BIKERS AND BIKES DON’T COUNT IN CLEVELAND…
December 10th, 2009I bike. Not a tremdous amount, but I get around Cleveland Heights under my own power when the weather is reasonable. Maybe that’s why I was on the email list (see below for my illustrious company) for a news conference tomorrow. I won’t be able to make it, I have a student at that time out in Chardon, but if you can be there at:
10 a.m., Friday
Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency
1299 Superior Avenue (at East 13th St.)
to stand up for bikes and bikers, please give your support.
From Jim Sheehan:
Large volume of public comments call for ODOT to reconsider lack of bike/pedestrian access on new I-90 Bridge
After a public rally last Sunday where more than a hundred cyclists and walkers were urged to speak up about this issue, scores of letters and emails have been pouring in to the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency in advance of their board meeting on December 11th, when the Ohio Department of Transportation will present an update on the Innerbelt project.
The public was also encouraged to attend that meeting and make comments in person. Organizers expect more people than the board room can hold to attend, with many people planning to speak, using the full 30 minutes allowed for public comment.
Letters in support of a dedicated, separate space on the bridge for non-motorized traffic have come from individuals, businesses, social service, philanthropic and religious organizations. Congressman Dennis Kucinich wrote to governor Strickland in support of this idea before last Sunday’s rally.
ODOT has refused to consider this public amenity despite strong community support. This decision is in conflict with NOACA’s principals to encourage multimodal transportation options, federal law, and ODOT’s own policies, organizers feel.
The importance of this bridge to Cleveland’s transportation grid, and the size of the investment in it ($450 million, ODOT’s largest ever), has prompted ClevelandBikes, a local advocacy group, to file a federal lawsuit against ODOT, and to organize this event in collaboration with several other groups, including the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative of Kent State University, the Green City Blue Lake Institute, the Earth Day Coalition, and the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op.
Take a look at the legal and policy aspects as well as images, including an artists’ rendering of how this facility could look.
Here’s the other media invited for tomorrow. I am truly amazed that Have Coffee Will Write was on the list.
19tips*woio.com; promotions*wkbn.com; promotions*wytv.com; dsmith*univision.net; fox8news*fox8cleveland.com; gazetrm93*aol.com; info*cable.org; news*wkyc.com; 5tips*newsnet5.com; editor*plaind.com; emcIntyre*plaind.com; metrodesk*plaind.com; tomalley*plaind.com; pfmorris*plaind.com; gichael gill; tomas mulready; steven litt; and news*wcpn.org
[...] writes: There is another Planning Commission meeting tomorrow at which a resolution supporting bike ped access is expected. 9am room 514, if you can make [...]