Recent coverage of the Midtown Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety and Connectivity planning failed to note the broad public support for these improvements. Instead, The Durango Herald amplified a perceived conflict between a business owner and the goals of pedestrian and bicycle connectivity and safety. Sadly, this seems to be the typical pattern.
Much of the obvious changes to make our streets safer – lowering vehicle speed limits, redesigning residential streets with bike lanes and pedestrian crosswalks, for example – are met with a few loud objections, which are taken as evidence that the public is somehow divided on this issue, and need to consider “both sides.”
They may have opinions on particular details about the city’s proposals, but the people attending the planning meeting were overwhelmingly in support of making the streets safer to walk and bike on, even (or maybe especially) if it means slower vehicle speeds.
Andrew Allport
Durango
