Comments on: April 13th Advocacy Meeting Agenda http://ribike.org/2009/04/08/advocacy-meeting-april-2nd Working to make cycling in the Ocean State safer and more enjoyable for YOU Mon, 21 May 2012 17:15:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Alan Barta http://ribike.org/2009/04/08/advocacy-meeting-april-2nd/comment-page-1#comment-12424 Alan Barta Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:35:15 +0000 http://bikeprovidence.org/?p=488#comment-12424 It won't be the only website I've been banned from for criticizing criminal, lackluster leadership. You get NOWHERE congratulating officials for doing their job. You do get SOMEWHERE threatening to expose or recall them for not doing it. Let's face it, bikeways are a cottage industry for a select few. I don't even use them much, not since they've become havens for gangs. I have thanked in person everyone responsible for implementing the many suggestions that I've forwarded over the decade I've been at this. RI cyclists desperately need improvements on streets. Whether that's sharrows, shoulders, striping or widening, it's the law and must be done. Wake up. In the last few years, before the economic downturn, 4 bike shops closed of the 12 or so we had. Only the chain stores and diehards are left, and they're all struggling. People want to ride bikes, but are rightly afraid with the lack of road sharing... even though it's their right! It won't be the only website I've been banned from for criticizing criminal, lackluster leadership. You get NOWHERE congratulating officials for doing their job. You do get SOMEWHERE threatening to expose or recall them for not doing it. Let's face it, bikeways are a cottage industry for a select few. I don't even use them much, not since they've become havens for gangs.

I have thanked in person everyone responsible for implementing the many suggestions that I've forwarded over the decade I've been at this.

RI cyclists desperately need improvements on streets. Whether that's sharrows, shoulders, striping or widening, it's the law and must be done.

Wake up. In the last few years, before the economic downturn, 4 bike shops closed of the 12 or so we had. Only the chain stores and diehards are left, and they're all struggling. People want to ride bikes, but are rightly afraid with the lack of road sharing… even though it's their right!

]]> By: Eric http://ribike.org/2009/04/08/advocacy-meeting-april-2nd/comment-page-1#comment-12379 Eric Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:33:44 +0000 http://bikeprovidence.org/?p=488#comment-12379 Alan: Comments here that add to the conversation in a constructive way are always welcome. This website is not intended, however, to serve as an outlet for sarcasm and bitterness. Progress may be slow, slower than any of us would like, but positive changes continue to creep forward. The Providence Bicycle Coalition supports those efforts and urges more. We recognize that the public needs not to attack government, but to work WITH government to institute change, not attack. Working with government means applauding what they do right, urging them to change what we see as poor plans, and suggesting new ideas for the future. Alan:

Comments here that add to the conversation in a constructive way are always welcome. This website is not intended, however, to serve as an outlet for sarcasm and bitterness.

Progress may be slow, slower than any of us would like, but positive changes continue to creep forward. The Providence Bicycle Coalition supports those efforts and urges more. We recognize that the public needs not to attack government, but to work WITH government to institute change, not attack. Working with government means applauding what they do right, urging them to change what we see as poor plans, and suggesting new ideas for the future.

]]> By: Alan Barta http://ribike.org/2009/04/08/advocacy-meeting-april-2nd/comment-page-1#comment-12373 Alan Barta Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:20:18 +0000 http://bikeprovidence.org/?p=488#comment-12373 Yeah, Eric, report on bikepath updates... that should take about 1 second: None. The 2-mile, already engineered and graded connector between Warwick and Coventry hasn't been touched in 8 years. Providence's promises year after year at those bike-to-work day events echo hollowly. Broadway still isn't striped. Shall we boast of our 42 miles of paths? The State of Indiana beats RI 8:1. <a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20090409/LOCAL0101/904090411" rel="nofollow">http://www.indystar.com/article/20090409/LOCAL010...</a> They have 350 paved miles already in use of their planned 2,200. It's not only embarrassingly more, they're really enthusiastic about giving bicyclists what they need. "We don't have oceans and mountains, but we have great greenways!"Their capitol, Indianapolis, alone has more than our entire state, 58 miles with another 142 in progress. Ours, which desperately needs some, has only 4, with ~7 miles of striped streets, despite the fact that it's federal and state law to accommodate cyclists on all streets wider than 28 feet. So RI cities and towns and RIDOT can break laws, and nobody cares? Maybe in Indiana engineering doesn't absorb the lionshare of bikeway building. They get almost 2 miles for every 1 we install. Don't think they're even using rail rights-of-way, which were already engineered long ago to carry trains, not bikes and humans. That approach is so ingrained around here, you can't get anybody to consider cul-de-sacs, public parks, or wasted municipal space as great candidates for paved bike/ped connections, even when such cut-troughs are already being used that way. Yeah, Eric, report on bikepath updates… that should take about 1 second: None. The 2-mile, already engineered and graded connector between Warwick and Coventry hasn't been touched in 8 years. Providence's promises year after year at those bike-to-work day events echo hollowly. Broadway still isn't striped.

Shall we boast of our 42 miles of paths? The State of Indiana beats RI 8:1.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20090409/LOCAL010…
They have 350 paved miles already in use of their planned 2,200. It's not only embarrassingly more, they're really enthusiastic about giving bicyclists what they need. "We don't have oceans and mountains, but we have great greenways!"Their capitol, Indianapolis, alone has more than our entire state, 58 miles with another 142 in progress. Ours, which desperately needs some, has only 4, with ~7 miles of striped streets, despite the fact that it's federal and state law to accommodate cyclists on all streets wider than 28 feet. So RI cities and towns and RIDOT can break laws, and nobody cares?

Maybe in Indiana engineering doesn't absorb the lionshare of bikeway building. They get almost 2 miles for every 1 we install. Don't think they're even using rail rights-of-way, which were already engineered long ago to carry trains, not bikes and humans. That approach is so ingrained around here, you can't get anybody to consider cul-de-sacs, public parks, or wasted municipal space as great candidates for paved bike/ped connections, even when such cut-troughs are already being used that way.

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