I had quit commenting, but you not only brought it up again but referenced it.

I am glad there are so few problems in Austin that you have the desire to “help us out” in Dallas.

TAKE THE LANE

I’ve lived in Dallas for 12 years and can tell you first hand that the majority of cyclists I ride with want bicycle lanes. We talk about it regularly now. I’ve just learned of the people in Oak Cliff who are fighting this, but they are just one of many leading the charge. Cyclicsts in Uptown, and the Greenville area are also becoming more vocal.

I just wanted you to know that it does help having you and others throughout the state point out the failings of the current city staff. If you’re not doing it, I guarantee they’re happy to pick apart your systems in presentations, on blogs, and through email campaigns. Also it’s obvious that those objecting to you just happen to be personal friends of PM.

1. I would hardly call what we are doing a vendetta. We’ve written one article and linked to it a few time.

2. The Dallas bike coordinator made public statements about city policy. He is a public official, and I think this is a totally legitimate issue to discuss in this forum. We are not calling his momma names or getting personal. We are just having a discussion of ideas.

3. Your assumptions about what staff’s duties are incorrect for a City Manager style government such as Dallas. City Manager style government was a response by the progressive populist movement of the early 20th century to the excesses of the strong mayor system including patronage appointments of city staff. In Dallas as most Texas cities, the City Manager who is appointed, not elected, serves as the chief executive executing the policies adopted by the city council, the elected body of the citizens. City staff serve under the City Manager to implement these policies. The Mayor is a vote on the city council, its presiding office, and the titular head of the city but does not directly tell staff what to do. The key point here is that the City Council as the only elected representative of the public set city policy, not staff.

As far as I can tell, the Dallas City Council has never adopted a policy that there should be no bike lanes. If this is the case, by making the provocative, public statements about bike facilities the Dallas bike coordinator is setting policy for the city, which is outside his authority. Either he made these comments without consulting the City’s public affairs department or made them with the approval of the department which would reinforce the idea that it is city policy. If either is the case, I think the Dallas city legal department might want to have him issue statement of clarification on the policy at the least. Similar instances of staff attempting to make policy have been the subject of lawsuits against the city of Austin.

My issue here is not just of policy difference but of good government. Unless there is a policy of the Dallas City Council that bike facilities not be built, citizens requesting such infrastructure deserve a clear, transparent process that involves staff listening to their requests, analyzing each request on its merits, and justifying any decisions with empirical data. Making a blanket statement that no facilities will be built is a policy statement, not a case by case process. It was inappropriate for the bike coordinator to make such statements and is not his job. That power resides with the duly elected representatives of the citizens of Dallas. If he wants to set policy, he should run for city council.

The Dallas policy is no bike lanes, while the Bishop Arts district wants bike lanes, does their neighbor Kessler Park? How about Bent Tree Community? How about Lakeview? How about the M sttreets? Lower Greenviell? The Village? It is the policy of Dallas, granted is was suggested by the Coordinator, but if he does not have the support of the majority of the city THEY should call to do something about it. I read most of the bike blogs in Texas and for some reason you bring up this more even than the Oak Cliff Blog. It just causes me to wounder.

Additionally, the gentleman in question and I rode together back when he got the job almost 19 years ago so all the advances that the city has made, that you reference, have been under his watch.

Again I say, unlike you, the policy that Dallas follows is not “wrong” just different than the one that you choose to follow. There are many more cities with out bike lanes than there are with them.

I can point to a number of Bike/ car fatalities in Portland in just the last year so there might be someone wrong here but it is not necessarily in Dallas.

If Mr. Summer actually wants more people to bike for transportation in Dallas, clearly his strategy is wrong. With all the advances in urban design and transportation that Dallas has made in the last 15 years or so, it’s sad to see them held back in this key area.