I normally rant and rave about the bike lanes in Big Bear Lake, California, but not today. This is the letter I wrote to them this morning.
Everyone and City council,
I was really looking forward to attending Moonridge Monday, but I was detained down the hill. I would have ridden my bike to the event on the wonderful bike path. I’m a huge biking advocate in San Diego and was on the board of directors at the San Diego Bike Coalition for a few years.
With that being said the decision to hold the Moonridge Monday event in the bike lane is wrong!
The bike lane is not a great place for a street fair. It’s pure discrimination. Bike lanes are built to give cyclists a safe place to travel out of traffic. This event forces people to bike in traffic behind diagonally parked cars.
Let’s analyze the area. Moonridge is a 4 lane road with a divider. It has parallel parking and diagonal parking.
It has cross streets. It has the huge Bear Mountain Lot. I think any one of these options, is a better place to hold the street fair than the bike lane.
The Rathburn corridor was strategically designed over the course of a couple of years and endless meetings. No where, do I remember any of us saying the bike lane could be used for commercial ventures. It was said that the street could be closed to accommodate events.
What you’re saying is that selling goods is more important than the safety of people and children.
The bike lane was built for people on bikes. Using it for anything other than a biking purpose especially for an event where generic businesses profit is just wrong. It’s a miss use of the bike lane and the grant money that was used to fund it. It’s a fraudulent use of the funds.
It’s bad enough that the larger diagonally parked SUVs and trucks on the street cannot see an adult cyclist approaching when they back up. God forbid a smaller person or a child pedal behind a large truck.
That’s why the Rathburn corridor community group wanted the bike lane. You’re now taking it away from the group of people it was designed for, cyclists. That is discrimination.
Hold the event in the diagonal parking area. Hold the STREET Fair in the street. Hold the street fair on Rathburn. Hold the street fair on the cross streets. All of these areas are more appropriate and will have a much better community feel than a long endless narrow strip of vendors in the bike lane. Why don’t you hold the street fair on the sidewalk after all everyone is walking.
It’s Moonridge Monday not sell goods and profit in the bike lane Monday.
The city makes lots of money off of the large biking events, mountain bikers and all the visitors who are now ebiking on our paths. The word will get out that our bike lanes are being closed for commercial profit events. This is a black eye for a city that depends the fast growing summer ebike tourism.
I even saw a promotional flyer that said bike to Moonridge Monday. Well that’s a slap in the face once you get there. How rude.
You wouldn’t take away the lake from the boaters. Why would you even think that it’s ok to take away a bike lane from bikers?
Keeping people on bikes, families on bikes and children on bikes safe is a priority. You can’t build it, then take it away when it suits your needs.
What if a cyclist gets hurt in the street while the “bike lane fair” was running? I see lawsuits. Discrimination and liability issues.
Bike lanes are for those who bike it’s not a convenient space for a fancy swapmeet.
I love bikes. I love street fairs. I commute by bike daily. I know what it’s like to bike on unsafe streets. Please reconsider the placement of Moonridge Mondays. Make it a safe event for everyone.
Honestly this event should be designed with entertainment in the center in a make shift plaza and vendors around that. That’s how you keep it friendly and fun. Maybe even 2 plazas with more entertainment and energy.
The bike lane street fair is much like a strip mall.
You too can voice your opinion at execdir@bigbearchamber.com – City Manager, esund@citybigbearlake.com or to the Mayor, rputz@citybigbearlake.com