This past week, Q-Line asked:
City Hall was recently recognized by the League of American Bicyclists for its efforts to make Santa Monica a bike-friendly city. Yet there are some in the bike community who feel that the city needs to go even further. What would you like to see city officials do to make the city even friendlier to bike riders?
Here are your responses:
“If this dang-dum city gets any more friendly to these pain-in-the-neck bicycle riders, there will be no hope for the poor, struggling motorists and pedestrians. If anything, maintain the beach bike path and keep pedestrians off it. Let them use that. On the roads and the sidewalks, they are a menace. I have almost been run into on many occasions on both.”
“I think the Santa Monica City Council could make the city more bike-friendly by doing several things. One, make the Bayside District bike-friendly with bike paths throughout it. They can start enforcing the no pedestrians on bike paths where it’s appropriate, they can sponsor rides throughout the city and they can also increase the charges on parking. Zero cost for two hours encourages auto traffic and to have a charge could discourage parking and encourage biking.”
“How about the bikers being a little friendlier to us? How about them stopping at the red lights and at stop signs? I think that would be a huge improvement.”
“Being that I am an avid bicyclist, who rides only in Santa Monica, I have noted that both Santa Monica motorists and bicyclists by the most part are considerate of one another. Still, when I mount my bicycle seat, I am aware, regardless of the laws, that I only have the wrong of way while riding due to me hanging out there and being fair game for the passenger-side right front fender of a motorized vehicle. My only complaint regarding open-air riding is the carbon monoxide fumes that regurgitate from the exhaust pipes of motorized vehicles and permeate the air, even along the bike path located near the ocean water’s edge between the Santa Monica Pier and Sunset Boulevard due to seemingly zillions of motorized vehicles that inundate Pacific Coast Highway on the way to lend themselves to the bumper to bumper vehicle congestion of the I-10 Freeway. When I return to my residence from a bike ride, I most always suffer with an affliction I refer to as raspy-carbon-monoxide voice. Alas, will I never learn? In my opinion, Santa Monica could improve and protect runners, rollerbladers, skateboarders and bicyclists by issuing gas masks to these athletic-minded individuals to aid them from ingesting the sour, deadly air. If my suggestion seems a wee bit daffy, please blame it on the automotive carbon monoxide that over the years has dulled my sensibility.”
“The city officials could make the city even friendlier to bike riders by using the same common-sense approach that we use in regard to the bike path and sidewalks as they use for the border security. First we need to secure our borders, and then we can have a guest worker program. Likewise, before we start ticketing people who are riding different vehicles that are not bikes and walking and running and pushing strollers on the bike path, we need to first start ticketing people who ride bikes on our sidewalks. As a pedestrian and runner, I fear a bike coming up behind me more than any other thing. I’ve had many occasions where no one gave me an alert, an ‘on your left’ warning or anything, and nearly ran me down. It’s frightening. If I were a heart patient it would be a serious issue. So before we start clamoring about getting the pedestrians off the bike path, keep in mind that certain sections of the bike path provide no parallel alternative for walkers and pedestrians. At those junctures where there is no alternative at the bike path for pedestrians, we have every right to walk or run on the bike path. Likewise, you have the road, bikers, and you need to use it with your bikes. If you’re scared to ride your bike on the road, then you need to get off your bike. The sidewalk — it is illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk in the city of Santa Monica. We need enforcement. That’s the most friendly thing that this city can do for bike riders, by insuring the safety of all, by enforcing their law. The problem with laws these days it seems is people make gazillions of them and nobody enforces them. So my suggestion today, and thank you for this very valuable question, is to get the bikers off the sidewalks. Their speed, their very, very, very un-friendly passing without a warning, and their attitude that because they’re on a quicker getaway vehicle than you leaves no recourse to someone who may get run over, have a heart attack or be hit by an illegal bike on a sidewalk. And that’s what the city can do.”
“Well, the best thing they could do is to ban cars completely from the city, but there’s no place to park anyway so they might as well.”
“They should post signs on Main Street telling where the safe bike lane streets are.”
“I used to walk my dog along the beach, walk to the Santa Monica Pier. There had been big “no bike-riding” signs at the juncture of Bay Street where the bike path splits and the bike path goes straight and the pedestrian boardwalk goes inland by the Casa Del Mar Hotel. About three years ago, they were fixing the bike path, and bikes were diverted to the walkway. The bike path has been fixed long ago, but the “no bikes” signs were never replaced. It is extremely dangerous for pedestrians, dogs and kids. They have expanded the bike rental shops and bikes are zooming along. I stopped walking my dog along there after we were almost hit several times. I mentioned it a few times to city workers by there, and I called the city. But obviously our city idiots don’t care. Especially if they’re making money from the bike rentals. The sign right before Bay Street is ridiculous and points the bike riders to the right to the walkway and the pedestrians to the left onto the bike path. We pay these fools enormous salaries to be totally worthless. Our city managers should get a gold award for total incompetence.”
“Ban vehicles and pedestrians and give skateboards supreme right of way in case anyone still tries to walk on the sidewalk.”
“What a hilarious question! The egoists at City Hall get a bronze medal from the socialist bicyclists whose businesses depend on City Hall depleting car lanes in favor of providing more room for weekend bike riders, who are the biggest a-holes. They drive right through red lights, taking up whole car lanes and going 15 miles an hour. Santa Monica is going backwards with this socialist thought of equality of roadway. I have ridden more miles on a bicycle in this town than God. Stop the insanity of social correctness. Ban carpet-bagging bicyclists, restore the automobile and free them from City Hall tyranny.”
“Forget being friendly to the bicycle riders. Let’s start enforcing the established rules, like no bicycles on the sidewalks and obeying the rules of the road. These inconsiderate jerks flaunt them all. Start issuing tickets like you do to pedestrians and drivers. The city will make a bundle.”
“The City of Santa Monica should stop patting itself on the back concerning bicyclists. The bike lanes are good, but then they don’t finish up. You can take Arizona but you can’t get downtown Arizona — it stops at Lincoln Boulevard. Then you’re really stuck. You’re on 17th Street going south to the college, you’re stuck when it gets to south of Olympic Boulevard. It makes no sense, you can’t get there. Please, if you have a bike lane, make it finally finish somewhere, don’t just all of a sudden stop it. And also people should back off on all of the bicyclists on sidewalks. If we had proper bike lanes, bicyclists wouldn’t be on sidewalks.”
