If you have not signed the petition against the current form of the bike lane project yet, please do so now through its webpage. If you would like to contact the "North Jerusalem Residents for Safety and Quality of Life" Amuta please do so via their facebook page. If you would like to contact the owners of the blog, please do so here: frenchhillbalagan@gmai.com.

לאתר בעברית לחצו כאן

Monday, April 4, 2011

Complaints of 'Small City' residents against 'Bike Lane Pavement Works'

On the tenth of March, the neighborhood known as "Small City" in French Hill sent a letter of complaint to the Municipality and Local Community Center against the bike lane project along their street after pamphlets regarding the project were distributed in their parking lot. These pamphlets were distributed around Friday the 4th of March, already about two weeks after work on this phase of the project had already started:


These are the contents of "Small City's" letter of complaint: 
We the residents of small city neighborhood protest the bike lane pavement project along Etzel and Lehi street for any or all of the reasons outlined in the attached appendix.
The residents of the Etzel/Lehi area of French Hill protest the bike lane for the following reasons:
1. Work was started on this project without prior notification to the residents. Residents were only notified after work began. Because of this delay in notification, work should be stopped for at least a month so that a proper referendum can be made among the neighborhood residents.
2. No referendum was conducted to see whether there was a need or desire on the part of the residents for such a bike lane.
3. Very few individuals ride bikes in this neighborhood, whereas most families own at least 1 car.
4. The bike lane presents potential dangers for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists alike.
5. The bike lane reduces available parking which is a serious need for a university neighborhood.
6. The reduction in available parking to a point where there is inadequate parking will lessen the property value of the homes in the neighborhood.
7. Due to the reduction in parking spaces, non-residents visiting the university, hotel or hospital will park illegally in private parking lots.
8. The curve in front of the hotel is a blind, elbow intersection, which is already dangerous for drivers and pedestrians, as is the intersection of George Adam Smith Street and Lehi Street. There are not adequate crosswalks except at Etzel Street. It is already dangerous for pedestrians to cross these streets and will be equally so for bicyclists.
9. The narrowing of the lanes will mean that cars have to cross each very closely, increasing the chances of collision, obstructing the traffic and distracting the drivers and their field of vision from pedestrians, especially children. This is already evident as shown by HaHaganah Street and Lohamei HaGeta’ot/Etzel, where work is underway.
10. The bike lane will subsume both parking spaces and the bus stop inlets. Busses will have to stop in the driving lane to pick up and drop off passengers, which will stop the entire flow of traffic. This is unsafe and unacceptable.
11. Due to the lack of parking, many visitors will have to park at a greater distance. Bearing in mind the safety issues mentioned above, and the fact that there will now be four lanes of traffic that pedestrians have to deal with, it will be much more dangerous for visitors, especially children and the elderly, to visit family and friends here.
12. The Small City neighborhood—a neighborhood of professionals with usually more than 1 car per family—was built with less than 1 parking space per unit. Already residents of the neighborhood struggle to find adequate parking. With the reduction of parking on Lehi Street, the situation will be intolerable, especially when having to compete with hotel and university visitors for parking spaces.
13. The sidewalks in this area are already quite broad. Why not narrow the sidewalks and create a bike lane there, if a bike lane is even necessary at all.
14. Additionally, bike lanes should be make along major routes, such as Haim Yisky Street as is done in other major cities, and not down narrow residential streets such as Lehi and Etzel. This straight, broad route would be safer for bicyclists than the winding busy Etzel/Lehi route with its blind intersections.

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