The transition of Tuesday the 23rd into Wednesday the 24th found your City Council still deliberating the Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) consultant’s recommendations. Normally, we don’t chat that far into the night, but the impassioned speakers representing both sides of the argument kept the ball volleying across the net for about six hours. Even though the BMP update covers the entire city, the proposed removal of four blocks of parking on Micheltorena immediately west of the 101, involving both sides of the street and more than 85 parking spaces, ignited the red-hot controversy that manages still to glow on.
The BMP advocates argued that a cogent plan needs to involve straight lines that employ a continuation of the Micheltorena-101 bridge’s bike lanes as part of the east-west “spine” connecting the Westside to the downtown. An alternative was suggested that Sola Street, one block to the south, was a better option, on a quieter, wider street with no parking removal required. This is where the plot thickens …
The Sola option was reported to be a more expensive one, in that two street lights would be required to complete the plan. Micheltorena reportedly involved only striping, until it was revealed that three intersections would need physical modifications to create the width needed. The cost of these modifications was not included in the presentation, leading some to question the “chicken and egg” nature of the proceeding. In any case, the use of Micheltorena would definitely involve the loss of at least 85 parking spaces, a point that was all too clear to the stakeholders living and running businesses on those four blocks.