Stand Up for Sidewalks, Bike Lanes and Bike Trails

Student Andrew Wright lost his life last month swerving to avoid a trash can on a sidewalk while riding his bike to Myers Park High Schoool. According to this report in the Charlotte Observer, Andrew was thrown into the street when he clipped the can, where he was hit by an oncoming tractor trailer truck.

Charlotte is clearly a progressive city, but has a long way to go in making its magnificant tree-lined streets safer for kids who want to make the healthy choice of walking or riding their bikes to school. I urge everyone to consider what happened to Andrew, survey the situation in their own neighborhood and find out whether and how $60 million in proposed sidewalk and pedestrian safety improvements in the city's capital improvement plan might improve their life. Those projects were part of the $926 million capital improvement plan rejected by the City Council in their June 11 vote on the city's 2012-13 budget.

As someone who is struggling to keep up with his bills, I applaud the council for voting against an 8 percent increase in property taxes, but I would be disappointed to see the city abandon its plans for pedestrian or cycling safety and the $35 million Cross Charlotte Multi-Use Trail. (BTW for an informative and somewhat alarming review of our city's current economic situation, check out City Manager's May  PowerPoint presentation on the Capital Improvement Plan.)

Those who see the quality of life, health and recreational benefits of these pedestrian and cycling amenties might also want to weigh in with our Congressional delegation on the pending Transportation bill. The House and the Senate are now fighting over whether to continue federal funding of several programs that have converted abandoned raillines into beautiful bike trails and helped local communities such as ours install bike lanes and sidewalks to provide safer routes to school. This page at the the Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership site allows you to customize a form letter in support of continued funding and send it to Reps. Myrick and Sens. Burr and Hagan.

While there are many differing opinions on the role of the federal government, it seems to me that if we are going to subsdize the automobile and oil industries, we might as well also subsdize more sustainable and healthier modes of transportation that will enhance our quality of life. Research conducted by The Trust for Public Land, which is working in Charlotte to protect sources of our drinking water, shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that investing in parks and other outdoor recreation infrastructure inevitably leads to higher property values for adjacent homes and businesses. Looking at these images of Little Sugar Creek Greenway on the  Center City 2020 blog, it's not wonder.