BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor
You know those new bike lanes on El Camino Real that nobody uses? They were forced on Palo Alto and other cities by Caltrans. Now some cities are ripping them out. They say they’re hurting the businesses who need the parking that the lanes eliminated.
Bike advocates are pushing a bill (SB569) to make removal nearly impossible.
The bill adds a bunch of red tape to delay any effort to remove bike lanes, and it prevents the removal of lanes built with state money for 20 years.
The bill is authored by Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and sponsored by the California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike).
An earlier version of SB569 gave cities more authority to remove homeless encampments, but it wasn’t going anywhere. So Blakespear removed all of the language about homelessness and replaced it with CalBike’s plan to save bike lanes. Legislators are much more enthusiastic about catering to the bicycle lobby than they are combatting the homelessness crisis.
The “bicycle lobby” is totally out of control, as are it’s members. Woodside Rd. now has 3 or 4 miles of extra wide bike lanes, next to “no parking” red zone curbs. Some businesses are now barely accessible … except of course, by bikes! 🙂
At least we can thank the bike lanes on El Camino in Palo Alto for getting rid of the shanty town of RVs.
Seems like city council should move quickly to remove these lanes before it becomes impossible to do so. Don’t ask for permission from Caltrans, just do it.
It’s way past time for the City Council to start insisting PA enforce the laws on its books.
It’s not like they aren’t copied on the bi-weekly email from Robert Marinaro showing the latest OSV count and locations.
Shame on them for not even responding or thanking him for the herculean UNPAID job he’s doing while continuing to support PA’s many consultants who lack even the basic local knowledge.
I support equal taxation for equal use. Start taxing bikes like cars and require a license to ride one. Add extra taxes to bike parts and accessories to help pay for better bike lanes on community and rural roads.
Blakespear is not a credible “bike advocate,” she is a fear mongering wannabe social engineer miffed that as the former mayor of Encinitas, following injury and damage created by her “protected” bike lanes, the current city government is removing or altering her baby. There is zero credible proof that hardened cycletracks “save lives.” They complicate conflicts at intersections where the real danger is to make 1% of citizens “feel” safer.