Blessings to you and your strength. Blessings to cyclists everywhere that
face those same selfish claims to the road replete with hostility and life
threatening behavior on almost every ride. Blessings to all those people
who don't cycle because of their experience with that mentality. Most of
all blessings to those all over the world who have the "I me mine get out
of my way" mentality so prevalent these days.


"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
m...
Dear friends,

I'm going to lay it all out here -- skip the next few paragraphs if
you don't want all the background information, and realize this is
going to be a long post.

Recently I attended a barbecue and picnic that our city hosted to
float out its proposed improvements to West Lake Sammamish Parkway
(aka, the lake road)(http://www.ci.bellevue.wa.us/press.asp?view=20904).
The lake road is a relatively flat road that connects the end of the
Sammamish River Trail, a popular multi-use trail, with the I-90 Trail,
another multi-use trail that is primarily used by cyclists and is one
of the primary bike commuter corridors of the region. The lake road is
shady, has lots of trees, and peak-a-boo views of Lake Sammamish and
the Cascade mountains.

When I was a kid, Lake Sammamish was a location for little summer
cabins. Now, there are multi-million dollar chateaux on the lake.
Lakeside slopes on the other side of the Parkway, originally thought
too steep to build on, now have fancy homes with views of the lake.

The existing roadway was installed about 50 years ago. Since this
time, the road bed has been patched here and there. About 20 or 25
years ago, a bike lane was added on the west side of the street, and
the idea has been ever since that this lane was to accommodate bike
traffic going both north and south. The east side of the roadway is a
mess for cyclists -- deterioriating and patched concrete; uneven and
cracked pavement, especially near the fog line; illegally parked cars,
boats, and trailers on the public right-of-way; shoulders that
suddenly disappear with no warning; a roadway that crumbles at the fog
line at times, with an immediate gutter and grass (and therefore no
bail-out room).

Traffic volumes on the road have skyrocketed over the years, as the
road helps connect suburban homes with the Microsoft Corporate Campus.
Speeding is endemic. If you are headed north and choose the road over
wrong-way cycling on the bike lane, you will have people passing you
on a narrow roadway at 40+ mph. The high motor traffic volumes and
speeds are potentially deadly to pedestrians. One of my child's
classmates, an 8 year old boy named Billy, was struck by an SUV this
last school year while attempting to cross the road to catch a school
bus. He survived, but still struggles with brain injury-related
disabilities.

The north end of the lake road runs through the City of Redmond, and I
assisted in the successful political effort to repave the roadway, and
create a pedestrian and bicycle facility on the east side of the road.
These improvements will stop dead now at the City line.

From my perspective, West Lake Sammamish improvements are a
no-brainer. Right now it looks like the side road to Bubba's Moonshine
Shack, not a proud boulevard running by multi-million dollar homes. Of
course the roadway needs to be resurfaced. Of course we need a safer
environment for cyclists and pedestrians. More traffic means more we
need to improve the road, not keep it in a deteriorated condition,
hoping that all those cars, bikes, and pedestrians will just go away.

The bbq was not widely publicized -- it was mainly aimed at people who
live along the Lake Road, as opposed to spandex-clad activists. I
found out about it surreptiously. Respecting the City's wishes not to
rile up the residents attending, generally I did not reveal myself to
be the chair of the city's Bike-Ped Advisory Group. Instead, I came up
to people and said things like, "Oh -- do you live on the lake road?
What are your concerns?"

I was stunned by the unbridled hostility from the lake side residents.
They hate bicycles. Cyclists don't care about property values.
Cyclists don't have to ride bikes. They certainly could choose to ride
somewhere else. Who cares about safety. Safety is not important. No
children are ever going to want to walk on West Lake Sammamish anyway.
(Since Billy was struck, that might be true -- how many parents are
going to have their child catch the school bus on that road these
days? Hm? They're going to drive that kid in the SUV to school
instead, doncha think?) Repaving the road will just encourage more
speeders. Adding a shoulder or bike lane will just encourage more
speeders. We will hire lawyers. We will fight these improvements tooth
and nail, and we have the money to be able to do that. The City had
better watch out.

In sum: we hate bicyclists. We hate pedestrians. We hate anyone using
the road for any other purpose other than to drive to their lakeside
or lake view home. And the operative word here is *hate* -- the level
of emotional venom was bracing.

After the bbq, I felt I needed a decontamination room from absorbing
so much bad feeling. And this without saying, "hi, I'm a cyclist who
was an activist regarding the Redmond effort", or "I chair the city's
bicycle/pedestrian advisory group". This was without stirring up their
hornets' nest of hostility. When people voiced their feelings, I did
not do any defense of the proposed improvements, the needs of
non-motorized transportation, etc. I just listened.

The day and lord knows, the hour will come, when I will not be just
sitting there politely listening. I will be actively organizing,
testifying, writing, facilitating. There may have been only a few
bicycling and pedestrian activists at the bbq, and we kept our profile
pretty low. There will be scores of them at other fora, just like we
had in Redmond, and we will speak out.

The prospect of this level of negative emotional energy that I am
going to provoke is scary for me. I will need to draw on my meditation
training to keep myself logical, focused, and at the same time,
compassionate and open-hearted.

Pray for me, friends, pray for me.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky )
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Singing with you at: http://www.tiferet.net/
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at:
http://bookcrossing.com/friend/Cpetersky