Midtown...the Old Boys Club of Reno...and Those of Weak Political Will.

***Warning this is a rant***

Oh...Midtown...What an ironic logo.

Well kids.  Midtown officially hit the skids in the last two days.  Thanks to some of the Midtown business owners who have long time contacts and personal inroads with city council and RTC board members.  

Unfortunately, only two of these folks seem to have much vision (far left if your wondering).  Truly sad...I thought this group was different.

Yep, apparently it's that simple.  Doesn't really matter if you organize, plan, start coalitions, provide detailed alternatives, sit on advisory boards designed for this purpose, or get the majority of public sentiment and votes on your side.  You really just need to be one of a few people associate with "junk, hardware, or records" and know who's ear to whisper (your poorly informed opinions) in to derail what could have taken Reno to the next tier of livable cities.

Don't get me wrong...Midtown will definitely get wider sidewalks.  The bus service should improve too.  However, if you want to ride a bike in Midtown you get two options with current plan.  Ride in the middle of the traffic lane marked with sharrows (currently planned at 30 mph!?) or what I suspect will be more common....ride your bike illegally on the nice wide sidewalk...which I suspect will be the default for many people.

So...thanks for nothing RTC and Reno City Council.  It was good to hear you throw words around like "Complete Streets" and "Great Streets" at the last years worth of meetings....but you clearly don't have the ability to follow through.

Perhaps in another 50 years when we redo the Midtown Virginia St. section again your children will get it right.  Sigh.....

Bike lane blues....

Taken from a Brian Duggan RGJ digest:

Council members agreed to reconsider a Regional Transportation Commission plan to replace street-side parking on Plumas Street between Urban Road and Moana Lane with a bike lane after a homeowner who lives in the area told them he wasn't given enough notification before the plan went to the city.
"Ultimately, I like the idea of a bike lane, but if this happens this fall without any time for me to do anything about it, I have no where to park," said Jonathan Browning, 33.

This is the area we're talking about.  I used to ride this regularly as part of the commute to my previous job.  It was so bad that I usually opted for a circuitous route through the side streets to the east.  While this solved the traffic problems I would strongly argue with the gentleman's argument above, that he won't have a place to park, is ridiculous.  This section of Plumas is a mixed bag of apartment housing (with parking lots) and residential homes (with driveways).  The golf club and tennis club on the opposite side of the street also have adequate parking.  If anyone doesn't have enough parking, it's probably because there are items stored in the their private parking locations (other cars, boats, rvs, etc.).

Enough with the assumption that public space should be utilized for pseudo-private, subsidize parking (it's free and tax payer dollar maintain it)!  The Reno city council shouldn't be "revisiting" RTC planning due to one person's gripe that he can't find alternate parking before later this fall!

Sorry for all the exclamation points.  This type of thing really does bend me out of shape.