RALLY for Austin bicycling at City Hall!

It begins with a ride from Caffe Medici on the Drag, i.e. Guadalupe St. Meet there at 10am, and depart at 10:15am SHARP. The ride will go down the beloved (if not “boulevard”) street of Nueces. We expect the ride to arrive at City Hall with time to spare.

The Nueces/Downtown Bicycle Boulevard briefing item is on the City Council agenda on Thursday, June 24th, at 10:30am or later: Item # 104

It is scheduled to be the second of three items between 10:30am-12noon. The best estimate is that it will start just after 11am. Keep in touch via Twitter: http://twitter.com/lobvaustin

Since this is planned to be only a briefing and not a council vote, there will be no public input (at the microphone) at this meeting. However, we still need to show our support for bicycling in Austin at the City Council Chambers. We can give public input with our presence. By showing the dedication and numbers of bicyclists at City Hall, we will remind City Council that more and better bicycling facilities must continue to come to Austin. Bring your bike pin, bike shirt, and/or other bike paraphernalia, and let’s fill the room.

AFTER the City Council briefing, we’ll head over to Halcyon Coffee Bar Lounge a few blocks away at 4th & Lavaca Sts. Halcyon is offering a special happy hour for us. Just make sure you pick up a League of Bicycling Voters sticker to identify yourself for your happy hour discounts. (Look for Vince.) No, you don’t have to drink (alcohol), but it will be an opportunity to plot, plan, share, and socialize with your fellow interested cyclists.

I would have liked to have been there, but I’m currently in Copenhagen at the Velo-City Global 2010 (bicycle conference). Indeed, here there are many bike boulevards and cycletracks, and indeed, people on bikes, as well. So too in Austin, with dedication from all of us, we will create the Austin of our dreams, the Austin of our future: an Austin full of bikes and public people.

From the City of Austin Bike Program:

Subject: Downtown Bicycle Boulevard Date Change
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 16:08:25 -0500
From: Barrera, Nadia

The City Council has requested that the Downtown Bicycle Boulevard Briefing be moved from this week to the June 24 Council meeting at 10:30 AM at City Hall.
Please contact Annick Beaudet (512) 974-6505 with any questions.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/publicworks/bicycle.htm

Annick C. Beaudet, AICP
Program Consultant – Planning
Neighborhood Connectivity Division
Department of Public Works
City of Austin
505 Barton Springs Road, Suite 900
Austin, Texas 78704
office 512-974-6505
cell 512-784-3085

I attended the city’s Downtown Austin Plan Town Hall last night at the Waller Creek Center. Most of the usual Bike Blvd. opponents were there. However, nary a word was said against keeping both Rio Grande St. and Nueces St. as bike priority streets in the Downtown Austin Plan (DAP) for the Northwest District (of downtown). Perhaps the audience was too winded after finding so many other components of the plan so objectionable.

The only questioning about the bike boulevard or the bike priority streets was when one gentleman inquired about the diameter of the traffic circles planned for Rio Grande St. (as specified in City staff’s recommendation). The city’s response was that the DAP does not cover such details. The opposition has repeatedly brought up their concern that traffic circles may be so wide that they will calm traffic, which, of course, is the intent of the traffic circles when four-way stop-signs are taken out. At Nueces Bike Blvd. Steering Committee meetings, City bike program staff has made it clear that the diameter of the traffic circles will be mostly dependent on engineering concerns, not political concerns (from any side).

The Austin City Council will be voting on the Downtown Austin Plan later this month, likely on June 24th (the same date as the briefing on the Downtown Bicycle Boulevard).