We made the news :)

[Pax]

Put in a plug for the Urbana Bicycle Master Plan, eh? The biz folks downtown seem to think that if there are bike facilities there, they'll go broke. You know, because their customers don't ride bikes and all. (I've been thinking of putting together a business card that says "cyclists are shoppers, too! support the bicycle master plan!

Will do. I was watching some interviews with the business owners and they seems really freaked out by the proposal...the "business district" is only a couple of blocks long and there's a PARKING GARAGE right there!!

[lph]

heh - reminds me of when a large sports centre here opened a couple of years back, housing a regular gym, spinning classes, indoor golf simulators and Oslo's largest climbing gym. And a pleasant cafe/restaurant. I got hell from the owner of the restaurant for locking my bike up to a pole near the entrance, not blocking it in any way. "I have customers coming here you know! This is a RESTAURANT, not a parking lot!"

He was so nuts I just moved my bike and didn't make a fuss, but I wonder at what point it dawned on him that most of his beloved customers were liable to come from the sports centre, and a large fraction of those rode bikes. Some people just have strange ideas, like all cyclists are these poor hobos existing on the fringe of society.

[Geonz]

Will do. I was watching some interviews with the business owners and they seems really freaked out by the proposal...the "business district" is only a couple of blocks long and there's a PARKING GARAGE right there!!

Yup. They did a formal study and found that most people did not know there was public parking in the garage, or they'd have parked there. THe experts decided that we need better *signage,* not more parking.

The biz owners, however, are like people are about rails to trails - oh, no, we'll have the poor and unwashed everywhere! Then when they get built and folks are parking their Orbeas and coming in for lattes, they are suddenly happy. And, by the way, I hear through the grapevine that real progress is being made towards a Danville- Champaign rail trail, whihc is another reason they want to have the marked bike lane - so people can know how to get into town for comestibles and what have you and then back to the trail.

[Geonz]

Will do. I was watching some interviews with the business owners and they seems really freaked out by the proposal...the "business district" is only a couple of blocks long and there's a PARKING GARAGE right there!!

Yup. They did a formal study and found that most people did not know there was public parking in the garage, or they'd have parked there. THe experts decided that we need better *signage,* not more parking.

The biz owners, however, are like people are about rails to trails - oh, no, we'll have the poor and unwashed everywhere! Then when they get built and folks are parking their Orbeas and coming in for lattes, they are suddenly happy. And, by the way, I hear through the grapevine that real progress is being made towards a Danville- Champaign rail trail, whihc is another reason they want to have the marked bike lane - so people can know how to get into town for comestibles and what have you and then back to the trail.