By: Diane Benjamin
Bloomington wouldn’t have a Bike Master Plan without Bike Blono. Bloomington wouldn’t have a Complete Streets plan without Bike Blono. Bike Blono had private meetings for months with Public Works to make lanes on Washington happen. (as stated by Michael Gorman of Bike Blono)
Bikes have always been allowed on the roads, Bike Blono wants special rights for the tiny numbers of bikers. That means everyone else must give up some of their rights.
Mike McCurdy of WGLT, Connect Transit, and Bike Blono spoke in favor of the lanes. He informed the Board about his connection to Connect Transit, but forgot to mention Bike Blono! Another speaker tried to tell the Board about Bike Blono associates attacking her on social media for opposing the lanes, but the chairman cut her off. The rights of people living on E Washington didn’t matter.
The Bloomington Planning Commission vote was determined long before the meeting. The Resolution sending the approval of bike lanes on Washington to the City Council had already been written and was included in the packet. (Jim Karch claimed that was a mistake) See it HERE
The Amendment to the Bike Master Plan allowing bike lanes on Washington violated the Bike Master Plan: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=8997 PDF page 14
The commission didn’t care. Washington is not “lower traffic”.
The original plan had lanes on Grove Street. Grove will still get lanes, but Washington will too.
Public Works director Jim Karch said the lanes will be painted on when the street is resurfaced. The cost for latex paint, that will only last a year, is $25,000 a mile.
Karch also reported the bike lanes will create congestion.
Karch also reported the bike lanes will create congestion.
Karch also reported the bike lanes will create congestion.
.
Congrats Bloomington – your government voted to create congestion on an arterial road.
I wonder if anybody will remember this when even fewer people travel downtown?
I wonder when gas tax receipts will drop significantly? The bikers don’t pay it!
Many of the Board members mentioned the Bloomington Comprehensive Plan. Their vote was because this amendment fit the plan.
Most citizens have no idea what the Comprehensive Plan is!
Here’s the link: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12068
Notes:
- The plan wasn’t done by the Bloomington City Council, it was done by the un-elected McLean County Regional Planning Commission (MCRPC)
- The MCRPC conducted a survey of citizens. Remember Bring It On Bloomington?
- The MCRPC wanted 7,660 people to take the survey, they only got 1,160 participants https://blnnews.com/2014/09/19/bring-it-on-bloomington-flops/
The Comprehensive Plan is meant to cover 2015 – 2035. The TWENTY YEAR plan is the opinion of 1,160 people!
Tari Renner now has stacked Boards, Commissions, and the Council that all want the plan enacted. Maybe you should know what’s in it!
And the Pantygraph “spin” today reads “Most in favor of bike lanes” this “most” is 13 people!
THIS is democracy??
We didn’t have nor NEED bike lanes when I was a kid. So Renner bows to the whiners?
A dentist testified that he has ridden his bike to work for YEARS. His office is at Regency and Washington. Somehow he got there without bike lanes and obstructing traffic, but now he is thrilled with getting lanes.
Bike BloNo, Black Lives Matter and Not In Our Town are Renner’s “Brownshirts”, his enforcers. Most business people and schools, who are not actively aligned with the groups, are absolutely scared to death of them. If an ordinary citizens stands up to these thugs, they are likely to find themselves unemployed, threatened, and maybe even harmed physically. Welcome to the new Venezue…er…Bloomington.
Maggie, you relly need to get some help. You keep making these ideas that people you don’t like are terrorists and thugs. Claimn they are violent, can fire at will and so on. This is not so. Not agreed with them on many points, but your over the top claims about them make me embarressed. Reality is they are better than us in organizing and getting turned out people — that’s not against the law, that’s democrcy. Stop making claims that make diane and us look crazy.
I can show you CRAZY – Maggie isn’t half as bad as Renner’s buddies!
How many of those bikers will spend money and carry those purchases back home on those bicycles from downtown shops? Next big story? Downtown business leaving because no one wants to shop there. To dangerous – way to many kids on bikes and adults acting like kids on bikes! Do they realize that just because these bike lanes are designed for adults tooling around doesn’t mean you aren’t going to have some child on a tricycle test it out. Why not? That’s what the big kids to. This is crazy. Why not put those lanes next to the sidewalk and have the cars park out in the street? That way when I take something out with my dually pick up it is just an auto not a life!
Not to worry about buying anything downtown. The direction the “stakeholders” are going is to provide a “destination,” an “experience.” There will be art galleries, BCPA, Coliseum, Library, restaurants, bars and a few service businesses like Fox & Hounds or attorneys. Oh, and don’t forget the dream of a hotel.
Really, what this boils down to is that elections matter. This is the cost/benefit to losing/winning an election. CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) just can’t get it done, can’t get their side to the polls, or get their candidates in office. Lower lost by a landslide (of those who voted).
Thanks for making sense for a change! That’s the only reason this is posted.
Bob–In the primary, over 50% of voters voted against Renner. Over 40% voted in favor of Lower in the general election. Calling that a “landslide” is a stretch. Gorman promised the bike community’s vote in exchange for special treatment. A Planning Commission member was Renner’s campaign manager. Renner will not honor most his campaign promises as has been proven in the past. Those not in favor of bike lanes on Washington are not “C.A.V.E.” they are intelligent individuals who care deeply about the community and all of its citizens which is what the Planning Commission and Council are supposed to do.
Bikes Blow Now
Karch also reported the bike lanes will create congestion. * Congestion is what they want. Getting drivers frustrated enough to discourage automobile ownershi is their goal. They’ve bought into the globalist plan. Socialism, no man should have so much. They hate capitalism for all that decrees – all men should have so much. So the likes of the Koos (BMW spewing diesel), Renner (2 gas guzzling Corvettes) and overpaid city managers will be doing fine as their idiotic minions will find themselves on the bottom of the totem pole and perhaps figure out someday that socialism is just another scam as those a bit smarter than them merely use them.
Oops. You left out your mention of the Agenda 21 conspiracy, “old stanky.”
You do know Agenda 21 is a REAL document signed by Old Bush? Do leftists just pretend it doesn’t exist?
According to the hand-out from the “in-put” meetings, “In the Fall 2016, City staff began having monthly meetings with Bike BloNo. The group provides input on various projects and acts in an advisory role.” Bike BloNo suggested “tweaks” to planned projects to align with Complete Streets Ordinance.
Immediately following the passage of the FY2018 budget in April of this year, it was announced in the Pantagraph that “pop-up” bike lanes would be painted on E. Washington St. which is scheduled to be resurfaced this summer. Michael Gorman, Bike BloNo’s co-chairman of public policy and infrastructure got approval from Hales, also a member of MCRPC, prior to Council approval of the action. A quote from the 4/24/17 article: “That was actually approved by (City Manager) David Hales last week,” said Gorman. “That’s going to be happening regardless of council’s direction on Monday.” That statement seems to me to be quite arrogant.
http://www.pantagraph.com/lifestyles/aldermen-to-consider-pop-up-bike-lanes-on-wash-st/article_c8a7a18c-3da3-5aba-822a-45298c6c9d39.html
One week earlier on 4/21/17, Gorman met with 18 members of the Funks Grove Neighborhood Assn. to garner feed back about the amendment proposal. Feedback was mixed–50/50. On May 10, 2017, City Staff sent a letter to the residents on Washington St. to notify them of public meetings and the temporary bike lanes. From May 15 through May 19 Bike BloNo and City Staff built and monitored the temporary bike lanes from Kreitzer to Mercer. One public meeting at Washington School at 6 pm and one public at the McLean County History Museum at 4 pm occurred prior to the issue being brought before the Planning Commission. The volatile activity surrounding this proposal has been reported on this site.
Within 6 weeks of the announcement in the Pantagraph on April 24, the Planning Commission voted. Keep in mind the traffic count on E. Washington is 11,000 cars. Where is their input recorded? How will those vehicles be represented? There was no graphic available showing a bird’s eye view to depict how many and where cross-walks will be placed.
What a tangled political web is in place:
• Bike BloNo advises and directs Public Works Projects & City policy behind the scenes
• Bike lanes on Washington became a political issue during election campaign
o Gorman is Renner appointee to MCRPC**
(produced Complete Streets/Comprehensive Plan)
o Gorman is founding board member of Bike BloNo Activist Group
o Gorman was Campaign Treasurer for Amelia’s campaign
o Gorman was part of the staff on Renner’s campaigns
o Michael Buragus is Renner appointee to MCRPC**
(produced Complete Streets/Comprehensive Plan)
o Justin Boyd is Renner’s appointee to Planning Commission
o Justin Boyd was Renner’s campaign manager
o McCurdy is a founding board member of Bike BloNo Activist Group
o McCurdy worked on Renner’s campaign
o McCurdy is acting Board President for Connect Transit
McCurdy is not a resident of Bloomington
**MCRPC=McLean County Regional Planning Commission
• Non-elected, unaccountable
• Appointed by Mayor
• Tax Funded
It is not too late to make your voice heard. The Planning Commission was not unanimous.