LOU GLORIE for 5th Ward City Council
I’m running for city council because we need to re-center the city’s priorities on the needs of the people of Ann Arbor. I meet people everyday who feel that the city is no longer working for us—and I agree.
I’m running because citizen-centered government is not the work of professional politicians. It is the work of citizens!
Please talk to me. I need to hear your ideas for better local government.
Let’s Plan Ann Arbor’s Future Together! Thanks, Lou
http://www.annarbor.com/community/community_wall/where_are_our_bike_lanes/
Dear Al , Thanks for the link to, I presume, your A2.com comment. I agree that bike lanes are an important project for our city. We cannot call ourselves sincerely committed to small-footprint transit as long as we spend money on $50 million garages and leave bicyclists at the mercy of the automobile.
Regarding your comment about ticketing bikers, I’ve been thinking about the absurdity of applying the road rules developed for cars to bicycles. A car in not a bike is not a person. We don’t expect pedestrians to stand behind an exhaust pipe inhaling poison while the light is red. Laws governing cars are in place because we understand the destructive power of the automobile–that an automobile is very likely to do great harm to living creatures if not properly controlled.
The fact is, there is no good reason to prevent bikes from crossing against a light–when no traffic is coming. This is like the adjustment to the rules we made to allow right turns on red–after the crossing traffic has cleared.
For the most part, I think bikes should not be on a sidewalk, but hostility of many car drivers, makes riding on some roads very dangerous–thus the need for an extensive bike lane system. In other words, I’m with you on this issue.
Iin fairness, I have to say, I doubt that my opponent, Carsten would oppose an extension of bike lanes and I applaud him for his pedestrian safety effort. But you cannot serve two masters. Voting to approve the underground parking next to the library shows what might best be described as a foolish inconsistency.
What ever the outcome of the election, I hope you will be involved in helping Ann Arbor implement real bike-friendly policy. Thanks, Lou
Hi Lou,
Saw you at Waterworks park on Saturday and was impressed. Two things which would run along the vein of what you said and would mean a lot to me:
1) Bike lane location. While increasing the number of bike lanes would be helpful, they’re still a bit dangerous to bikers. By being exactly adjacent to parked cars, cyclists are still vulnerable to being struck by an opening door–and most folks don’t look before opening their car doors. One great thing about New York City is that many of the bike lanes are separated from the road by a sidewalk (from the center, the order of traffic is moving cars, parked cars, sidewalk with pedestrians, then bike lane). http://www.transalt.org/files/resources/blueprint/chapter4/chapter4b.html
has a good illustration (class I bike lane). I understand that this may be prohibitively expensive, but it’s something to think about.
2) AATA hours and service. I especially liked what you said about making AATA more attractive by adding routes (making a grid system) and extending hours. It would be especially great to have the commuter buses to the hospital (the one I try to take is the 609) start earlier and run longer. Folks who work at the hospital often have to be at work before 6:30 am, and often don’t get out until 7 pm. Unfortunately, the first bus arrives at 6:55 am, and the last bus leaves at 5:30.
A bus to DTW would also be spectacular.
Thanks for your hardwork!