to your car or do you covet cars owned by others? Do you like to visit new car showrooms just to check out the latest models, stick your head in a couple of 'em, and get a whiff?
10. Do you seldom weigh the negative aspects of driving—such as risk of injury, personal financial cost, or negative environmental impact?
11. Do you use a car even when an alternate mode--walking, bicycling, being pushed in a shopping cart, etc...--would be equally viable?
12. Do you routinely drive "moderately" over the speed limit or violate other nit-picky traffic regulations such as running a red turn signal or honking just before you kill someone? (You're supposed to honk.)
13. Do you avoid bicycling because either a) the automobile traffic has made bicycling unsafe; or, b) the pollution from automobiles makes bicycling about as pleasant as life in a smoldering dumpster?
14. Does the cost of car ownership cause you to work more than you might otherwise?
15. Do you find the thought of using public transportation repugnant or repulsive? Are you one of the Gabor sisters?
16. Has regular driving left you too out-of-shape to consider using a bicycle or doing more walking?
17. Do you routinely find yourself getting angry at bicyclists or pedestrians who move too slowly and really deserve to die?
18. If rocket powered vehicles were more readily available, would you consider buying one?
19. Have you ever felt remorse after driving?
20. Does driving affect your emotions?
Research indicates that answering yes to seven or more of these questions suggests a pattern of automobile dependency--but only you can decide if you are an "auto 1" -dependent person--or for that matter, if you mind being one.
We might assume that the reason we can use automobiles so freely in this country has something to do with the fact that we live in a free country, that cars are a necessity, etc... A closer look suggests that the underlying reason we can use automobiles so freely is that other people can't. For instance, in China, where approximately one in 70,000 people own a car, automobile usage equivalent to ours would require the sacrifice of forty percent of their current farmland. Imagine though; in a town the size of Boulder, where maybe one or two people owned a car, you'd have to hang around for months waiting to borrow it just for a little trip to the store.
Automobile production and usage can be linked to environmental problems of varying shape and size 1 not to mention military conflicts linked to the control of oil resources.
Although the technology currently exists to produce an inexpensive electric vehicle, which would produce 10 percent or less of the pollution of a gas-powered vehicle, given the necessary recharging process, large manufacturers are opposed to its introduction, since it may lower their profits.
Riding a bicycle or using other alternative modes can decrease stress, improve our health 1 and help us fulfill in a small but very significant way, our role as caretakers of the world we live in.