This is an article from the Ithaca Times (November 1997) that I found kicking around my house. I asked the publisher for permission to reproduce but haven’t heard back; so, if they object, I’ll pull it of course.

Bicyclists vent their frustrations over the city’s lack of action

By Gene Ira Katz

Have Ithaca’s bicyclists suddenly gone mad? A few weeks ago, motorists were startled to see dozens of cyclists jamming downtown streets in “critical mass” rides. Petitions of all kinds generated by bike riders are currently inundating various offices at City Hall. Letters to the editor, op-ed pieces, news articles galore are focusing on this all-but-invisible group of Forest City commuters. Then at least one cyclist is arrested and charged with a class A misdemeanor for “making graffiti,” attempting to paint a bike lane on the new Route 89 bridge over the Cayuga Inlet.

“There’s a lot of frustration right now,” says Sandy Wold, chair of the Ithaca Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC). “We’ve been waiting for two years for the bicycle plan to be approved and the city is just taking its time. It feels like they’re not taking us very seriously, and this feels really urgent to us.  There are accidents happening all the time and the BAC brings things to the attention of the Department of Public Works (DPW) and they haven’t acted on it. It feels like the communication is really poor; we don’t get a good response to our concerns and there are a lot of hazardous situations out there that need attention.”

Good Intentions

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Lack of action within city government to improve conditions for Ithaca/s growing number of bikers, and the absence of any consistent voice for bicycle advocacy, led then-Mayor Ben Nichols and the Common Council to form the BAC in 1990. A preliminary Ithaca City Bicycle Plan was formulated by the fledgling BAC and submitted in April of 1993, intended as “a long-range blueprint to improve the Ithaca cycling environment” by encouraging bicycle use, improving facilities for bicycling and educating one and all about the rights and responsibilities of cyclists.

Impetus for the bicycle plan developed in part when statistics showed that in 1989 there were 41 bicycle-motor vehicle accidents with injuries in Tompkins County. Lois Chaplin, a former BAC member who helped write the original bike plan, works for the Cornell Cooperative Extension on bicycle safety issues. “One of the things I do is to get people to take bikes seriously,” she says, pointing out that there are thousands of bicycle and pedestrian deaths in the US annually. “In Tompkins County we’ve been pretty lucky. We haven’t had a cyclist killed in the past couple of years, but we’re looking at a couple of dozen injuries annually to bicyclists.”

These are the numbers reported through the DMV, she explains, pointing out that it’s nearly impossible to get a handle on the crashes and incidents that don’t get reported for various reasons. National studies estimate that there are seven to 10 times as many injuries as are reported, Chaplin says. “With a little extrapolation we can say that there are a lot of people getting injured out there. We do know that the most serious accidents are the ones that involve cars.”

Spinning their wheels

So, why is there still no comprehensive Ithaca bike plan in place?

“I don’t think anybody is against bicycle safety,” says City Planning and Development Director Thys Van Cort, “but it’s a question of balancing bicycle safety against other concerns in neighborhoods.” Van Cort has seen a number of city programs and projects stalled over the years. “Unfortunately, it’s very hard to get comprehensive plans and amendments adopted in Ithaca. Everything that we do in that regard really stimulates a lot of debate, and there are a number of plans that have not been adopted even after all the relevant bodies have degbated them extensively,” he says. He points to the waterfront development plan as an example, and the downtown design plan, which languished for three years from the time it was completed to its adoption. “While it seems surprising that things do take that long, that’s not uncommon.”

Shat could be controversial about a plan designed to make biking safer for men, women and children? “I can tell you,” says Van Cort, “that obviously there are people who want the plan passed and there are obviously people who don’t want the plan passed, otherwise it would have been passed a long time ago.” The main bones of contention are the removal of on-street parking and the impact of that on residential neighborhoods, and the maintenance requirement, he says.

According to Van Cort, the Bicycle Plan was referred to the Board of Public Works (BPW) for its perusal. Upon further review the BPW has expressed concern about several issues. One is the removal of on-street parking; another is the implementation of maintenance for the system. For example, he says, if the system consists mostly of lines and symbols painted on pavement, there’s a significant maintenance burden for city personnel who have to repaint the lines and symbols. In deference to the BPW, Van Cort explains, the city Planning and Development Board held a meeting with the BPW to discuss its concerns. The BPW also wanted more community input than had previously been solicited during the preparation of the plan.

Wold recalls another objection being raised at City Hall. “The DPW is concerned about liability. If the stripes wear off and there’s no money to restripe, then they feel liable if an accident were to happen,” she says. “That doesn’t make sense to me because there are no stripes right now and there are many hazardous situations. They don’t seem to be concerned about the liability from the current hazardous situations.”

The BAC received state funding several years ago for stripes and signs, and to draw up a workable bicycle plan. “We got an ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act” grant for $100,000,” says Wold. She points out that $20,000 was used to hire Trowbridge and Wolf, engineering consultants on the final Ithaca bike plan, and the remaining $80,000 was set aside for implementation of the first phase of the plan. “We’ve done everything they’ve asked,” says Wold. “We have money, we have a plan. We just need it to be approved.”

City Traffic Engineer Dan Cole is not prepared to move ahead with the bike plan until more questions are answered. “My biggest objection was that I felt that maybe it was a little too ambitious. I would rather have seen it scaled down, less comprehensive, maybe,” Cole says. “It seemed like almost all the streets were impacted as either a bike path, or a bike trail, or in some way involved with bicycles. I would rather have seen them scale it down to a more limited number of streets.”

Advocates lose their voice

The lack of a plan is but one of the issues raised by concerned and impatient, bicyclists. Wold points to the departure of Jon Meigs from the city Planning and Development staff. Meigs had served as the City Bicycle Coordinator, and Wold says there will be no Bicycle Coordinator beginning next year. Also, she says, the five hours per week allotted to the coordinator position is not enough. “It’s overwhelming,” she says of the work required to implement a comprehensive bicycle plan. “The burden is falling on the BAC and it’s just too much. Sometimes I put in as much as forty hours a week on this work. I think if the city is serious about bicycle safety issues then they would appoint a half time Bicycle Coordinator.

“The question is, can we afford it?” says Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen. “I don’t know. Our purse strings are tightening.” Cohen says that the Bicycle Coordinator’s position is none of the issues on the agenda for an upcoming budget prioritization meeting.

David Nutter, an original member of the BAC and an outspoken bike advocate, sees the city as virtually ignoring bicyclists and stifling their collective voice. “The BAC has become an ineffective group,” he says. To support this contention, Nutter claims that the Board of Public Works liaison has never shown up at a BAC meeting.

To make matters worse, says Wold, the 10-member BAC is short four members. She asserts that Cohen refuses to make any appointments until the charter for the BAC is changed. “He wants to include pedestrians, which I think will be fine, but that’s not a reason not to appoint people to the BAC. I feel his lack of action is a lack of support.”

The mayor contends that he has sought input from the present BAC members to create a new council. “I spoke with Sandy months ago and we agreed that the remaining BAC members would draft the language for the charter to make it a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Council (BPAC). I haven’t acted simply because I’m waiting for the BAC members to prepare the resolution.” Cohen agrees with Van Cort’s assessment of how long it can take for plans to become manifest realities in Ithaca. The bicyclists, he says, have an unreasonable expectation. “Their timetable for the bike plan is a little unrealistic according to how city government works. We are actually working fairly quickly on this plan, trying to fast-track it as much as we can.”

Cohen adds that he is a bike rider. “I am very aware of their safety concerns, as I am aware of concerns about speeding cars in school zones, as I am aware of crack houses in our neighborhoods and other safety concerns in Ithaca.”

Symbolic gestures

Recent estimates reveal that just under 2 percent of Ithaca area residents regularly use a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation. Some, like Scott VanGaasbeck, have decided that it’s time to become more pro-active about bicycle safety issues.

“I and several other people decided to paint a bike lane at the new Route 89 bridge in the Octopus. It’s a dangerous bridge; there’s a blind curve,” he says. “The [roadway] is wide enough for a bike lane and the city’s consultant suggested putting a bike lane there. The city has refused to do that, so we went ahead and did it, or tried to. We got two symbols down …  they look pretty good.”

For his action, VanGaasbeck now faces misdemeanor charges for “making graffiti.” As he explains, the citation is given for painting or marking a surface with intent to damage it. “I’m pleading not guilty,” he says. “One, I certainly didn’t intend to damage the surface. It makes it more safe, and it certainly doesn’t damage it. And also the action is in self-defense, and in defense of others. That bridge is used by a lot of children going to Cass Park.”

VanGaasbeck says he’s only doing his part to reduce traffic, parking and pollution problems in Ithaca by riding his bike. “I have been to other cities where I felt much safer as a bicyclist because bike lanes were provided. I’ve lived in Ithaca for nine years and this has always been an issue. I just can’t wait around for a child or myself or another bicyclist to get killed for the city to implement the bike plan. They’ve had it in their hands for years. I felt like it was my civic duty to begin painting the lanes. I hope now the city will follow our lead.”

Nutter sees numerous problems for bicyclists in the renovated Octopus intersection, and he wants the New York Department of Transportation and the city to address the issues before the state packs up all its equipment and leaves. Nutter says that when the DOT was ready to begin construction there was a good deal of discussion with the BAC. But more recently, he says, there has been no communication between city government and the BAC about the Octopus project.

Nutter says he supplied Meigs with detailed information about the specific problems for bikes, including traffic lights that require the weight of trucks or cars to trigger the switch, inadequate and misleading striping, a need for barricades to prevent vehicles from driving on bike lanes, pavement problems and storm grates that are incompatible with bike safety. With the exception of the storm grates, he says, “We’ve raised these issues with City Hall and it doesn’t ever seem to go anywhere.” And he adds, “There will be even less communication after [Meigs] leaves.”

VanGaasbeck concurs: “The city hired a consultant to look at bike traffic in the new Octopus construction and the consultant recommended marking [the streets]. The DOT said that if they were asked to mark bike lanes or put signage anywhere they would do it, and the city has just chosen not to do that.”

Wold is even more insistent. “The most urgent thing is to get the signs posted like the city promised. They promised to post signs that say ‘SHARE THE ROAD,’ with a picture of a bicycle. They said they’d do this two or three years ago. And the signs shouldn’t just be at the entrance to the city, but wherever the lane is wide and then becomes narrow suddenly.”

The biggest concern now, says Wold, is the lack of awareness on the part of most motorists of bicyclists’ rights. Bike lanes are an important way of showing that bicyclists exist, she says, and that they have rights and need to be safe. “It would also say to the community that bicyclists are important.”

The best thing we can do for bicycle safety is enforce the speed limit,” asserts Cohen. In addition, as he adds up the ISTEA dollars remaining to implement the bike plan, he notes, “There’s no proposal for any money for cyclists’ safety education. That’s a big concern of mine.”

Lois Chaplin reinforces the mayor’s point. “We certainly need some good roadway design. That alone wont’ solve the problem — we really need to have some emphasis on cyclist education, for people of all ages.”
That includes having cyclists behave more like responsible members of the traffic community than what one often sees on city streets. Bike riders must follow the traffic laws and  learn how to handle the bicycle so that they can control it and know what to do in a situation that requires making quick stops and turns. Riders also must learn to scan the roadway, looking over their shoulder, Chaplin says.

“There’s two sides to every coin,” she continues. “We need to have not only the cyclist be more savvy and educated, but also the motorist. It involves the whole concept of sharing the road, slowing down just a little bit and looking out for the other guy.”

Achieving Critical Mass

Withy dozens of cyclists joining forces for critical-mass rides, motorists just may be forced to slow down and look out. “The critical mass rides are meant to point out that there are problems that need to be fixed, and it’s not just in the interest of bike riders,” says Nutter. “We don’t want to be in the drivers’ way any more than they want us to be. Once these problems are fixed, it will be better for everybody.”

It was Wold who first came up with the “protest” rides. “Critical mass kind of started through my efforts two years ago when I was experiencing the lack of cooperation and communication be6tween the BAC and the city. I started organizing citizens to demonstrate that we are a visible group of people — I was hearing from the city that there weren’t many of us. The first time we had it there were 35 people on a rainy day and then we’ve just been growing in our group size. Finally we had one extremely successful ride last month where almost a hundred people showed up. It’s always growing. More and more people are asking when’s the next ride.”

“It’s clear that we’re not acting randomly,” says VanGaasbeck. “It’s a very organized thing. We’re not a guerrilla group. We’re acting on behalf of people’s safety. There’s a road hazard and as citizens we’re just trying to do what we can to minimize the hazard.”

Although Chaplin is a bike enthusiast, she has not participated in the critical mass rides. But she says the events can be a useful tool in demonstrating to the city’s decision-makers how many people want action taken on behalf of safer bicycling. She recalls that several years ago, when the bike plan was first discussed, she set up a booth at the Farmer’s Market. “I was really surprised at how many people came up to us and said, “Show me where to sign up, where I can say, ‘Yes, I support what you’re doing.’”

All this focus on the bike issue may help get the process unstuck. Nutter has been very vocal about calling for immediate action. “Get a bike plan in place. Get the octopus problems fixed before the DOT leaves. Get an effective system in City Hall so that these problems are routinely addressed,” he states.
Van Cort says he’s not sure of the bike plan’s present status, but he believes that the Board of Public Works will soon be discussing the necessary steps to move ahead and to make a recommendation regarding a method for soliciting public input.

“I would like to see and extensive system of bicycle-safe streets in the city,” Van Cort says. “I would like to see [the streets] designated as such and maintained as such, but I’m not charged with maintaining the streets, so it’s easy for me to say I would like to see this happen. I’m concerned about impacts on residential neighborhoods as well, but I’m a very strong supporter of bicycle safety, and I’m a strong supporter of adopting a plan that would work in creating a safe system for bicyclists in the city.”

As he awaits the outcome of his criminal proceedings, VanGaasbeck offers this summary of the situation: “We’ve reached the point where bike lanes are going to happen in the City of Ithaca. There’s enough people, and enough interest, and it’s a simple enough thing to do. I hope the city takes a lead in it. It would be a lot less confrontational.”