Choose your own adventure

Remember that newish group that exists in Alameda, the “driver advocacy” group that I was 99% sure was some strange parody like Bob Gundersen.  Turns out, it’s not.

There’s a Facebook page here where the organizers(s) complain that a letter they sent to the City wasn’t properly addressed by the City.  In case the I Drive Alameda folks don’t watch the Transportation Commission meetings, I do, so turns out the letters were received and acknowledged, but — as a policy — Commissions don’t respond directly to letters and the City doesn’t respond to anonymous groups:

Dude, this guy, he’s all kinds of awesome.  Interim Assistant City Manager Bob Haun has totally moved up on my list of favorite City Staff people.

Speaking of I Drive Alameda, on their Facebook page there was a link to the Crown Harbor Homeowners’ Association’s website where they have an alternative that they propose to replace the City’s preferred plan.  The first plan is the City’s preferred alternative, from Hometown donuts to the South Shore Beach and Tennis Club anyone who has ridden a bicycle for more than a leisurely weekend outing will recognize this as the superior route.  I mean, even for cars it’s the best route, naturally someone on a bicycle who is using said bike to get from Point A to Point B wants to get there as quickly as possible.

This is the proposed alternative by someone who lives at Crown Harbor who, I’m guessing, might not have ever taken this proposed route on a bicycle.  If he did he would know that all those turns plus the meandering through a gated community is not an ideal Point to Point bicycling route.  Sure it’d be great for a weekend ride, but for folks trying to make their way to, say, the ferry terminal it’s inconvenient.

Obviously if you look at the “Pros and Cons” section, nothing is really addressed from a biker or pedestrian point of view.  Just the parkers and drivers and residents who might not like bikes on their streets.  The proposed alternative is so inconvenient to bikers to make retain the status quo (bike on this path between sun up to sun down, but after dark you have to use this path, in front of this particular stretch you’ll have to use the sidewalk instead of a bike lane) it’s almost laughable if the proposer didn’t seem so awfully earnest about his proposal.  I mean, who is this proposal a compromise for other than bikers and pedestrians?