Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Bicyclists continue to be the bad guys

A few months ago, the Los Gatos Weekly-Times published an Op/Ed piece from a local citizen detailing, with some humor, the trials and tribulations of local bicyclists.

A lot of readers didn't find it so funny, however. That commentary unleashed an outpouring of hostility from motorists that kept our opinion pages hopping all summer. And underscored the very point the commentary was trying to make: Local motorists don't like bicyclists very much.

Now the town seems poised to make it official.

The Town Council recently sent the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan back to the General Plan Committee for a major overhaul. Councilmembers urged the committee to take into account their concerns that narrowing the road and putting in bicycle lanes might be unsafe.

Nearly three years ago, the town invited community participation in planning the future of Los Gatos Boulevard. Growth there was inevitable, the town said, but there was no reason it couldn't be planned.

More than 200 Los Gatos residents and business owners enthusiastically joined in charting the boulevard's future. A noted urban planner gave guidance.

While there was disagreement over details, the one thing virtually everyone agreed on was this: Every effort should be made to keep Los Gatos Boulevard from becoming another Stevens Creek Boulevard.

The comparison didn't just leap into the group consciousness from nowhere. The similarities between the two boulevards were unmistakable: strip malls, automobile dealerships and fast-food restaurants haphazardly lining an oversized and pedestrian-hostile street.

The idea of narrowing the lanes to slow traffic has been a part of the plan from the beginning. Bike lanes came into the picture early on, both as a way to make the boulevard more inviting as a destination and a way to facilitate alternative modes of transportation.

It wasn't until the plan was pretty well molded that the auto dealers made known their opposition to a narrower street with bike lanes. They claim making the boulevard more friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists will hurt their business.

Now councilmembers are suddenly concerned that bike lanes will make the boulevard unsafe. More likely, councilmembers are worried about upsetting the car dealers, who provide the town a healthy percentage of its sales tax revenue.

Trails and Bikeways chairman Sheldon Smith asks: Is anyone going to argue that slowing down that traffic is unsafe?

Apparently, yes. The same town that welcomed citizen participation in planning what the boulevard should be would rather tell bicyclists that Los Gatos Boulevard is an unsafe place for them to ride than risk offending the car dealers who want Los Gatos Boulevard to stay just the way it is.

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