Do you have concerns about the proposed 30th St bike lane? Send an email to your representative Mayor Todd Gloria. Copy and paste the template below, or write your own.
Mayor Gloria’s Contact Information:
Mayor Todd Gloria
City Administration Building
202 C Street, 11th Floor
San Diego, CA 92101
619-236-6330
[email protected]
Subject: Unsafe Bike Lanes
Dear Mayor Gloria:
I am contacting you to express my concern for the safety and liability issues with your plan to implement the new 30th Street Bike Lane design, as well as my concern for placing an additional financial burden on our businesses while they are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic.
The City has accommodated the state prohibition on indoor dining by allowing businesses to create outdoor parklets at their own expense. These parklets serve a tiny percentage of the diners who were served before the pandemic restrictions. The previously approved 30th Street Bike Lane occupies the same curbside lane of 30th Street as the parklets are currently using. The City has indicated that it would allow the parklets to remain after the bike lane is implemented. However, striping the bike lane as currently proposed would require bicyclists to weave in and out of vehicle traffic, endangering both the cyclists and motorists. It will also place liability on the businesses that build the parklets for any roadway accidents this situation creates, thus requiring costly increased insurance requirements. Finally, as you know, many restaurants without parklets are surviving solely due to curbside pickup. The immediate removal of parking in front of these businesses will doom them.
We can all agree on that things have changed since the adoption of the current 30th Street Bike Lane Plan. The world looks different now. North Park has seen a loss of small business at a rate of three times higher than it was the year before. Businesses are reporting a loss in revenue that totals millions of dollars district-wide. Employees who were previously saving to buy their first home are now lining up to get their free box of food because they haven’t had income in over 10 months. At this point, the bike lane as previously planned will have a major negative impact on our small business community.
Covid-19 has decimated our small business district. Our businesses are shuttered, our streets are torn up from construction and our businesses are holding on by a string to get through this pandemic. We are therefore asking that the City not proceed with the current plan which would be unsafe for cyclists and a death blow to businesses.
Respectfully,
[Your name, Business name]