[BikeLongmont] Johnny St Vrain and cyclists

[Richard Masoner]

I've received corrected information regarding the 3/4 percent tax and 
commuters on SH119. I've also deleted some text to tighten things up. 
Thank you to those who provided suggestions and facts. Changes are in red.

RFM

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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 
maintenance and improvements are 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. Maintenance and improvements 
for local streets without state or federal highway designations are 
funded exclusively by the 3/4 percent 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. 
According to studies done nationally, about 70% of trail users 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, sixty to seventy percent 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 
possibly 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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