Friday, April 23, 2010

City Of Tampa Drops Plan To Put Bike Lanes On Euclid Avenue

Word is out that the city of Tampa is breaking its commitment to stripe bike lanes on Euclid Avenue as part of re-paving the road. Seems some residents are upset that they are losing parking on the road and won't have space for friends who come over for book club meetings (that's an actual example).

Well, the city of Tampa, always looking to accommodate the convenience of book club meeting participants over the safety of bicyclists, has reneged on its initial plan to stripe bike lanes.

Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena found out about this and wrote a letter to Mayor Pam Iorio, Council Chairman Tom Scott and council members and Transportation Planning Director Jean Dorzback:

"Yesterday I became aware that the City Administration removed a proposed bicycle lane planned for Euclid Avenue. This is contrary to what was conveyed to City Council by the Administration at a recent public meeting.

"Also, yesterday my deputy campaign manager was hit by a car while riding her bicycle home from the office. Fortunately, she suffered only minor injuries, but her bicycle was destroyed.

"Our community must improve our behavior to make bicycle-riding a safe mode of transportation. We must educate motorists to respect the rights of bicyclists to share the road and we must create a network of bicycle lanes to allow bicyclists safe routes community-wide.

"I will request our Transportation Department to appear and report on May 20 under Staff Reports on how we will address these safety needs and why the commitment to bicycle safety on Euclid Avenue is being broken."

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I can just see somebody getting "doored" by a member of that book club... what a bunch of B.S.!

CyclerJim said...

I would expect nothing less from the city of Tampa after seeing the new Gandy Blvd. They don't care how many of us are injured and killed. They feel nice and safe in their SUVs.

Donald said...

It's not like they don't park in bike lanes as it is...

This is pretty ridiculous though. Reminds me of this series of silly events a few months ago.

GhostRider said...

Hooray! What a surprise...some south Tampa richie complaining about those heathen cyclists and the City listens. Ugh.

Time to send a letter to the Mayor. Again.

peep said...

Anyway to find out who is behind this decision?

Bravo to Linda S Sena for standing up for cycling.

Charles said...

How do we find out more info on this? I've been digging, but haven't turned up who to contact or who is behind it. I reposted this on our blog. Thanks for the info Alan! If we make enough noise about these, hopefully somebody will listen.
-Charles
Tampa Street Market