DColeKC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:09 am
I’m not a big bike lane advocate because I believe they’re seriously under utilized but I get what the goal is. I’m definitely not anti-bike lanes
but how can anyone be mad about business owners who are simply protecting how they make a living? I don’t care what kind of hats they wear or what color their skin is.
If any of us owned a business and the city did something to negatively impact that business, we’d be upset too.
The push for bike lanes and “build it and they will come” strategy isn’t anything new.
A consistently bad idea to force people into using other forms of transportation. No different than make the current most popular form expensive and subsidize the new way.
Thing is, if these bike lanes are really hurting their business, there's a major problem on their own end. If businesses on Main can deal with over two years of roadwork, detours, closures and no on street parking, and businesses on Southwest could put up with years of dirty roadwork, and the Truman Road businesses can't survive after 2 months of bike lanes, then maybe Truman Road businesses should reconsider their business model. I'd say the roadwork on Main and Southwest is far more of a hinderance to customers than repaving and putting some bike lanes in.
Why is it that businesses along the Hampton, Gravois, Grand (in select areas), South Broadway, Morgan Ford, Union and others in St. Louis were successfully able to adapt with the implementation of bike lanes and road diets? Auto repair, auto sales, bars, restaurants, law firms, schools, and more all adapted and are still in business. Every road I mentioned is far busier than Truman Road in KC, so what gives? Or what about streets like Armour, Gillham, Oak, 18th, and so on? Are those area's businesses and residents struggling because of some bike lanes?
People in this city need to get over the "wide roads" mentality. The City of KCMO is 87 square miles larger than the City of Chicago, has 7.47x less density, and, according to each city's public works departments, has 100 more miles of streets and alleys to maintain (Chicago has 5900 miles, KCMO has 6000). The infrastructure here is built for a City of a million people in a relatively condensed area. KCMO can afford to lose street width and it won't be the end of the world.
The thing about all of this is this: I'm not necessarily in favor of bike lanes. However, I understand that we need to be able to adapt our roads to appeal to people using all types of transportation methods. Whether you walk, bike, scooter, take the bus or drive, we can create roads out of the overbuilt roads to support these usages. KC is growing and, as a result, you'll get people who prefer to get around using other methods. It is the responsibility of the city to begin making those often hard decisions for the future. People from my generation (Z) overwhelmingly prefer to get around by foot, bike, scooter or transit than driving. Get Z are the ones who will begin the next wave of moving into the cities. It's time to start building for them and building for the future. We cannot deny that