Tonight is the meeting of the City of Austin Bicycle Advisory Council and part of the agenda includes discussion of proposed amendments to the recently adopted Master Bicycle Plan. The suggested changes come from Jim Carrillo, a planning consultant hired by the City with Halff Associates, Inc. The amendments include the removal of Speedway on the UT campus as we covered earlier this week, but it also included this gem that Jason at ATXBS found:
• Replace all photos that have unsafe behavior. All photos need to show helmets and close-toed shoes.
The draft Master Bicycle Plan was an elegant document as planning documents go in that it was written in an easily to follow and understand language and the variety of pictures included represented the diverse cycling community in Austin. Now the City’s consultant wants to sanitize our documents to reflect his values and omit large swaths of our community in official documents. Adults riding without a bicycle in Austin is not illegal, and there is no good reason to make this change.
We are not all club riders or safety conscience commuters. Many of us choose to always wear a helmet (me included), but Austin’s bike culture would be a lot less great if it weren’t for our helmetless brethren. They have provided online resources, new events, wonderful rides, and real leadership. Moreover, what’s wrong with sandals? Does Mr. Carrillo ever ride a bike in Texas between May and October? It would be down right un-Austin to remove these folks from the Plan and pretend they don’t exist.
If you don’t like this recommendation, please attend the BAC meeting tonight and let your voice be hear. The meeting begins at 6:30 at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Rd, 8th floor large conference room. If you can’t make it, contact the Bike/Ped program directly via e-mail or by phone at (512) 974-6505.
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Thanks for also running this story. I’m very unhappy with this planned omission (as you probably gathered from my rant) and hope that enough voices from the community will be able to overrule this consultant’s personal bias.
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Annick Beaudet, CoA Bike Program Manager, told me that the request first came from the Assistant City Manager, Rob. (I can’t remember his last name.) Annick complied with the request.
Jim Carrillo from Halff Associates, Inc. is almost certainly just a messenger/secretary on this issue.
I recommend getting clearer facts on this from Annick. She is on the agenda to discuss this at the BAC meeting tonight 7/16/09.
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Tom: Would that be Robert Spillar, our friendly neighborhood transportation director? Sweet, another person to harass when I’m pissed off.
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Robert Goode, Assistant City Manager in charge of Public Works. Better yet, since as city staff as opposed to a consultant, he is actually somewhat accountable to the public. I’m interested to hear more.
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Jason: No, it certainly was not Robert Spillar. (That’s not what I was told.)
Elliott: The last name, Goode, sounds very familiar and I’m certain about the position.
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I think Amsterdam should remove helmetless cyclists from their master plan and see what happens
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Maybe we should take a cue from George Orwell and just remove helmetless cyclists from the streets as well.
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
” Replace photos that have unsafe behavior. Photos need to show helmets and close-toed shoes.” http://tinyurl.com/mskwnc. @austinon2wheels
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
I guess it’s a family friendly concern from a foot fetishist.