You knew it was coming. 4 laws “Thus far” need to be changed. The bikes aren’t allowed where they want to put them, the signs don’t comply with the sign code, a charter ordinance is needed to advertise in the Right of Way and something about the permit process. You can’t make this stuff up.
From: Harmon, Ray
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 12:48 PM
To: Harmon, Ray
Subject: B cycleHello and Happy Valentine’s Day!
I wanted to give you a quick update on B cycle and to let you know that draft legislation will be forthcoming this week re the bicycle sharing facilities (bike stations, informational signs, bicycles, solar panels and other equipment) within the right-of-way. The ordinance amendments are necessary next steps to keep the project moving forward. The other critical piece is the determination of bike station locations which is happening simultaneously.
Led by Kevin Briski a team of internal and external stakeholders have been meeting to determine station locations. The team consist of staff from TE, Planning, Parks, PBMVC Chair, Bike Fed, City Attorney’s office, Mayor’s office, B cycle reps and Engineering. Each site suggested by Alders and others is being thoroughly examined for visibility, accessibility, distance between stations, existing bike infrastructure, high density, MGO requirements, competition, space requirements and if it just makes good sense. The team will keep meeting over the next few weeks to develop a list of top locations and those locations will be shared with Alders and the public as well.
Parallel to the station location planning team meetings I’ve been working the City Attorney’s office in developing the necessary ordinance amendments for the bike sharing program. Thus far the ordinance changes needed will be to Ch. 28 to make the stations permitted uses on private property in various districts, changes to Ch. 31, the sign code, a charter ordinance to establish home rule for advertising in ROW and the permit process in Ch. 10.
This is going to be a lot of information and I want to make sure you have the info early enough to review it, digest it and ask questions. The plan is to introduce some of the amendments at the Feb 22nd council meeting. I’m hoping to still have your support for B cycle as the amendments wind their way through the approval process and back to Council for final approval.
Please let me know if you have any questions and or concerns now, when you receive copies of the amendments or anytime during the process.
Sincerely,
Ray Harmon
Office of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
You knew some of the local statutes would need to be updated.
The advertising one is obvious. The bike kiosks will eventually be underwritten by businesses.
You can’t put a city funded thing on the Willy Street Coop parking lot. Might that be a good location? Of course! It follows therefore that the statutes need flexibility to put the bike stands where they make sense.
And so on.
As for “you can’t make this up”…
Questioning the lobby issue is reasonable. There are issues there that need to be resolved. Running this into the ground over trivia is unreasonable.
Dave might not be right on this issue… but neither are you.
You’re really still upset about this? I’ve looked into the program as it exists in the other cities, and at what’s being planned for Madison, and I can find nothing onerous about the entire thing.
It’s a cool program that brings both great PR for Madison (attracting tourists and young job seekers alike), and an eco-friendly mode of public transit.
The companies involved are paying far and away the lion’s share of the cost and not expecting to even make money on the project. So Madison has to pass a few minor ordinance exceptions to make it work. I think there are other proposals and projects worth our time and teeth gnashing, frankly, and I’m a little unsure as to why this in particular has become such an issue.
When I’m upset, you will know. Pointing out that changing the entire sign code to allow more advertising that would not currently be allowed for this program allows others to then do the same, which we would not otherwise do. If this were not a bike program, but something else, would we be so willing to change the laws? It’s called favoritism. And even when the program is cool, its still favoritism and I’ve seen way too much of it to be comfortable. Why do people get so upset when I point these things out? If it were some other business would people be as supportive. This is changing the culture of the way things get done. They did it for the Edgewater, now B-cycle, who’s next? The new norm is if the laaw doesn’t fit what businesses want, we’ll just change it for them. Is that what you want?
I agree with Brenda.
Emily, this program makes Madison look more like Austin, Portland, and whatever city it is in Colorado that everyone seems so in love with, etc. And that’s precisely why Mayor Dave and his buddies like it. Aren’t these some of the same companies that sent him on the European bike box junket? He just couldn’t possibly check out their stuff from Madison, gotta go there to see it…
I’m not saying I don’t like this program, I’m saying we have FAR more important issues in this city to deal with. A bike program should be dealt with after the other issues are taken care of.
You mentioned “the companies involved are paying far and away the lion’s share of the cost and not expecting to even make money on the project.” You failed to mention the benefits these companies will receive from city subsidized advertising on city property. That is the net effect, after all.
Steve…
It is possible that those of us that like this b-cycle program DO NOT CARE what Portland or Boulder do. It is possible that we like the program on its own merit. It is also possible that we like it despite Mayor Dave and his buddies.
Further… it is also possible that we might not all agree that bicycle infrastructure should be a “lessor” issue to deal with “later”.
This list calls itself “FORWARD LOOKOUT” but, on a clear day, one might wonder…
Will…
That’s certainly possible. I would just appreciate it if people that want this kind of stuff would do it without a city subsidy.
When the fastest growing item on the city operating budget is debt service, we have a lot more important things to think about than some city wide bicycle program. And I’m a frequent bike rider, by the way.
Here’s some Forward Lookout for you: the city is spending money like there’s no tomorrow, the city is doing nothing to cut costs, the city keeps raising property taxes while middle class personal income is falling. We need to reverse this trend before we subsidize projects that result in “great PR for Madison.”