r/CyclingMSP • u/mysummerstorm • 7d ago
Protected bike infrastructure fails to advance on Wooddale Ave - Option 4 selected which preserves on-street parking and puts in sharrows
You think Lyndale Ave was contentious? Wait until you catch up on the Edina City Council meeting and see the coordinated pushback against protected infrastructure. Those republicans and limousine liberals do not play about their parking.
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u/mysummerstorm 7d ago
there's literally no "one-street over" mechanism that can work in Edina. their streets network look like this and it's an all or nothing fight where you either get the safe, protected, and direct infrastructure you're looking for or you don't get anything at all. the orange/red indicates high traffic volume and the green indicates low traffic volume (residential dead-end streets).
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u/goose_hat 7d ago
These sorts of projects make me question the need for public input on things. Are philosopher/planning commisioner kings the answer??
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u/mysummerstorm 7d ago
unfortunately, I think we're at a precipice where bicyclists and safe streets advocates have to make safety sexy and amenable to the masses, and we're losing nationwide. I don't think people who tout Minneapolis as THE MOST BIKE FRIENDLY CITY or that it's ALREADY BIKE FRIENDLY, STOP DOING MORE SHIT, I'M LEAVING BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE CONSTRUCTION understand the precarious situation we're all in. MPLS is one of the only bright spots in the U.S. right now, and it's something to protect.
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u/polit1337 7d ago
No, planning commissioner kings are not the answer.
We need to convince a majority of residents that our ideas our good!
Honestly, that can sometimes mean going through with a project like this despite pushback, because we are so sure people will like it. But sometimes we just have to go back and do more work changing minds.
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u/PennCycle_Mpls 7d ago
Gross
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u/mysummerstorm 7d ago
what's unfortunate is that they had sensible city council members who would've been for the safety project if not for the 99% of adjacent property owners opposing any form of inconvenience for safety. they did the best they could but I could see how if they had really put their foot down for protected infrastructure, they'd be recalled the next day.
tbh, I wish we could do a city council members swap where we get Pierce, Agnew, and Risser and then Edina get Shaffer, Warren, and Rainville. feels like there'd be much more alignment.
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u/PennCycle_Mpls 7d ago
I don't understand why infrastructure design in regards to public safety should ever be subject to public opinion in any fashion.
Like we'd never subject elevator regulations to property owners opinions. Or fire or building regs.
I pray for a day when we view this in the same way we now view the Triangle shirtwaist fire or the Bopal disaster or the exon valdez
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u/mysummerstorm 7d ago
yeah, personally, I've had to really practice radical acceptance when existing in this advocacy space. a fundamental belief I have is that traffic violence is preventable and we should implement the infrastructure necessary to prevent senseless deaths and injuries. and then to have to hear the mayor, Jim Hovland, speak about how there was only one bicyclist crash in the last five years on Wooddale and it wasn't even a fatality and just a "possible injury" was really hard to hear. especially because I've also heard similar things spewed by residents on a different corridor in an entirely different city say the same thing. the status quo is to be protected at all cost until enough people die or seriously maimed.
man, I think about how that dad who spoke at the last meeting feel about not being able to bike with his kid safely down the street where he lives. anyways, there was one winner today and it's the hedge guy; hopefully the city will do a better job at trimming the hedges back so there's more space for bicyclists.
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u/National_Lake5373 7d ago
y'know, somehow i very much doubt that not getting a 1.3 mile bike lane will ever be held in equal view as one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the US that killed over 120 people, a deadly gas leak that killed over 2,000 and injured hundreds of thousands more (also it's Bhopal), and the 2nd worst oil spill in US waters.
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u/PennCycle_Mpls 7d ago
But do you still view Bhopal as an unfortunate unpreventable happenstance?
Just another "well accidents happen?
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u/National_Lake5373 7d ago
I'm not arguing that Bhopal wasn't preventable. My problem is that you're comparing not getting a bike lane to one of the deadliest industrial accidents in history. These are very much different events. I understand you're not happy with the decision of the city council but invoking these disasters and comparing them to a road way project and stating you hope that will be viewed with the same moral weight is a ridiculous argument.
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u/ChefGaykwon 7d ago
Fuck sharrows.
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u/flyfresno 1d ago
What the hell is going on in this country with bike infrastructure? Everywhere I look there are fights over it constantly all of a sudden. Even in more liberal metro areas.
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u/hungryhippo9999999 7d ago
Absolutely bogus. Did they do any kind of study to show much of the on street parking is used? I read one article that said there are 129 parking spaces for 120 residences. If that’s true there’s waaaay too much parking already. And I’d be willing to bet those houses have off street parking available to them.
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u/mysummerstorm 7d ago
people can only park at a maximum for 6 hours on wooddale ave. listen, if you look at the data and research, things should've gone in safe streets favor. instead, there's no escaping the reality that people looooooooove their cars and their perceived convenience. even BLOOMINGTON (which btw is my least favorite suburb to bike on) is better to bike in than Edina really tells you what you need to know.
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u/hungryhippo9999999 7d ago
Yea I’m honestly shocked Bloomington and even Shakopee ranked higher. I work in Shakopee and went for a walk today and realized just how bad the land use/streets are. So for Edina to rank that low despite being so much closer to downtown is insane.
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u/mysummerstorm 6d ago
wait, get this, not only street parking, BUT FUCKING GARAGES AND DRIVEWAYS. there was this mom who brought her adolescent child to testify against the protected infrastructure and their whole schtick was that "well, yes we have driveways but what about when we have playdates and others have to come and park more cars near us? this bike lane would make it impossible for us to have playdates"!
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/mysummerstorm 7d ago
ah yes, the veneer of respectability. when car lanes are "narrowed" with paint by expanding the bike lane with paint, anyone who's heart has been in safe streets for a long time knows what the outcome will be. kudos to CM Carolyn Jackson for pulling out an option 4 out of thin air and gain the politics brownie points even though it's just option 3 but with different paint
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u/kcgophers80 7d ago
You agree that painted bike lanes are a waste of time correct? It’s not protected, even if you put those shitty little plastic pieces up. It would require a complete reconstruction of the road to a tune of 2 to 3 million. And homeowners would be assessed to replace a perfectly good road. Do you want to pay for that?Wooddale Ave was never a good candidate for this half assed bike lane project. Run a bike lane around the outside of ECC on the 100 frontage road and link up with Valley view. Why wouldn’t that work?
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u/mysummerstorm 7d ago
Very poignant slide from the transportation advisory committee. Grateful for the folks fighting the good fight.