Want more safe bike parking in Somerville?

[turil.livejournal.com]

I just recieved this from the Somerville Bicycle Coordinator. You can fill out this survey and send it to Steve Winslow at SWinslow (insert "at" symbol here) ci.somerville.ma.us

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Subject: Somerville Residential Bike Parking - Testimonials on the Need

The City of Somerville Planning Board recently voted 3-2 to oppose a
residential bike parking requirement (they did support retail bike parking).
Several Planning Board members said that they did not see any strong need to
require residential bike parking. They were not convinced by national
information on bicycle ownership that there was any need to require
residential bike parking requirement. The Alderman will vote on the bike
parking ordinanace in early January 2006.

As Bike & Pedestrian Coordinator for the City, I am seeking to learn about
the experience of current and former Somerville residents with residential
bicycle parking in order to help establish that there's a need for it,
particularly in residences with more than 8 units. Please forward the
results of this survey back to swinslow (at) ci.somerville.ma.us



Call 617-625-6600 x2519 if you have any further questions. Stephen Winslow,
City of Somerville.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SEND THIS ALONG TO FRIENDS WHO ARE CURRENT OR FORMER
SOMERVILLE RESIDENTS.

I am a Current ( ) or former ( ) Somerville resident:

1. What is/were the number of units in your building?
a. 1-4 units
b. 4-7 units
c. 8 - 20 units
d. >greater than 20 units

2. Does/Did your landlord, condo association or property manager provide
bike parking racks?
If so, were they indoors or outdoors?
Was the location convenient to use?
Was there a significant problem with theft or vandalism?

3. Are/Were you allowed to bring your bike into your unit?

4. Is/was there a secure bike room, basement, other storage area where you
can put your bike? Is/was it convenient to get your bike out (eg - would
you do it everyday or occassionally?)

5. Does/did your lease specifically prohibit you from bringing a bike into
your unit or the building? Did the building rules or property
manager/landlord prohibit bringing your bike in to your unit or the
building?

6. If bike parking is/was not provided, did you or anyone ask the
landlord/property manager to provide bike parking? If so what was there
response?

7. Do/Did you ever have to park your bike on a sidewalk outside your
residence because there was no other convenient place to park it?

8. Do/Did you anyone ever steal or vandalize a bike stored at your
residence?

9. During the month of the year you cycled most frequently, how frequently
do/did you use your bike?
a. frequently - twice a week or more
b. regularly - at least once a week
c. infrequently - less than once a week
d. decided not to bike because there is/was good place to put it

10. Further comments on your experience with residential bike parking...

11. Optional: Contact information:

Comments

[twe.livejournal.com]

Well, if the city ever took it upon itself to actually take care of the sidewalks as obsessively as they do the streets

Having started driving regularly about a year ago, I can assure you, the streets are not obsessively taken care of either: busy multi-lane roads lack lane markers, potholes and horrendously bad pavement that never seems to get fixed...

In the big blizzard last year, the street I used to live on (which was always chronically short of parking eve without snow) dutifully emptied the even side of the street so they could "plow to the curb." They never did though, so that side of the street remained mostly unusable for far longer than it would have been if some of that snow had been on top of cars. (You could go on for hours about the snow emergency policies and the poor implementation of them.)

Having spent many years as a pedestrian though, I can certainly support the city shovelling its sidewalks, especially since it requires businesses and residents to shovel/salt theirs. There's really no excuse for making people walk in the street for days after a storm. It's dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists alike.