Two news stories on the Nueces Bike Boulevard problem, and a bit of an insight on the opposition...

First to press was the Austin Chronicle with their article entitled "Bicycle Dreams". They preface the story by stating that there is "no confirmed plan for creating a 'bicycle boulevard' on Nueces Street", and that the city insists "nothing is set in stone" with regards to the whens and hows of the Bike Boulevard. Past that, the story is very good look into the pros and cons of Nueces as a Bike Boulevard, as well as exploring some of the alternate routes such as Rio Grande one block to the west. The story also looks at the LOBV's proposed Bike Boulevard plan, which strongly identified Nueces as the best possible option and calls for a series of traffic diverters, traffic calming devices and bicycle-oriented signage to increase ridership on the street. The story takes a fairly balanced look at the issue, and talks to people on both sides of the fence.

This morning News 8 Austin ran another Nueces Bike Boulevard story with the headline "Bike Boulevard gets vocal opposition on Nueces Street". With a title like that you can guess who they interviewed first. I think the most telling quote as to what the business owners think of the plan has to be "I think what we're going to end up with - if there was a bicycle boulevard - is a very fancy nice street for bikes that's used by a very very small minority of Austinites". In my opinion it seems like it's an INCREDIBLY small minority of Austinites (a mere handful of property owners) who are wanting to hold up a project that could have a much broader benefit than what they see at their front door or bottom line.

So far the opposition has been intense. Of the many property owners, stakeholders and business heads that have been showing up for the meetings, Greg Copp (Copp CPA), Susan Harris (Site Solutions Inc), and Trey Bueche (Bat City Awards) are the most vocal property/business owners opposing this initiative, and from the sound of things one of them (not saying whom) is putting direct political pressure on Annick Beaudet personally, through their contacts within the city. What an asshole. Going after a public official on a personal level because you don't happen to agree with them or the City's vision of the future is a total scumbag move, and completely uncalled for. Speaking of uncalled for, I'm typically a pretty live and let live kinda guy but in this case I'll go straight for the bottom of the barrel and hope the offending party's genitals rot off and their offspring grow up to despise them.

One of the aforementioned business owners has actually engaged the bicycle community in discussion over the issue, which gives us another great insight into their line of thinking. It seems to Mr. Bueche that lowering speed limits downtown and adding more bike lanes would solve whatever problem we have and keep that pesky bike boulevard from passing by the side of his business (which actually faces 18th St). Bean Wear of the Statesman spoke with Annick Beaudet earlier this week and wrote that we aren't expected to see a plan from the city until April, which means there's still a lot of time for business owners OR bikers to give their input.

I hope these stories highlight why it's of UTMOST IMPORTANCE that y'all show up to the upcoming public input meeting on February 24th. The time and location is still 6 to 8 p.m. at Pease Elementary School. The turnout for the last two meetings was OK, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting from y'all. Lets see some bikers this time around! Show the City how important having a functioning bicycle infrastructure is to you. Even if you don't ever plan on using Nueces, show up because this fight reaches FAR beyond the dozen blocks between 15th and 3rd street. This boulevard is going to be the cornerstone of a robust and modern transportation system that INCLUDES bicycles, rather than shuffling them off to the dirt trails and sidewalks. With the rate our city is growing we're going to need it sooner than many people think.