BCGP Logo Sm   Bicycle Coalition Action Alert  
 

Dear ,

 

Its deja vu all over again!  Councilmen Greenlee recently introduced and amended Bill No. 120327 to require that all new bike lanes that replace parking or travel lanes receive a city council ordinance before being installed.  It's on the Streets Committee agenda for a Tursday May 29th hearing at 1pm. 

 

We need your help!  No other city in this country requires a bicycle lane to wait for a law to be passed by the local legislative body. Philly should not be the first.

 

We hope to fill Room 400 (which has a lot of seats) on Tuesday with supporters who will express their support for our sensible proposal for a review process that doesn't tie bike lanes up in red tape. 
 
If you want to testify at the hearing, contact Sean McMonagle to be placed on the list and bring 20 copies of your testimony. If you can't make it in person, send a short personal email expressing your opinion about this bill to members of the Streets and Services Committee.

We are opposed to an ordinance requirement because: 
  • It adds red tape to professionally designed safety improvements. The bike lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets reduced serious motor vehicle crashes by 44%. Safety improvements proposed by professionals that keep motorists out of the hospital, should not be delayed simply because they are bike lanes. 
  • It singles out bike lanes. No City Council ordinance is needed for a) installing new vehicular travel lanes, b) crosswalks, c) speed bumps, or d) other traffic control measures. Why pick on bike lanes? 
  • Delays can kill bike lanes. Bike lanes are installed during repaving. If approvals are delayed, repaving moves forward without new bike lanes and we are stuck with that street for 20 years. Final plans for repaving are made in the spring, at the same time as City Council passes the budget, and legislative delays seem inevitable. 
City Council has the chance to pass a sensible bill that formalizes the process for reviewing new bike lanes that replace travel or parking lanes, while encouraging Philadelphia's steady march towards becoming a world-class bicycling city. Please join us at City Hall on Tuesday and speak out in support of encouraging biking and not taking a step backward by tying up bike lanes in red tape.

 

Streets and Services Committee Hearing: 1 pm

Where: City Council Chambers (4th floor).  Enter through the NE Corner of City Hall-Public Entrance; (I.D. required)

 

Thank you! Your action makes a big difference and will improve bicycling in Philadelphia.