{"id":163,"date":"2009-11-26T19:22:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-26T19:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terragrafix.com\/blog\/?p=163"},"modified":"2009-11-26T19:22:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-26T19:22:00","slug":"city-transportation-committee-votes-no-to-keeping-horton-street-safe-for-bicyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=163","title":{"rendered":"City Transportation Committee Votes &quot;No&quot; to Keeping Horton Street Safe for Bicyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta name=\"Keywords\" content=\"\"> <meta equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"> <meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\"> <meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 2008\"> <meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 2008\">  <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <o:officedocumentsettings>   <o:allowpng\/>  <\/o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:worddocument>   <w:zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>   <w:trackmoves>false<\/w:TrackMoves>   <w:trackformatting\/>   <w:punctuationkerning\/>   <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt<\/w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>   <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt<\/w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>   <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0<\/w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>   <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0<\/w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>   <w:validateagainstschemas\/>   <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:ignoremixedcontent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:compatibility>    <w:breakwrappedtables\/>    <w:dontgrowautofit\/>    <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables\/>    <w:dontvertalignintxbx\/>   <\/w:Compatibility>  <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:latentstyles deflockedstate=\"false\" latentstylecount=\"276\">  <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--> <\/p>\n<style> <!--  \/* Font Definitions *\/ @font-face \t{font-family:Arial; \tpanose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:auto; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face \t{font-family:Times; \tpanose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:auto; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0in; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tmso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ascii-font-family:Times; \tmso-fareast-font-family:Times; \tmso-hansi-font-family:Times; \tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:8.5in 11.0in; \tmargin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; \tmso-header-margin:.5in; \tmso-footer-margin:.5in; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p> <!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/ table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0in; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; \tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; \tmso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; \tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; \tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]-->  <!--StartFragment--><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p>by Brian Donahue and Marc Albert<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">Bicyclists pedaling along Emeryville\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only designated north-south Bicycle Boulevard beware.<br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">The city&#8217;s Transportation Committee voted last Tuesday to strip bicycle lanes from a portion of Horton Street in order to accommodate more cars.<br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">The vote by the Transportation Committee, <\/span><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">comprised of City Council members Nora Davis and Ken Bukowski, <\/span><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">ignores a unanimous recommendation by the city&#8217;s Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee to either retain the bike lanes or adopt the universal standard for bike boulevards. That standard, <\/span><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">created by the cities of Palo Alto and Berkeley, limit speeds to 25 mph and the number of vehicles to 3,000 per day. The standard is based on traffic engineers&#8217; determination that the street becomes unsafe for bicyclists if speed or traffic increases beyond those numbers. In the case of Horton Street, the bike-ped committee has asked that &#8220;traffic calming&#8221; devices be installed in order to keep the volume and speed of traffic down.<br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><span style=\"\"> <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">Despite the advisory committee&#8217;s concerns over safety, the Transportation Committe voted not only to remove the bike lanes but also refused to install traffic calming. Nora Davis, chairwoman of the committee, responded to concerns with a single-word rejoinder: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Poppycock!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (adopting a favorite retort of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What&#8217;s Good for Bicyclists is Bad for Business <\/span><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">Transportation Committee member Ken Bukowski referenced the potential constraints bike boulevard standards would impose on the planned \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Transit Center,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d an office tower to be built just north of the Amtrak depot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we were to impose a limit on the cars to help bikes, it would hurt development,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bukowski said, thoughtfully. He said that the Horton Street bike boulevard was always intended to be temporary. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;\" ><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;\" >Issues of Safety<\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">Bike-ped committee members Scott Donahue and Sam Fousee say they are already very concerned about bicyclist safety on Horton Street.<br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are already too many cars on Horton Street,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fousee said. He and Donahue said that in order to keep speed and traffic within a safe range, traffic calming is necessary. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">As development along Horton Street continues, the city projects traffic volumes in excess of 9,000 cars a day.<\/span> &#8220;<span style=\"font-family:arial;\">A lot more cars are coming and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing you can do about it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bukowski said. Davis agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/>\n<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">The fate of the Horton Street Bike Boulevard will be decided by the full City Council at its meeting Dec. 15.<span style=\"\"> <\/span>Concerned citizens are encouraged to attend the meeting and have their voices heard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesecretnewsonline.com%2F%3Fp%3D163\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"true\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Brian Donahue and Marc Albert Bicyclists pedaling along Emeryville\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only designated north-south Bicycle Boulevard beware. The city&#8217;s Transportation Committee voted last Tuesday to strip bicycle lanes from a portion of Horton Street in order to accommodate more cars. The &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=163\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}