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S.O.S. Arlington |
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Important links! Contact us! The 34 priority street and street segments that are slated for early conversion to on-street bicycle lanes may be viewed here. SaveArlington.com SaveArlington.com is devoted to uncovering the regional committees working on a near day-to-day basis to dismantle and restructure your current lifestyle. If you are unfamiliar with terms such as "the COG" and "New Urbanism", SaveArlington.com is a must read. Printable no bike lanes on streets petition form Additional 230 streets and street segments scheduled for bike lanes Download
the Contact Mayor and all City Council members with a single email Print out our handout Abram Street printable window sign City-wide printable window sign Update #59: Mayor and Council vote for
Thoroughfare Plan by Update #54: Full Council looks at Bike Plan and Thoroughfare Plan Update #52: Bicycle use in Update #49: Citizens Question 28,000 bike rider claim Update #48: Here’s your chance to stand with those who oppose wasting tax dollars! Update #46: Update #45: Candidates field Bike Plan question at April 5th Young Men for Arlington Candidate Update #44: Citizens at Town Hall call for public vote on bike plan Update #40: Bike lanes, a foot in the door for "sustainable development" Update #38: Vote on Street/Bike plan further delayed and the reason Update #35: Will we spend ourselves into oblivion? Update #32: Let County Commissioner Andy Nguyen know you oppose bike lanes on our streets! Update #31: Is the street/bike plan good for Update #28: Council vote moved to March 1st. See our better plan Update #27: How many bike riders does a billion dollar bike plan buy? Update #26: P&Z schedules 2nd hearing on street/bike plan. New date Wed. Feb. 2nd Update #25: How many bike riders does a billion dollar bike plan buy? Update #24: A plan that intentionally creates traffic congestion Update #23: Here’s a street plan we could support Update #22: Billion dollar bicycle boondoggle Update #21: Not a pedal-ready plan Update #19: Councilman Mel LeBlanc announces opposition to bike plan Update #18: Two things MISSING from the 500-plus page street/bike plan Update #16: New Name, New Goal—Kill the Street/Bike Plan Update #15: Update #14: Reducing streets from 2 to 4 lanes
a bad idea. Take Update #13: More good news. City Council vote again delayed due to growing citizen opposition to city-wide street/bike plan Update #10: New street/bike plan could cost the citizens $561 million dollars |
Last updated: S.O.S. Save Our Streets Committee! Is your street
scheduled to be among the first to get bike lanes and possibly lose on-street parking? In the first phase of the
city’s bike plan, these are the streets that will see lane reductions, lane
narrowing, and possible loss of
residential on-street parking due to the addition of bike lanes. Originally, the city said
that parking in bike lanes on residential streets would be prohibited. Now we are told they will allow parking in
bike lanes. Our concern is that once
homeowners accept bike lanes on their street, it will be easy for the city to
prohibit parking later on. The City Council will do a
final reading of the Hike and Bike Plan in early August at which time final
passage will occur. SOS believes bike
lane striping on streets will begin soon thereafter. The city has promised to contact home
owners before doing so. If, however,
you are not notified before striping occurs on your street, please let us
know. The following streets are currently scheduled to get bike
lanes: 1) 2) 3) 4) Margaret from Green Oaks south to Bert 5) 1) Little Road from Green Oaks Treepoint
2) Perkins south of 3) Shorewood and/or 1) 2) 3) Pecan from 4) 5) 6) West Mitchell from 1) Calender from Collins south to Turner-Warner 2) Bowen from Bardin south to
Redstone The nearly 400-page city wide on-street bike plan will: ·
Waste millions
of city and county tax dollars ·
Convert street
repair funds to on-street bike lane development ·
Create traffic
congestion due to traffic lanes becoming bike lanes ·
Increase air
pollution due to needless traffic congestion ·
Discourage
economic development ·
Lower property
values ·
Result in the serious
injury and deaths of bicycle riders Here’s
how members of your City Council voted on
the $53 million Hike and Bike Plan AGAINST Mayor Robert Cluck ·
Voted against
his own plan for political reasons; favors the original $81 million dollar
plan AGAINST Mel
LeBlanc, District
1 (north) ·
Councilperson
LeBlanc was the only Council member to explain why he opposed the plan. All
other council members, both for and against, never bothered to explain to
citizens why they voted as they did.
Mel deserves plenty of “Thank you!” emails. FOR Sheri Capehart, District 2 (south west) AGAINST Robert
Rivera, District 3 (south east) FOR Kathryn Wilemon, District 4 (west) FOR Lana Wolff, District 5 (central/east FOR Robert Shepard, District 6 (city wide) FOR Jimmy Bennett, District 7 (city wide) AGAINST Gene
Patrrick, District 8 (city wide) Another Perspective on Bike Lanes in by Buddy Saunders, Chairman
SOS Save Our Streets Committee Most people see bike riding
as a recreational option with healthful benefits. Almost no one believes exchanging their
automobile for a bicycle is a sensible option. Yet that idea—that people will
give up their cars for bicycles—is a key component of the 30-year Arlington
Hike and Bike Plan. We’ve read the Arlington
Hike and Bike Plan, a massive document running over 380 pages. We’ve walked
commercial and residential streets, getting citizen feedback and collecting
petitions. We know where the citizens
of The original bike plan,
introduced last summer, laced Arlington with a dense network of bike lanes
and aimed to downsize (“road diet”) major streets such as Abram Street and
Mayfield Road from four lanes to just two in order to add bike lanes. These absurdities were soon noted by
citizens and, under pressure, our city council took both streets out of the
plan. As public awareness and
consequent pressure increased, the number of streets slated for on-street
bike lanes was further reduced. Before noting what we
oppose, let’s look at what the citizens of ·
We support
current state law which gives bicyclists the same on-street rights and
responsibilities enjoyed by motorists. ·
We support
adding sidewalks throughout the city where sidewalks are needed. ·
We support a
further expansion of hike and bike paths within ·
We support bike
lanes being added to any street where property owners desire them, the UTA
area being an example. What the citizens of Homeowners do not want to
give up their on-street parking and rightly understand that any such loss
reduces home values. The Arlington
Board of Realtors shares this view. SOS surveyed two streets
that were slated for bike lanes, In this view the citizens
of The Arlington City Council,
on final reading in August, will pass the $53 million Bike Plan despite
overwhelming opposition, but with a provision that allows residents on
streets slated for bike lanes to retain parking in front of their homes. Government at every level
is facing serious funding shortfalls.
State and federal bicycle grants, which are driving city hall’s quest
for bike lanes, will soon dry up. At
that point, interest in bike lanes will vanish. With these factors in mind, together with a
simple dose of reality, we see a future for recreational bike riding in We are the SOS Save Our Streets Committee Email SOS Save Our
Streets Committee at contact@sosarlingtonstreets.com Visit our web site at www.sosarlingtonstreets.com Email contact@sosarlingtonstreets.com with the subject “add to mailing list” to sign-up for email updates. Call 817-860-7827 or 817-795-2580 for more info! |
