City Council’s first vote on the Greenville Bicycle Master Plan is two weeks away, so if you haven’t written a letter of support yet, now is the time to do so. I encourage you to address your letters (or emails) to Mayor White and the members of the Council, and also copy City Manager John Castile. In addition to writing, please plan to attend the meeting on Monday, September 26th at 5:30pm in person if you can. The public meeting will take place in Council Chambers on the 10th floor of City Hall (206 South Main Street). If you wish to briefly speak in favor of the plan that evening, show up a few minutes early and sign in with the City Clerk.
For more detailed information about the plan, check out the Executive Summary on the Greenville BMP website and the fact sheet that I posted a couple weeks ago. In this post though, I want to cover a few points that might be worth mentioning in those letters of support.
- The Bicycle Master Plan is the result of over a year’s worth of work by many people including traffic engineers, urban planners, and concerned citizens. About 400 people participated in the two public community workshops and around 700 offered input through the online survey.
- The Plan is a blueprint for future development of a safe bicycle network that will give people more transportation options, as well as a greater opportunity to ride for fun and fitness. In a survey during the plan’s development, 60% of respondents were “interested but concerned” about cycling on the City streets. Those are the people who will benefit the most from this plan, not just the smaller percentage who already ride a bicycle on the roads.
- Currently, South Carolina ranks as one of the worst states in the nation for cyclist and pedestrian deaths per capita. Focusing on making our roads safer for all users should be a major priority.
- Bicycle infrastructure is a good investment and allows Greenville to compete with bigger cities when it comes to attracting businesses and talented people. Executives and professional people are increasingly choosing where to live based on quality of life issues, and bicycle friendliness is a top priority for many of them.
Again, those are just a few points to mention, but I encourage you to read through the Fact Sheet for more. Whatever you write, please send a letter this week. It is important that we let our elected officials know that this plan is something we support.
1 comment:
Interesting article today (09-13) in the Greenville News about the Hampton Ave bridge. That bridge could make a great thru-way for folks living north of Stone Ave to get to the trail (via E. Bramlette). The bridge lies in the county, not the city--so it might not be a part of the master plan. But I think it could be a good thing for the GCRD to work with the city on.
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