Today a meeting took place between representatives of the Municipality and residents of the French Hill area along the streets in which the bike lane project has been and, unfortunately, will continue to be implemented. According to residents in attendance, the meeting was a complete failure and merely served a bureaucratic formality of fulfilling a "community participation" requirement.
The meeting had been poorly publicized to the French Hill community and included dire warnings that only one person per neighborhood was to attend. The result was that the French Hill residents made up only about 50% of the participants at this meeting that was meant to serve their needs. The other half was made up of the municipal managers of the bike lane project, led by Naomi Tsur and Kobi Bartov, and special interest groups that were invited to come along and influence the discussion, most notably members of the Israel bicyclist association. When a resident asked why they were there when the meeting had been publicized as a debate between French Hill residents and the Municipality, the bicycle association representatives asserted that as Jerusalem bicyclists they have a right to determine what happens in French Hill and that those that oppose their current designs for the area are a selfish minority forcing their will on others.
In response to the narrow traffic lanes, the municipal workers replied that people would simply have to learn and adapt. They claimed that French Hill motorists have had it easy up until now and will have to change the way the behave on a daily basis, as will people exiting their parked cars on the street. They spoke of enforcing a "cultural change" on the community and making them adopt new driving and walking habits.
They did not want to deal with the issue of drivers from outside of French Hill who would not have the opportunity to "adapt" to these changes, nor did they wish to deal fully with the issue of the elderly pedestrians for whom crossing the street has become far more difficult and dangerous since the changes have been implemented.
It also seems that local bicyclists will have to undergo special training to use the lanes at various centers that will supposedly be created for this purpose. Bicycles in the eyes of the municipality are a form of vehicle that requires the consent of the authorities to utilize. Gone are the days of childhood joy-rides.
The municipal representatives consistently hid behind their so called "adherence" to the Ministry of Transportation directives for the construction of bike lanes. In regards to the very real and very evident dangers in the street produced by the project that were witnessed during the trip, they quite literally replied that as far as they were concerned, if the plans meet the criteria of the ministry, then they are safe regardless of what the real life situation may look like.
The municipal representatives also made a small number of vain and dubious promises in an attempt to pacify residents and prevent further discussion of particularly problematic issues. One such issue was the fact that the bike lane trenches fill quite frequently with leaves, dirt and trash, making them extremely hazardous for use. They promised they would have the lanes cleaned on a regular basis. However, given the poor quality of the construction as well as the opinion of experts, they clearly do not have the budget to uphold such a commitment. Another issue was that they would meet the needs of handicapped residents by creating a raised area across the bike lane canal at each parking place of these residents. This clearly does not take into account residents moving in and out of the neighborhood, and it is very doubtful that they will create such a raised passage for each new disabled resident of the French Hill area, not to mention the fact that it will transform the ill-concieved bike lanes into a confusing route with a seemingly endless amount of ramps going up and down.
All-in-all, residents are very disappointed with the treatment they received today. They do not feel that they had real partners in dialogue. They do feel that their very serious safety concerns are being brushed aside. While a variety of serious safety issues were raised that would normally require a complete rethinking of the project, the municipal representatives and special interest groups allowed for these issues presented by the residents to be listened to one-by-one, isolated from each other, and subsequently dismissed one-by-one. There seems to be no real intent on the part of the city to deal with the overall problems that plague this project, but rather a desire to implement it as soon as possible regardless of the consequences to the local residents.
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