I blew it.
Yesterday, I wrote a pretty strong post about the City not living up to its own rhetoric about being bike friendly. I cited two examples where the City had taken away space from cyclists and given it to cars. I was wrong about one of those places and that’s the reason for this post.
A few hours after I posted it, the City got in touch with me and, in an email worded more kindly than I deserved, said I was wrong about Whites Canyon being restriped all the way up over the hill:
I checked with our public works staff and they are not restriping all the way up Whites Canyon Road as you mentioned in today’s blog. I think the confusion might be that there is a one block area of Whites Canyon that was restriped to coincide with a new turn pocket being done on Soledad/Whites but that “third lane” is only for one block on Whites and doesn’t extend up the hill. As you know, on existing roads it will always be a balance between cars, bikes and transit. Our community has 800,000 car trips a day that originate from homes, less than 1% for bikes, and maybe 3-4% for transit. I hope this helps clarify.I checked with our public works staff and they are not restriping all the way up Whites Canyon Road as you mentioned in today’s blog. I think the confusion might be that there is a one block area of Whites Canyon that was restriped to coincide with a new turn pocket being done on Soledad/Whites but that “third lane” is only for one block on Whites and doesn’t extend up the hill. As you know, on existing roads it will always be a balance between cars, bikes and transit. Our community has 800,000 car trips a day that originate from homes, less than 1% for bikes, and maybe 3-4% for transit. I hope this helps clarify.
I had based my report about Whites Canyon off a reliable cycling friend of mine in Canyon Country. But that’s no excuse; I should have confirmed what this source told me before writing my post. So to the City’s traffic staff and elected officials and the City manager, I apologize for getting this one wrong. I also apologize to my readers for getting the facts wrong.
Obviously since they aren’t restriping Whites all the way up the hill, my post’s thesis -that the city isn’t living up to its rhetoric- largely falls apart (indeed, I learned later they may actually add a bike lane onto Whites!). On the other hand, Lyons Avenue has already been restriped, an action that was approved by the City Council back in May (I was there to speak against it, but lost).
In any event, I regret this and promise to tighten things up. Thanks as always for reading SCVTalk.
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I hope other blog folk take notice. THIS is how you retract, correct, and apologize. Eloquent, forthright, and without pointing fingers.
Classy, Jeff.
Keep up the good work, Jeff!
We sometimes make mistakes (cough, cough) and we must own up to them. Glad to hear their response/correction was ‘kindly’ worded.
I second GangFang…Classy!
I also appreciate your correction. It is refreshing when people accept responsibilty for their errors, no excuses, and give credit where credit is due. Your credibility has been enhanced, in my humble opinion. Way to go…
Hey Jeff: Can you teach a class at The Learning Tree for the Republican party?
Hey Jeff – glad to hear this was a boo-boo and -with the others- nice effort on the retraction.
It appears as if the cyclists on this road really can eat cake!
David- you know we love you, right?
http://www.1pixelhost.com/images/ho0wpv6hliboc3be1p6m.png
sir-laughs-a-lot,
Nice work on the graphic – if only that were possible!
But it’s not, so we need some better ideas for planning our city moving forward.
It’s never really been about NIMBYism for me. I have a much broader agenda and I’d be happy to discuss it with you anytime. But first I will need your real name and a way to reach you, of course.
Yes Jeff, good job retracting the bad tip I gave you :0) For the record, I contacted the city and let them know that it was I who jumped to conclusions about the apparent (though still unexplained) test striping on Whites Canyon.
I would not be so fast to apologize.
Whites Canyon has already been preliminarily marked for 3 lanes from Stillmore going north. At recent Community Activist’s meetings with Ken Pulskamp we discussed the city’s plans for restriping Whites for 3 lanes of traffic and what provisions could be made for bike lanes after Whites was restriped. The answer presented by traffic staff was that bike lanes could be accommodated at a future date by narrowing medians and then accomplishing a complete restriping.
If you think that this is a figment of my imagination, I have an email from City Staff providing a partial answer to the bike lane issue. Since this answer did not address the whole issue it drove the conversation on this subject.
If the city changed their plan, they should have simply told you so and not made you out a villain.
DG: Just a joke, of course. You have my vote.
sir-laughs-a-lot,
I guess that means you’re not one of the three people I thought you might be!
Thanks for your support!
I actually saw that they have re-striped Reseda Blvd from Devonshire North to have bike lanes. Will wonders never cease!
Petz drove Whites on Sunday after hearing from K2 and it sure looked like the dashes on the road on the went from Nadal at the bottom to Steinway at the top of Whites-near the end of the City limit. Glad the City clarified this, but urging all to remain vigilant to avoid another Decoro fiasco.
Al: What part of the City’s response made Jeff sound like a “villian”?
Sheesh.