crschmidt

crschmidt, 28 days ago

A speaker who has a bike lane in front of their house says: Yes, sometimes I have to walk slightly further because there's not parking directly in front of my home -- but the important benefit of this is that cyclists don't die in front of my house.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Next speaker points out that we may not be able to control the MBTA, but we can control our implementation of bike lanes -- so we should do all we can to help people transition to biking by expanding bike lanes.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Current speaker is talking about his experience receiving a severe injury while cycling that likely never showed up on any statistical report, but required months of PT to recover from. (The stretch that is being considered for delay is one of the most dangerous remaining stretches of Cambridge's streets.)

crschmidt, 28 days ago

(I'm not transcribing for each commenter; we can expect that the early comments will be completely dominated by supporters, with a small smattering of opponents towards the end; I expect it will be at least 30-50 people speaking against bike lane delays for every person speaking in favor of them.)

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Someone who grew up in North Cambridge felt lonely biking because there was no one else biking with her, and is happy to have more people biking alongside her; as a small business owner, she carries her coworker from job site to job site on her bike rack because he doesn't feel safe biking on the streets of Cambridge, and believes that a narrative that "small businesses don't support bike lanes" is a simplification of the reality.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

The ability to bike on a cargo bike with two kids on the bike is very valuable to get everywhere in Cambridge; but the speaker who was just speaking was just doored in Mass Ave., and while he came out okay, the bike didn't; asks the council to consider what that would look like with a child riding their bike instead as their kids get older.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

A speaker presents a Q&A with his 3-year old daughter:

• Would you rather ride in a bike lane or on the street? Bike Lane.
• Why? Feels safer.
• Do you like going to stores with me? Yes
• Do you still like going if we have to drive? a vehement No.

(I've seen this with e-bike library borrowers: kids are much sadder to give up the loaned bike than the parents.)

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Speaker reinforces: If you delay these bike lanes, there will absolutely be crashes and injuries that could have been prevented. Those crashes will be the result of the decisions you make here tonight.

(I don't think that pulling on heartstrings here is going to do anything, but I think that putting credit where credit is due is fair here: this is a simple "more injuries or fewer" decision.)

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Ken Carlson lists the people who have died on our streets because our streets lacked safe infrastructure, correctly calling out that lives depend on this.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Speaker: My father's traumatic brain injury from biking on an unprotected bike lane has been my life story. So my question to the Council is: How many more?

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Speaker: Why am I pushing this meeting one more minute into the night? Because like many people, i've been doored on the streets. If there had been a car behind me, I'd have been killed. And that's the result of the decisions that this body makes about how our roads are designed.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Speaker: We choose where to shop and which businesses to visit based on safe bike lanes. Do not delay safe street infrastructure.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

First pro-bike lane delay speaker was speaker #61, who says that she is confused how people have co-opted safe streets as an issue pedestrians support, because she knows that pedestrians are "terrified" of bike lanes, and hate them. ""Let's design it correctly, let's make it work, let's keep our businesses strong, let's support the pedestrians"

(Note that we have spent literally years building to this point in the process.)

crschmidt, 28 days ago

You can tell the folks who are politically involved in the housing scene in Cambridge, because in addition to their focus on the bike lane delays, they also point out the proposed tradeoff (delaying bike lanes to figure out zoning for shared parking) is a dumb tradeoff, because it's a bunch of maybes to achieve a nebulous goal.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Former Cambridge City Council candidate John Pitkin says that bike lanes don't create more safe streets, and you shouldn't think they do, so you should delay them.

(This is in direct conflict to the data, which is very clear that it does exactly that.)

crschmidt, 28 days ago

A member of our local bike advocacy group points out that the city has the data that shows 65 people have been hurt in this corridor under consideration; 18 at one intersection alone, where he was also hurt... but doesn't get included in the statistics because he was reported in the police report as "uninjured".

We know that this street is dangerous, it's our job to fix it.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Speaker bought a bike because she found it helped her feel safer on the street after being followed home by someone on foot; now has a long-tail bike she rides with her children that she bought from another Cambridge mom.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

It's one thing to know that there's a lot of injuries on our streets, it's another thing to hear the descriptions from the more than a dozen (possibly dozens? out of 90?) of people who have shown up in person or on zoom to describe themselves as being doored! we should do something about that. Like build a set of protected bike lanes or something.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

The comment I shared, as #97 in the queue.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

(Stepped out a bit to satisfy some personal needs, but back now)

Sarah is attending the City Council meeting in person in her wheelchair, and explaining that bike lanes provide a safer option for her in her wheelchair. She appreciates the option to navigate around blocked sidewalks, and is happy to have bike lanes available as she continues to recover from the last time she was hit by a car in her wheelchair (not in a bike lane).

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Some themes throughout the commentary:

• Cambridge street is a really crappy street to bike on!
• Many people get hit on crappy streets!
• Businesses on the crappy streets lose out on people visiting them because they're scary.
• bike lanes let people access more of the city.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

A child explains that she wants more bike lanes because bike lanes make biking safer, she doesn't like riding near cars, and appreciates the council listening to her, and now she has to go because it's past her bedtime.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Speaker: "How many more people do you want to be hit, run over, injured, or killed?" Building these bike lanes is critical for cyclist safety.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

Speaker: Just on my commute to work this morning, I had to navigate around 5 cars that were parked in the bike lane.

crschmidt, 28 days ago

"If there are protected lanes, it is far more likely that I, and seniors like me will leave the car at home in favor of riding a bike."