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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHandout, Presentation to the Parks and Recreation Board , People Power on the Paths~1~ ~ ~~ ~(~~~~ Presentation to the Parks and Recreation Board ~ January 28, 2002 My name is Charlotte Sorenson 1 hve at 603 Spruce Street I am spealung tomght as a representatroe of a group of concerned crt~zens, People Power on the Paths (PPOP) 1 am here to speak m opposition to the recommendauon made to the City Council by the Transportauon Advisory Board (TAB) to perm~t e-bdces on Boulder's s~dewalks and pedestnan/bicycle paths We beheve that, if passed by Crty Counc~l, TAB's recommendanon would confl~ct w~th one of the key goals of the Parks & Recrearion Board as stated on page 91 of the Greenways Master Plan passed by Council in November "The Parks & Recreat~on Master Plan recogmzes the commumty need for more undeveloped open land and natural pazks wrtiun the city for u~et, ap ss~ve recreation " The Greenways plan also states "The Bicycle System Plan acknowledges that the Greenways system will rema~n important to cycLsts who opt to nde away from traffic or who nde pnmanly because they en~oy the human and natural interactions which the Greenways paths prov~de ° (pp 89-90) Finally, the plan states "The City will allow opporturuties for tranquil reflect~on on the ~ complex~ty and beauty of nature "(p 73) Allowmg ~ motonzed veh~cles on Boulder's s~dewalks and paths mcludmg e-bikes would be in direct confl~ct wrth all of these stated goals We believe, further, that TAB's recommendation is based upon madequate pubLc rev~ew and mput, and on ~nadequate stud~es of the potent~al ~mpact of e-bikes For example, the Transportanon Department mformation conta~ns no d~scuss~on of the width of the vanous mult~-use paths m Boulder Tius is a cntical matter There are nationa7ly accepted guidelmes for the w~dth of multi-use paths, with 12' bemg recommended and 10' bemg mtmmum Many of Boulder's paths are 6'- 8' m width, well below the gu~deLnes And most of the city's sidewalks are no more than 4' ~n w~dth~ We ttunk that TAB ult~mately would like slowly to transform Boulder's umque system of pedestnan/bicycle paths mto "mmi-streets " F~rst, TAB would like to re-define an e-b~ke as "~ust a bike " However, an e-bike has a motor and is thus a motonzed vehicle (as defined by the C~ty of Boulder ) lt is currently ~llegal to use an e-b~ke on Boulder's sidewalks and pedestrian/b~cycle paths Second, TAB would hke the pubLc to bel~eve that there will be "only a few° of these vehtcles on the sidewalks and the paths True today and maybe for the neact few years ~ However, there are about 200 manufacturers worldw~de who make e-bikes As pnces go .- . _ ~ '~ . , 2 down and technology unproves, usage could mcrease dramaucally, addmg s~gruficantly to the e~ustmg congestion and danger on the paths ,,., ... Third, TAB wants the public to believe that "these velvcles were not built to appea] to speed demons " In fact, the Opti-B~ke, designed m North Boulder by hm Turner conforms to TAB's guidelines of 400 watts, but as Jim told my husband and me m a recent vis~t "It is built for speed It can go 25-30mph, about as fast as a car on Boulder's streets " Fourth, TAB wants the pubhc to "try it for a year " Tlus ~s truly seductrve There may not be many problems dunng the first few yeazs, but there certamly will be as tune goes on With v~rtually no enforcement on the paths, there wdl be no way to control the models, wattage, speeds, nosse or type of motonzed velucles (electnc or gas scooters, electnc mopeds, etc ) New motorized gadgets are comu~g out all of the t~me Last week I read about a hydrogen fuel-cell powered fold-up scooter Last rught my husband and I saw an elecmc "Tortoise .A~rways" pedt-cab on Pearl Street It is a shppery slope TAB is to be commended for trying to encourage altemahve modes of transportatwn However, it is our opiruon (and that of hundreds of cit~zens w~th whom we have spoken), that because of serious issues of safety and total lack of enforcement, all motorized velvcles should be restncted to bicycle lanes and the city streets, where they are currently permuted You need only to look at a transportahon map of Boulder to see that you can get anywhere in Boulder using the bicycle lanes and the city streets Boulder's sidewalks and recreat~onal pedestnan/b~cycle paths should be reserved for ^ ... human-powered activ~ties We bel~eve a vote to pernut motonzed e-bikes on the paths is a vote against - pedestrians, - parents with mfants in strollers - young ctuldren - older or disabled pedestnans who want a qu~et, safe stroll away from the c~ty streets, - and, finally, agamst the stated goals of the recently approved Greenways Master Plan For all of these reasons and on behalf of Peop{e Power On The Paths, 1 urge you to vote aea~nst the use of motonzed e-bdces on Boulders sidewalks and pedestnan / bike paths '""',