Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Bicycle lanes belong on Los Gatos Boulevard

By Greg Presedo-Floyd

I drive a large truck on Los Gatos Boulevard, and I support the proposed general plan amendment to stripe bike lanes in both directions. Like all of us, I am concerned about safety issues and the economic welfare of the auto dealerships on our boulevard. However, I am also concerned that, while bike lanes have long been a key feature of the proposed Los Gatos Boulevard plan and enjoy enormous support, they are in danger of being eliminated by the Town Council.

Four issues have been mentioned in recent stories and letters. First, what is our vision for the boulevard? Second, some auto dealers contend that the bike lanes would have a negative impact on their businesses. The third issue is safety. The final issue, an assertion that bike lanes will force more traffic onto neighborhood streets, is easily dismissed. There are no neighborhood streets that parallel our boulevard.

I believe that the majority of people support the mission statement of the Boulevard Charrette process, "... to establish the boulevard as a distinct place that enhances the quality of life of Los Gatos through its beauty, vitality and community focus." Bikes, pedestrians and slower traffic enhance our safety, quality of life and property values.

Many of the auto dealers on our boulevard are understandably nervous about change. As a group, the dealers represent the largest single source of revenue for a town that, not too long ago, was in debt.

But I think "safety" is being used to distract us from challenging the assertion that the bike-lane proposal will cause the town to lose revenue. Eleven-foot lanes were arrived at when the planning department responded to a dealer's request to keep existing on-street parking. The planning department followed its internal procedures and proposed 11-foot auto lanes. Statements have been made that 11-foot lanes would contradict Caltrans' guidelines. I suspect this is a self-serving finding by the dealers in light of the fact that my own investigation reveals that other local cities routinely have 11- and 10-foot lanes. The proposed lanes would give my truck a 30-plus percent margin of error when I drive. This seems plenty safe to me. Citizen reports from neighboring cities indicate no safety problems with their bike lanes, but is the council willing to listen to those without an economic bullhorn?

As I look out of my place of work, I see the 10 lanes of the much busier De Anza Boulevard. De Anza has bike lanes for miles, even crossing busy freeways. Cupertino reported to me that there is no problem on De Anza with bicycle accidents. I frequently see cyclists on De Anza, but I have never seen a youngster use these lanes.

Look around our boulevard; bicycles are already there. As so many of us sit still on the parking lots known as highways 17 and 85, breathing air that is the worst in the South Bay, shouldn't we support using our boulevard to improve air quality? We must not miss the incredible opportunity to connect our boulevard to the planned bike lanes on Bascom Avenue.

Regarding the loss of revenue, we must get beyond alarmist assertions and into some real case studies. Dealers south of Blossom Hill have had bike lanes in front of their stores for years. One told me it had not impacted sales. Let me just offer that I happened to notice that Davidson Chevrolet has bike lanes in front of both of its entrances. Davidson is on the eight lanes of Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino. More cars, faster speeds, but no safety problem. There is also no on-street parking. I went inside and asked if the fact that you cannot enter their store without crossing a bike lane had in any way impacted their business. I was repeatedly told no. There's one case study. May we please have some more developed to feed this debate?

The town-sponsored Boulevard Charrette encouraged hundreds of us to grapple with a vision for our boulevard. Eight teams produced visions that included 11 proposed changes. Adding pedestrian/bike paths was on a list of changes that received unanimous support.

Today, the council seems to be struggling with issues such as bike lanes and traffic-calming. One councilmember proposed to me the clearly unacceptable solution of placing bike traffic on the pedestrian sidewalk. Other councilmembers say that everyone supports bikes, but that safety concerns might force us to implement bike lanes in a manner different from every other neighboring community. Honestly, I find that hard to believe.

Greg Presedo-Floyd is a Los Gatos resident.

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