BAC member Michael Cosper expresses frustration with after the fact notice of changes to the Master Bike Plan
Members of the Bicycle Advisory Council vented their frustration with City Bike/Ped staff last night at the lack of notice given for last minute changes to the Master Bike Plan adopted by the Austin City Council in June. The changes were made just days before the Council adopted the final plan, and while they were posted on the City of Austin website, they were not sent to members of the BAC or other leaders in the cycling community.
At issue last night were changes to remove Speedway on the UT campus from the plan and the request to remove pictures of cyclists deemed to be participating in unsafe behavior, namely not wearing a helmet or close-toed shoes.
Many BAC members were visibly frustrated by learning these changes after the fact. “I for one would have shown up to speak [at the City Council meeting] if I had know these changes were in there,”said BAC member Michael Cosper. Cosper believes the exclusion of helmetless riders could effect the whether the more casual rider would bike for short trips near home. “People want to look normal when they get on a bike,” he continued.
City Bicycle Coordinator Annick Beaudet exasperated by the BAC response
Annick Beaudet, the head of the Bike/Ped program, explained the removal of the pictures were at the behest of her boss, Assistant City Manager Robert Goode. “He saw the picture on the first page of the plan with a helmetless rider wearing flip flops and asked ‘Is this what the city wants to promote?’” Beaudet explained. “If the government is promoting something in a document, we are obligated to promote safe behavior.”
When meeting with senior staff about the Master Plan, Beaudet was focused on the core pieces of the plan and ensuring its $250 million price tag was not a non-starter. She admitted that removing the pictures seemed like minor issue in the big scheme of things. She also indicated that only pictures of Austinities displaying such behavior would be removed and pictures from other cities would remain.
Beaudet seemed equally frustrated with the reaction of the BAC members to the change. “I’d rather spend as little time as possible talking about helmets,” she said. “I’m at the point right now where I’m thinking we should just remove all the pictures.”
BAC member Tom Wald discusses the removal of Speedway from the Plan
Beaudet also discussed the last minute changes from the University of Texas. The Bike/Ped staff would like to see Speedway as a bike boulevard from the Capitol to 45th street and sent the plan over to UT in March. The University did not respond until just before the plan passed asking for Speedway to be removed. Since the street on campus is under the control of UT, not the City, the Master Bike Plan can only be a suggestion in this regard. Staff decided to remove this part and will try to re-engage UT on this in the coming months.
New process for removing parking for bike lanes introduced
In response to the Shoal Creek bike lane debacle of several years ago, the staff has been developing a process when removing on street parking to put in bike lanes. Currently, they mail stakeholders (property owners and renters in the affected area) and if 50% respond negatively, this issue is forwarded to the Urban Transportation Commission (UTC) for a public hearing. Staff felt this process did not adequately involve stakeholders early enough in the process to develop a solution.
Bike/Ped Staffer Nathan Wilkes explains the new Parking Removal/Bike Lane Installation Process
The new plan proposed by staff would automatically create a stakeholders meeting where staff could get feedback to craft a proposal that would then be submitted to the UTC. If the UTC approved or took no action on the plan, staff could move forward with the parking removal and bike lane installation. This process have already been tested with parking removal/bike lane installation on Exposition, Mary, and Comal streets.
Related posts:
- UT quitely slipped in last minute amendment to Master Bike Plan to exclude bicycles ...
- City consultant recommends removing hemletless bikers from Master Bike Plan document ...
- Austin Master Bike Plan wins State Planning Project Award ...
- City Council Action on the Master Bike Plan, Part Deux ...
- Austin American Statesman endorses Master Bike Plan ...
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
The sole idea of the creation of the BAC was to offer advice to the CoA. Unfortunately the CoA does not seem to be interested in the advice, but only in the perceived PR cheering from the “bicycle community” embodied in the bicycling advocates who form the BAC.
It’s lesson learnt, and at a high price indeed. From now on the “check and balances” will require a less amicable and amateurish look from the members of the BAC.
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Maybe I’m the only cyclist in Austin who feels this way, but I’m much more concerned about the $250 million in bicycle infrastructure than I am about whether or not there are pictures of helmetless riders in the document. I just think we have much bigger fish to fry than to get ourselves all wrapped around the axle with CoA staff on which pictures to include in the document.
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I suppose I should be happy COA is updating the bike plan and making progress on installing facilities, but I’m truly disappointed by this last-minute edit to purge all those nice pictures of my friends riding their bikes just because some city supervisor/bureaucrat isn’t willing to take a little grief from the small but vocal helmet fundamentalist sect of our cycling community. And where in the hell did this nutty open-toed shoe prohibition come from?
on Jul 17th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
The chances of seeing full funding for the bike plan in this economic environment is zero, we will get some bike lanes, the Pfluger Bridge completion I hope. There is going to be a further reduction of tax revenue for the city and this time next year we may be looking at being another twenty million or more in arrears for revenues, the Austin energy contribution to the general fund could also be at risk because of the increased cost of sustainable energy supplies. As far as fixing the worst infrastructure barriers in this city including the major highway interchanges it is just too expensive and there is no political support from the citizenry. That said we can still get out on the street and live our lives on our bikes, the law is on our side even if the cops ain’t. Stay friendly on the street, stop at the damn red lights and the more people that show up to support our cause the more we are heard.
on Jul 18th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
[...] BAC meeting allows venting over last minute Master Plan changes … by elliott Members of the Bicycle Advisory Council vented their frustration with City Bike/Ped staff last night at the lack of notice given for last minute changes to. … Beaudet also discussed the last minute changes from the University of Texas. The Bike/Ped staff would like to see Speedway as a bike boulevard from the Capitol to 45th street and sent the plan over to UT in March. The University did not respond until just before the plan passed asking for Speedway to be removed. … [...]
on Jul 20th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Mr. Farr, the “small but vocal helmet fundamentalist sect of our cycling community” is obviously the group you ride with…the vast majority of citizens in Austin and also Travis Co. know the benefit of wearing a helmet. Wearing a helmet has saved my life, well or at least my noggin a few times. I’ll wear one if I’m just headed a couple of blocks. I have no real problems if you choose not to, except that I just wish you’d have to pay your own medical costs instead of your insurance company (which raises my rates to pay for your costs).
Mr. Costner, your philosophy “the law is on our side even if the cops ain’t. Stay friendly on the street, stop at the damn red lights” is fundamentally correct, but I wonder if you realize that the Texas Bicycle Coalition (TBC) a number of years ago finally got the legislature to pass a law that stated that when the shoulder of the road is less that 22″, a cyclists has the right to the same space in the moving lane as an auto…AND the cyclist now has the same responsibilities at the auto driver – ie. stop at stop lights, don’t split traffic, signal turns etc.
So the law IS on your side and so are the cops when you obey the law.
I have yet to be in a city that has mass transportation that the citizenry doesn’t complain about it. What I’ve experienced in Austin is far better than, say, San Antonio.
on Jul 22nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
Can we get a photo in of someone hauling a passenger on their handlebars?
on Jul 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 am
B.C. Stones –
You accuse Mr Farr of only knowing about the people he rides with, but then declare that `the vast majority of citizens …’
Is this `vast majority of citizens’ made up of cyclists, or are you including all those people who never ride bikes as the wise ones who know the benefits of wearing a helmet?
If you go out to the outskirts of the city on a weekend morning, most of the cyclists you’ll find are in spandex and wearing helmets — that much is relatively true. But outside of that, cyclists are a lot more varied. The weekend warriors may mostly wear helmets, but the people who ride for daily transportation, the guys who ride during the week, in the middle of town, after midnight — most of these people don’t wear helmets. And I imagine these people as a group put in more miles than the people who only ride on sunday mornings.
on Jul 22nd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Doug,
I think the difference in the people you are talking about is one group considers themselves cyclists and the other people who ride bikes. The plan should be more about the second group which in the end will enlarge the first.
on Jul 23rd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
If I’m understanding B.C. Stones correctly, he’s saying (in a roundabout way) that the vast majority of cyclists in Austin wear helmets? If so, I can’t agree.
To me, it looks more like 40% or so of cyclists on the road are wearing helmets. It’s higher on the weekend, and lower after dark, higher in the ‘burbs, lower in the center of the city, but 40% seems to be a rough average for the area.
on Jul 23rd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
(Of course, this assumes that `people on a bike’ are cyclists. If you define cyclists in some more creative way, then you may get a different result.)