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A bike-friendly Glencoe – Our view: Pay attention to this process

A group of people is working to reinvigorate the community. Unto itself, this is a good idea and will likely generate ideas that will likely make Glencoe in some small way a better place to live, work and play.
The cumulative effect of these ideas will likely pay dividends down the road.
However, there are elements to this most recent idea that will have impacts on residents. You might not like those impacts. You really should pay attention to this process because it could affect your everyday life. And once the process is completed and approved, it’s unlikely the city will reverse direction and take a mulligan.
There is a public hearing planned for Monday, Aug. 17, 7 p.m., on a plan to create bike routes on various city streets. The proposal was initially presented to the city council Aug. 3.
The city sent us a map of the proposed bike lanes Tuesday, but we received it too late for publication in the Aug. 5 print edition. The proposal calls for bike lanes on the north/west sides of DeSoto Avenue and Fifth Street between Oak Leaf Park and North Hennepin Avenue, the wide side of North Hennepin Avenue, the south side of a portion of 10th Street, the north side of a section of 14th Street east of Union Avenue, portions of the north and south sides of 16th Street and the west side of Pryor Avenue between 10th and 16th streets.
The potential rub is that creating the bike lane will eliminate on-street parking from those streets. Residents who don’t have on-street parking at their houses likely won’t care for this plan.
And thus, you should make sure your voice is heard.
If city councilors hear no questions, concerns or objections to the proposal, they will likely assume everyone is OK with the proposal as presented. If councilors hear questions, concerns or objections, they can bring those to their next meeting and possibly tweak the plan.
We support people using bicycles to enjoy a healthier, more active lifestyle. A community where people walk, ride bikes and positively interact socially is likely good for everyone.
But if people unexpectedly lose their on-street parking for a bike lane, this creates a problem for them, the police who have to enforce city ordinance and city hall.
We hope the proposal, in the end, is one that works for citizens who use bike lanes and property owners alike. If the plan needs to be revisited with greater public notice and adjusted, that will hopefully lead to a better plan.
As a wise football coach once said, any plan that can’t be changed is a bad plan.
That really makes a lot of sense.

-jm