[BikeLongmont] Johnny St Vrain and cyclists

[Richard Masoner]

Don Heath's "Johnny St. Vrain" column in the Times-Call has printed a 
few letters regarding cyclists. Below is a letter I'll send to Johnny. 
Please comment. City staff: If you'd prefer that I not make mention of 
the Bicycling Friendly Community award please let me know and I'll take 
it out.

This is probably a bit long for a Johnny St Vrain column, but perhaps 
the Times-Call could print it as a letter to the editor or guest editorial.

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Recently, Johnny printed a letter from "Unindulged Taxpayer" who 
wondered who pays for area trails and what costs cyclists pay to ride 
their bikes. His letter makes me wonder how indignant he might get if 
city maintenance trucks parked willy nilly across city streets.

Implicit in questions regarding cyclist licensing fees is often the myth 
that user fees pay for city streets. In Longmont, city street and trail 
construction and maintenance is funded through a 3/4 cent sales tax. 
Longmont shoppers, for example, contributed $8 million to the $20 
million construction cost of the three mile Ken Pratt extension to 
benefit Larimer and Weld County motorists commuting to their jobs in 
Boulder and Louisville. The gas tax that motorists pay at the pump 
funded most of the remaining $12 million. Local streets without state or 
federal highway designations are funded exclusively by the local sales tax.

Furthermore, roads, sidewalks, and trails are all public facilities. 
People are not required to pay taxes or buy a license to walk, ride a 
horse, drive a buggy, or drive a farm tractor. Access to public 
facilities is a First Amendment right and is not based on ability to 
pay. Because of the costs to society imposed by automobiles, the 
government requires operators to pass tests and pay registration fees.

I don't have numbers for Longmont, but studies done elsewhere show that 
sixty to seventy percent of recreational trail users drive to the trail. 
On a typical trail, about 70% are walkers or joggers, 25% are cyclists, 
and the rest are skaters or "other." These trails are not built to 
indulge cyclists but are built for the benefit of the entire community, 
most of whom drive to the trail.

Personally, I'm ambivalent about the trails. I use my bike for 
transportation and I find the trails don't really go anywhere so I use 
the existing network of bike paths funded through my sales tax dollars: 
the city streets of Longmont. Because I ride my bike, I tend to shop 
locally. I don't go to Loveland for cheap groceries or to Broomfield for 
expensive clothes or to Boulder for restaurant dining. Cyclists may very 
well be subsidizing Unindulged's motoring lifestyle.

Cyclists and motorists may be interested in learning about the efforts 
of Bicycle Longmont. Johnny's readers can learn more by visiting the 
Bicycle Longmont website at http://www.bicyclelongmont.org/. I enjoy 
living and working in Longmont and have found that motorists in Longmont 
are incredibly courteous toward bicyclists. I applaud the city of 
Longmont on their recent "Bicycling Friendly Community" award by the 
League of American Bicyclists. I also would like to remind your readers 
that they can escape the shackles of rising gas prices by joining me and 
hundreds of other cyclists on Bike-To-Work Day on Wednesday, June 23.

For freedom and transportation choices,

Richard Masoner
Longmont, CO USA
http://www.masoner.net/bike/

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