Defend Protected Bike Lanes In Cambridge From Being Removed!

Written by Boston Biker on Aug 06

from the email:

 

This Monday, August 7th, the Cambridge City Council will vote on a policy order which could put a moratorium on all new “pop-up” protected bike lanes.

Earlier this month, Cambridge installed a new 2-way protected bike lane on Brattle Street in Harvard Square that was proposed during participatory budgeting. The new design has dramatically transformed Brattle St into a slower, safer street for all users, especially bicyclists and pedestrians. For the first time there is now a safe route in and out of Harvard Sq for people of all ages and abilities to ride a bike, allowing them to avoid the other streets where they’d have to ride in motor vehicle traffic.

Unfortunately, the Harvard Square Business Association has begun an active and unfounded opposition campaign to try and get the protected bike lanes on Brattle St removed, and have taken their fight to the city council.

Three councilors (Simmons, Toomey, and Maher) have sponsored a policy order for Monday’s agenda that would stop all work on all new “pop-up” protected bike lanes, until City staff have met with every single Business Association in Cambridge.

Passage of this order could dramatically delay installation of all planned protected bike lanes and threatens the City’s ability to install and construct new lanes like the ones recently installed on Mass Ave, and the lanes on Cambridge Street west of Inman Square slated for installation soon.

We need to show up and speak up in favor of safer streets! The Cambridge City Council needs to see that an overwhelming number of people support protected bike lanes, and they shouldn’t cave to the pressure of a few dissenting voices.

We can all work together to address reasonable concerns with the Brattle Street design, and city staff are working to make small changes and address concerns, but eliminating the protected bike lane and delaying the implementation of more protected bike lanes is unacceptable. Just yesterday, a cyclist was hit in Harvard Square, which shows the immediate need for protection.

Action items:

• Write to the city council right now ([email protected], and please copy [email protected] and [email protected]) and ask them to vote against order O-14 on Brattle St.
  If you are a Cambridge resident, we suggest mentioning that voting against policy orders like this is important for getting your vote and that you’ll pay attention to how the vote turns out. Please be polite!
• Show up at the city council meeting this Monday and speak out encouraging the council to vote against this policy order.
  Note the unusual location:
  • When: Monday, August 7, 5:30pm
  • Where: Dr. Henrietta S. Attles Meeting Room, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway
  • What: Attend and speak against Policy Order O-14

    You can sign up to speak by calling the City Council office at 617-349-4280 on Monday between 9:00am and 3:00pm, or by signing up in person between 5:00pm and 6:00 pm. If you come to the meeting late, you can usually speak by responding to an invitation to speak at the end of public comment.

• Contact local businesses in Harvard Square and speak with them about why the lanes are important. Be respectful and ask local business owners to support the installation of the bike lanes and speak out against the HSBA’s opposition. After you’ve contacted a business, please send a quick note to us at [email protected] and let us know how it went. Also, if you personally work or own a business in Harvard Square, please get in touch with us – we need your active support on this.

Last, we want the Harvard Square Business Association to see that bikes are GOOD for business! Go to Harvard Square businesses this weekend, make a purchase, and post on instagram or twitter. Use the hashtags #boughtbybike and #saferbrattle, and be sure to tweet at or tag us (@bostonbikeunion / @cambridgebikesafety) as well as the Harvard Square Business Association (@HarvardSquare). We will amplify and retweet, and hope that you do, too!

Tags: action alert, take action now
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