Seriously? Me. That’s it. I was, and am, upset that I couldn’t rally any support within the bike community. When the helmet hearing happened later that year and cyclists showed out in droves, I was like, “Great, but where were you a few months ago when the City was okay’ing parking in bike lanes on Shoal Creek?”

Actually, there was one other cyclist: Stan Truxillo of the Austin Cycling Association spoke at an earlier meeting (2 meetings before the final vote), telling the Council in no uncertain terms that the ACA was just fine with the Council okay’ing parking in bike lanes. I was like, Geez, with friends like these, who needs enemies? When I complained publicly about this on the email list, veteran ACA’ers got all pissed off that I was “attacking” the ACA and quit the list. They had zero concern or responsibility that the rep of their group lobbied *for* parking in bike lanes, they were just angry that I correctly pointed that out.

After this, I spoke at the UTC meeting against cars in bike lanes. I was the only cyclist there. The UTC passed it anyway, overwhelmingly.

At the next and final City Council meeting on the topic, I spoke again, delivering a 10-minute visual presentation on the topic, complete with pictures and diagrams, showing what it looks like when SUV’s take up the whole bike lane, and how it’s dangerous for cyclists to go around parked cars, not just for the cyclists, but for the motorists who then cross the double line to go into the opposing lane. Stan Truxillo was back, this time having been shamed into reversing the ACA’s earlier position, and supported the no-car-in-bike-lanes idea.

But it was too late. The vote was 5-2 for cars in bike lanes. The only dissents with Will Wynn and Raul Alvarez. I think Leffingwell was the only Yes who is still on the council.

This means that all efforts are to be directed towards the goal of achieving it and, as shown at the two meetings at Pease Elementary, we have the support of the people.

The CoA has put on the table the proposition that they were interested in creating a Nueces Bike Blvd with the provision of not placing bollards nor large diverters on it. This may be perceived as a major blow to the whole boulevard concept, but despite it being a hefty compromise it is regarded as an acceptable compromise by many bicycle commuters.

Now, I understand that this compromise should be the last sacrifice from the bike community; ‘the line on the sand’ as the only one who was right, rightly says.

I have to say that the nine members steering comitee constitution is very scary indeed, we have two —perhaps three— members commited to the Nueces Bike Boulevard.

At the Pease Elem meetings the crowd was clearly in favor of the Nueces Bike Blvd. Why the difference? In an attempt by the city to be fair to all parts, we ended up with this strange composition of the body. That’s not the kind of weird we want in Austin.

I said it before and I insist, this is the fight to fight. Were we to lose achieving the boulevard against a handful of myopic tenants (who will benefit a good deal from a great public space), we will be subjected to beg for sharing every parking lane while calling it a bike lane.

“Simply put: The City Council’s job is not to tell people to compromise. A chimp with a tape recorder could do that. Their job should be to make decisions when choices must be made between competing interests, whether it’s about zoning/infill/NIMBY, or parking-vs-bike-lanes.

Their abrogation of responsibility here is primarily to blame – although I also blame the rest of the UTC for their vote for providing at least some apparent cover for the consensus-compromise-plan.”

You have to go back to some of Michael Bluejay’s very early stuff here: http://bicycleaustin.info/roadways/shoalcreek2.html

or some of my posts to the bicycleaustin email list from the same time period.

There should be no rides planned for Feb. 24 unless that ride goes straight to Pease Elem. for the last public input meeting.

At some point I’d like to to hear the history of what happened before the 06 meeting behind the scenes.