[BikeLongmont] Emery street permanent closure

[The Stouts]

When is the meeting tonight?  My wife and I just joined the list a couple
months ago, but have had something going on the couple previous times.

This proposal would definitely be a problem as thats exactly the route we
use each time we go to downtown longmont, and not the other routes for
precisely the reasons mentioned below.

Thanks,

Anthony

On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 6:56 PM, Nenad Rijavec <nenad at bicyclelongmont.org>
wrote:

>  Hi,
>
> One of the issues we'll discuss in the BL meeting is possible closing of
> the Emery Street. Butterball has asked the city to close it, so they could
> save on security for their building facing the street. The city seems ready
> to oblige. As you can see in the post below pasted from the longmontcycling
> group at Yahoo, this is a problem for bikes.
>
> We'll formulate BL position and response to this issue tomorrow, so please
> stop by or drop me an email if you'd like to have your voice heard.
>
> Regards, Nenad
>
> Cycling in and around Longmont, CO
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/longmontcycling;_ylc=X3oDMTJkcjdhbGd0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzkyNzkyNDMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY3NDM5BHNlYwNoZHIEc2xrA2hwaARzdGltZQMxMjA1MTQwNDk3>
> Messages In This Digest (1 Message)  1. Emery Street closure will affect
> Longmont cycling<http://webmail.smartetailing.com/mail6b/vendor/FCKeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?InstanceName=Compose_editor&Toolbar=Webmail#1>From: Peter Schow
> View All Topics<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/longmontcycling/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJmdXBpYTluBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzkyNzkyNDMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY3NDM5BHNlYwNkbXNnBHNsawNhdHBjBHN0aW1lAzEyMDUxNDA0OTc-?xm=1&m=p&tidx=1>| Create
> New Topic<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/longmontcycling/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJmbnJtcW12BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzkyNzkyNDMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY3NDM5BHNlYwNkbXNnBHNsawNudHBjBHN0aW1lAzEyMDUxNDA0OTc->
> Message  1.  Emery Street closure will affect Longmont cycling
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/longmontcycling/message/2169;_ylc=X3oDMTJxbGQ0dmNlBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzkyNzkyNDMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY3NDM5BG1zZ0lkAzIxNjkEc2VjA2Rtc2cEc2xrA3Ztc2cEc3RpbWUDMTIwNTE0MDQ5Nw--> Posted
> by: "Peter Schow" p.schow at comcast.net
> <p.schow at comcast.net?Subject=%20Re%3AEmery%20Street%20closure%20will%20affect%20Longmont%20cycling>
> p_schow <http://profiles.yahoo.com/p_schow> Sun Mar 9, 2008 4:18 pm (PDT) Short
> version:
> The proposed permanent closing of Emery Street down by the
> Butterball plant will negatively affect cycling in Longmont,
> especially between the Greenway and downtown Longmont.
>
> Longer version:
>
> You may have read about a proposal to close a block of Emery
> Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenue:
>
> http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=6863
>
> It appears that the Longmont Downtown Development Authority (LDDA)
> has already approved this idea and that the proposal will be heading to
> the City Council soon, after a visit to the Planning and Zoning
> Commission. Unfortunately, this piece of Emery Street happens to be the
> de-facto cycling route between the Greenway and downtown Longmont.
>
> When the City opened up the nice path between 1st Avenue
> and the Greenway (the one that runs by the Fire Training Center),
> this created a convenient cycling route between the Greenway and downtown,
>
> without having to navigate heavy traffic.
>
> The map shows it better than I can explain:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/3bhdnk
>
> The intersection of the path to the Greenway and 1st Avenue is near where
> the railroad tracks start to curve, just north of 1st. To get downtown
> today from this point, the natural choice is clearly Emery Street. Not
> only is Emery Street convenient, it is usually a quiet street with
> hardly any traffic (especially on weekends) and it provides good access
> to the traffic light at 3rd and Kimbark, to safely cross busy 3rd Avenue,
> and deliver you to downtown.
>
> The alternatives:
>
> (a) Go west to Main Street.
> Response: cycling on Main Street is a chore and no fun. 100X this
> sentiment if your kids are riding with you.
>
> (b) Go west to Main Street and ride the sidewalk downtown.
> Response: Perhaps. Is this the cycling vision for Longmont?
> Is this what LDDA wants?
>
> (c) Go even farther west to Coffman, and then take a right to
> go downtown.
> Response: I may as well get off the Greenway somewhere else,
> like on South Pratt Parkway at the St. Vrain.
>
> (d) Go east to Martin Street
> Response: This route is non-inuitive as it has you going in
> a complete opposite direction of the downtown destination.
> Shouldn't downtown access be easy?
>
> If you're unhappy with permanently losing a valuable cycling route,
> this is the time to contact your City Council:
>
> http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/city_council/members/index.htm
>
> http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/city_council/contactform.htm
>
> Providing your real name with any communication to the city will be
> more valuable than staying anonymous.
>
> Comments welcome.
>
> ---
> Peter Schow
>
>
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