[BikeLongmont] LAB Bicycling Friendly Communities

[Phil_Greenwald@ci.longmont.co.us]

Nenad,

Len and I are looking at the application now and will probably send
something out in the next few weeks.  Thanks for the kind words for the
City staff--we are trying to make things better for all modes of
transportation on limited resources.  We certainly appreciate those of you
who have attended the Bicycle Longmont meetings and offered feedback about
things the City of Longmont is doing well and not so well, as well as the
projects bicyclists would like to see in the future.

Thanks again for all your help,
Phil Greenwald, AICP
Transportation Planner
City of Longmont
303-651-8335 phone
303-651-8696 fax


|---------+------------------------------>
|         |           Nenad              |
|         |           <nenad@bicyclelongm|
|         |           ont.org>           |
|         |           Sent by:           |
|         |           bike-admin@bicyclel|
|         |           ongmont.org        |
|         |                              |
|         |                              |
|         |           12/02/2003 07:55 PM|
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  |       To:       bike@bicyclelongmont.org                                                                    |
  |       cc:                                                                                                   |
  |       Subject:  Re: [BikeLongmont] LAB Bicycling Friendly Communities                                       |
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I tend to agree with Rich. I think the city is doing a fine job. Sure,
they could do better (I am sure folks in Boulder can also find things to
complain about), but the effort is being made to accommodate the
cyclists.

I looked at the application and my impression is that this is not
something that our group can nominate the city for, it is something the
city applies for. There seem to be a number of criteria, first a
"general filter" to pre-qualify online and then a detailed
questionnaire.

I noticed that both Denver and Fort Collins got "Silver" ranking. I used
to live in Fort Collins until 1995 and, at the time I moved to Longmont,
they had much better bike path network. Looking from the commuting
perspective, I think Longmont is better - try riding in rush hour down
College or Shields and you'll see what I mean. *Surely* Longmont would
qualify for a "Bronze" at the very least...

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the city should definitely
apply. Regardless of whether the application succeeds of fails, the
process will tell us something about the improvements we need to work
on, since it will identify the deficiencies. We would all benefit from
this insight.

So, Phil, Len, how about it? I am speaking as a "private individual",
not in my awesome mantle of the group coordinator :).

So far the comments seem relatively evenly split with three comments
against and two for. What to other folks think? Share your thoughts,
there's no postage due on email!

Regards, Nenad
P.S. As an illustration how well we are doing, when the city asked for a
"top 5 wish list" for improvement projects, almost all we could think of
was either already in plan/funded (Pace bike bridge), or minor
maintenance work (striping, etc.) or under CDOT control (Hover/119). If
the city was not doing well, we'd have a long list.
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