From a recently received email that I felt I should pass along:
As many of you know, OCBC is expressly NOT and advocacy organization. Since our mission is to "help people use bicycles," though, it would be shortsighted for us not to support this public infrastructure issue that has such important practical and safety implications for cyclists. I hope you will consider the information presented in the links below and at this event; and if you agree, please forward this notice to others.If you plan to attend, you can meet at OCBC at 6pm and ride to City Hall with a group. Loaner bikes and helmets are available (please reply or call if you need one). If you need to drive, on-street (metered) parking is free after 6:30 downtown. If you plan to attend the Council meeting, you'll need a photo ID to enter City Hall.
I welcome your thoughts on this issue, and OCBC's support of it, whatever your opinion.
Respectfully,
Jim Sheehan,
OCBC director
Please join the last, best, chance to win bike/pedestrian access on the new I-90 bridge!
At a citizen's rally this Monday, March 22nd at 6:30pm on the steps of Cleveland City Hall, every additional person can have a big impact in support of a well-designed, safe, separated lane for cyclists and pedestrians on the new I-90 innerbelt bridge -- and on the future of equitable treatment for "alternative transportation" in our region, and in our State.
There are three objectives for this rally:
1. Immediately after the rally, citizens will attend the 7pm City Council meetingwhere a resolution is expected to be introduced expressing Council's desire for an additional "design alternative" for bike and pedestrian access on the bridge, similar to that passed by the Cleveland Planning Commission on January 22nd 2010. Though Council does not usually accept public comment on its resolutions, a large presence of citizens in support of this resolution will have an strong effect, especially as it could be passed immediately, under suspension of procedural rules requiring prior committee review, if enough Council members are present.
2. On Tuesday, March 23rd, ODOT (the Ohio Department of Transportation) will announce the three finalist Design-Build Teams (DBTs), who will each be paid $1 million to prepare, by August 5th, 30% complete design plans for the bridge. ODOT will then choose the final contracting team from among these three DBT's, and will be able to incorporate designs from any of the three finalists in their specifications. ODOT has been requested to simply add an "addendum" to their instructions to the DBT's allowing them to design accommodations for cyclists and pedestrians on the bridge itself, as an additional "design alternative" to ODOT's planned accommodations on Abbey Avenue and the Hope Memorial bridges (all federally-funded road projects are required to give reasonable consideration to cyclist and pedestrians' needs).
At the rally, citizens will be asking the Design-Build Teams to include non-motorized access to the bridge as a design alternative whether ODOT includes it as an addendum or not: mounting popular and political pressure make it likely that this facility will eventually be included, and the DBTs can show responsible stewardship of taxpayer's money by designing it in the 30% design phase, so it does not need to be added in the later, less-flexible, contractor design process.
3. Strong popular support is needed now to show ODOT, our political leaders, and the press that this issue is not going away. There are many reasons why this facility is good for Cleveland, the region, and the country. More than 30 other cities in the U.S. have gotten space for non-motorized users on interstate freeway bridges, but, despite years of proper, official public comment; reasonable and professional design suggestions; and several recent months of advocates' hard work in the press and with politicians, ODOT still refuses to consider this sensible, economical feature in its reconstruction of one of Cleveland's main arteries.
Adding an exceptional showing of public enthusiasm, and Council's formal support, to that of the Cleveland Planning Commission, Governor Strickland, Senator Sherrod Brown, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, the Plain Dealer, and scores of local businesses and civic organizations -- and doing so before the DBTs begin their design work -- may be the last best chance to make this good idea a reality without the risk of delaying the much-needed replacement of this bridge. Elsewhere, bike/ped access has been added to similar projects after the 90% design stage. ODOT should not wait that long.
There will be public "involvement" meetings during the design-build process about minor aesthetic design features, but this is the last, best, chance for the public to speak up forcefully in support of equal access for all citizens to this $450 million bridge that we all are paying for. This should be a bridge for all -- for people in cars, trucks and busses; but also for those who don't own a car, who choose not to drive everywhere, or who just want to walk or bike between Tremont and Downtown for their health, for the great view, or for a change.
For more information about this issue see www.gcbl.org/innerbelt
Thanks for considering this invitation on such short notice; I hope to see you there.
Jim
At a citizen's rally this Monday, March 22nd at 6:30pm on the steps of Cleveland City Hall, every additional person can have a big impact in support of a well-designed, safe, separated lane for cyclists and pedestrians on the new I-90 innerbelt bridge -- and on the future of equitable treatment for "alternative transportation" in our region, and in our State.
There are three objectives for this rally:
1. Immediately after the rally, citizens will attend the 7pm City Council meetingwhere a resolution is expected to be introduced expressing Council's desire for an additional "design alternative" for bike and pedestrian access on the bridge, similar to that passed by the Cleveland Planning Commission on January 22nd 2010. Though Council does not usually accept public comment on its resolutions, a large presence of citizens in support of this resolution will have an strong effect, especially as it could be passed immediately, under suspension of procedural rules requiring prior committee review, if enough Council members are present.
2. On Tuesday, March 23rd, ODOT (the Ohio Department of Transportation) will announce the three finalist Design-Build Teams (DBTs), who will each be paid $1 million to prepare, by August 5th, 30% complete design plans for the bridge. ODOT will then choose the final contracting team from among these three DBT's, and will be able to incorporate designs from any of the three finalists in their specifications. ODOT has been requested to simply add an "addendum" to their instructions to the DBT's allowing them to design accommodations for cyclists and pedestrians on the bridge itself, as an additional "design alternative" to ODOT's planned accommodations on Abbey Avenue and the Hope Memorial bridges (all federally-funded road projects are required to give reasonable consideration to cyclist and pedestrians' needs).
At the rally, citizens will be asking the Design-Build Teams to include non-motorized access to the bridge as a design alternative whether ODOT includes it as an addendum or not: mounting popular and political pressure make it likely that this facility will eventually be included, and the DBTs can show responsible stewardship of taxpayer's money by designing it in the 30% design phase, so it does not need to be added in the later, less-flexible, contractor design process.
3. Strong popular support is needed now to show ODOT, our political leaders, and the press that this issue is not going away. There are many reasons why this facility is good for Cleveland, the region, and the country. More than 30 other cities in the U.S. have gotten space for non-motorized users on interstate freeway bridges, but, despite years of proper, official public comment; reasonable and professional design suggestions; and several recent months of advocates' hard work in the press and with politicians, ODOT still refuses to consider this sensible, economical feature in its reconstruction of one of Cleveland's main arteries.
Adding an exceptional showing of public enthusiasm, and Council's formal support, to that of the Cleveland Planning Commission, Governor Strickland, Senator Sherrod Brown, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, the Plain Dealer, and scores of local businesses and civic organizations -- and doing so before the DBTs begin their design work -- may be the last best chance to make this good idea a reality without the risk of delaying the much-needed replacement of this bridge. Elsewhere, bike/ped access has been added to similar projects after the 90% design stage. ODOT should not wait that long.
There will be public "involvement" meetings during the design-build process about minor aesthetic design features, but this is the last, best, chance for the public to speak up forcefully in support of equal access for all citizens to this $450 million bridge that we all are paying for. This should be a bridge for all -- for people in cars, trucks and busses; but also for those who don't own a car, who choose not to drive everywhere, or who just want to walk or bike between Tremont and Downtown for their health, for the great view, or for a change.
For more information about this issue see www.gcbl.org/innerbelt
Thanks for considering this invitation on such short notice; I hope to see you there.
Jim
