“We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.” — Robert Frost, The Secret Sits
by Luke Schmaltz
It is practically unheard of that a retail business — one which relies heavily on public awareness of its whereabouts — would treat the opening of a new location like a covert, psi-ops, top-secret government installation. Yet, until recently, this seems to have been the case with the small-format Target store slated to open at Lowry Boulevard One in fall of 2020.
A Public Mystery
Bullseye: Residents who thought they were living in a district exceptional to generic corporate influence will have to get used to looking at this symbol every day.
The entire arc of this narrative is, in fact, shrouded in secrecy — as the issue first came to the attention of The publication from a Lowry Boulevard One resident. The Chronicle was contacted by this person who, first and foremost, insisted upon anonymity. Once agreed upon, they went on to explain a community-wide sentiment of disdain over recently-announced plans that a Target store was to be the anchor business for the retail shopping complex at First Avenue and Quebec Street.
According to this caller, the developer, in securing neighborhood support for the project, sent out numerous emails to homeowners and other residents. These emails asked recipients their opinions on the type of retail business that would fulfill their needs while resonating with the unique, upscale tone of the neighborhood. Preferences were unanimous for a specialty grocery store along the lines of Tony’s Market, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
Come to find out, through Boulevard One Design Review Committee Meetings and statements on the Lowry Redevelopment Authority website, that the space is slated to host a small-scale Target store — not exactly the brand that comes to mind for rounding out a one-of-a-kind, distinctive, freshly-reimagined residential district. The space in question currently is a vacant, partially developed 30,000 square-foot storefront facility — no doubt a consistent subject of curiosity and concern for area residents.
Confidential Solidarity
Requests for commentary on this issue were either deflected to other entities or ignored entirely by the Lowry Redevelopment Authority, Denver District 5 City Council Office, Lowry United Neighborhoods (LUN), Lowry Community Master Association (LCMA), Boulevard One Master Association (BOMA) and to some degree — Target Corporate Headquarters.
Construction: The construction at Boulevard One is underway, yet far from complete.
Mary Carr, Executive Director of LCMA responded in an email explaining: “Boulevard One is actually its own Master Association and is not a part of the Lowry Community Master Association (LCMA) and for that reason the LCMA is not involved in any of their development decisions. I have cc’d Jean Lindholm with the Lowry Redevelopment Authority — she can get you over to the appropriate person with the Boulevard One Master Association.” No follow-up communication from Lindholm was ever received.
Meanwhile, multiple attempts to communicate with District 5 City Council Members, LUN and BOMA were ignored entirely and only after numerous emails and voicemails, Jill Lewis, a Target Corporate Headquarters Communication agent, finally offered a definitive statement via email on the matter: “At Target, we continuously explore possible locations for new stores, including in the Denver area. We are currently focused on new store growth with our small-format stores, which are smaller than our general merchandise Target stores and are located in dense urban and suburban neighborhoods as well as college campuses. I can tell you we are pursuing the opportunity to reach guests in the Lowry neighborhood, and at this time, we don’t have any additional information to share.”
Bankrupt Beginnings
Rewind to January 2020 when Lucky’s Market — the original planned occupant of the retail space — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a motion to close 32 of its 39 locations. This effectively took them out of the running for the property. According to the Lowry Redevelopment Authority (LRA) meeting notes for May 2020, “The LRA has repurchased the property as of May 14, 2020, and notice of repurchase has been given to CK under a Right of First Offer (ROFO) agreement. CK intends to give notice of their desire to purchase the property from the LRA within the next few days with the selection of a closing date.”
Signage: As of August 12, 2020, the Boulevard One construction site signage still identified Lucky’s Market as the anchor retail business of the development.
Throughout the remainder of the meetings notes, the future owner of the property is referred to simply as “CK.” Further investigation into Boulevard One community plan and lot plan schematics, “CK” is revealed as Confluent Development/Kelmore Development Co. The former’s website describes the configuration as: “Confluent Development and Kelmore Development serve as co-owners and co-developers for The Boulevard at Lowry, a 200,000-square-foot commercial mixed-use redevelopment project in the heart of Denver’s revitalized Lowry neighborhood. Situated on more than five acres, the 1.5-block infill development will consist of retail, restaurant, office and entertainment space, including a restaurant sitting on the community park across Lowry Blvd.” Not surprisingly, no qualified representative from “CK” was available to comment on the situation for this article.
Meet The New Neighbors
What Could Have Been: A conceptual artist’s rendering of what the Boulevard One retail complex was supposed to look like.
According to LRA meeting notes from July, 16, 2020, the plan to lease the property to Target was announced on July 7 via virtual open house meeting. The plan has since been added to the LRA website and the Boulevard One website with the following statement: “The store would offer a shopping experience tailored to the needs of local guests, including free and convenient same-day services such as Order Pick Up and Drive Up. Target stated they would look forward to building a local team of talented members who will help them serve the Denver community. The developer also shared that they continue to engage and are also in advanced negotiations with multiple specialty grocers to join the project, either on the current parcel or an adjacent parcel.”
The 30,000 square-foot building which will house the small-format Target is just one-fourth the size of a normal store, which makes one wonder which of the many attracting features may be left out due to size restrictions. Lifelong loyalists to the corporate brand may see the opening of another branch of their favorite retail destination. Yet, upon entering, they may be taken aback when they realize there may be no pregnancy-detecting buying algorithms analyzing their purchases for coupon targeting, no open breastfeeding areas in either the electronics or housewares departments and no refrigerated Doritos for their famous “Walking Tacos” recipe. The latter is a brand-specific marketing original — which instructs shoppers to crush up a bag of Doritos, add taco ingredients and enjoy the concoction with a spoon. If this practice were to become commonplace at Boulevard One, residents and stakeholders alike would have another situation to be secretive about.
“I am still making order out of chaos by reinvention.”
— John le Carre
by Luke Schmaltz
Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has prospered greatly from the Covid-19 shutdown along with McDonald’s, Walmart, Target, and many other wealthy Fortune 500 corporations.. Conversely, many of the most unfortunate economic casualties of the Covid-19 shutdown are small businesses — a staggering percentage of which will not recover. Among these, many of the hardest hit are family-owned food and beverage establishments and independent retailers.
Currently, the nation’s financial spine appears to be either broken or at the very least severely out of alignment. Unfortunately, the middle class can’t just go hobbling down to the economic chiropractor and get its mangled column of vertebrae snapped back into place. Rather, the health of each small yet crucial section is going to have to be nurtured back to solvency one joint at a time.
Jeff Bezos
A Personality Crisis
Doing this is going to require innovation, experimentation, and the willingness to abandon some elements of the old fiscal paradigm. The Washington Post recently reported that over 100,000 small businesses have closed down permanently due to the Coronavirus fallout, and more are expected. This year’s decimation of small business has created a massive void in the marketplace as a whole. The character and warmth of family-owned and operated businesses that are no longer there has left consumers with an ever-dwindling set of bland, prefabricated cookie-cutter options. As most folks with even a fraction of personality will agree — that will not do.
The independent entrepreneurial spirit is strong in many Americans, and some would rather work for themselves 80 hours a week than clock in and out of a regular job and toe the line to the corporate status quo. Independent mom and pop businesses can and will etch their place in the economic landscape once again. If you are willing to step out onto shaky ground, there are a few takeaways from the current crisis you can arm yourself with so that the next stay-at-home order will not mean curtains for your piece of the American Dream.
Brass Tacks Of Business
Boarded Up: Bracing boards on windows does not brace the backbone of the economy.
Retail shops and dine-in restaurants carry the always present, ever-increasing burdens of rent, insurance, property tax, loan payments, utility bills and on and on. Before dollar one can be considered profit, these costs must be met. If your passion is preparing delicious food or supplying people with items they need, consider operating from modest digs for starters or better yet, skip the storefront altogether and set up shop from home. Rather than wait for random foot traffic to wander through the door, you might consider marketing to your immediate community and perhaps to an extended clientele within reasonable, deliverable radius. Plus, if your business is non-perishable goods, there’s always the good ol’ United States Postal Service.
Interact With Your Neighbors
Neighbors: Communities are built on relationships between neighbors.
By creating commerce and delivering value to your community, you are playing an important role in bolstering your small section of the backbone. In this scenario, your neighbors and fellow Denverites are your clientele, and developing relationships with them is crucial to your success. For this to happen, however, there must be a general consensus that fast food and big box stores are not the only options when it comes to enjoying professionally prepared meals and purchasing clothes, accessories and gifts. With the unfortunate dwindling of mom and pop places to frequent, people are eventually going to get sick of unhealthy fast food, generic products and soulless interaction. This newly-emerging niche is where small, home-based and low-overhead businesses owners can step in and make a living — and perhaps a difference in their community.
Reach Out In Old And New Ways
Spread the word about your products and services by talking to people in your immediate community. If the quality you present is on par with your passion for your business — those you serve will almost certainly tell their family, friends and neighbors about you. Also, the internet, despite its flaws, is still a powerful tool for doing business — perhaps now more than ever. You can cheaply and effectively build and maintain a clientele via internet marketing — specifically by email. You will need a basic website, an on-page email capture feature and an email management service. All can be acquired and maintained for a few dollars a month. The scope of this article is not broad enough to go into all of the nuts and bolts of this, but please know that for the curious, there are volumes of free information available about every facet of online marketing.
Subvert The Supply Chain
Locally sourcing raw materials is an essential component of a community-focused, small business resurgence. Large agricultural distributors are in the same category as fast food chains and corporate retailers. They are only concerned with numbers and have no contingency in their business plans for building and sustaining communities. On the other hand, according to farm flavor.com, there are 36,180 farms and 156 farmers markets in the state of Colorado. Plus, delivery services such as Grub Hub, Door Dash and Uber Eats are available to deliver just about anything edible you may produce to your local customers. As the locally-sourced, delivered inventory model grows, so too will regional services designed to meet that demand. Currently, Coloradofreshproduce.com and Farmtoforkcolorado.com are serving the entire Denver metro area and surrounding suburbs.
While some of what is presented here is speculative, the fundamentals of what make small businesses volatile are definite: high overhead, a disconnect with the community and outdated marketing strategies. What makes them invaluable, however, is that they are run by human beings who share the same aspirations, concerns and neighborhood as you.
Out of everything that’s been lost over the past few months, one of the few things that won’t be lamented is the brown cloud of pollution hanging over Denver like a giant swarm of gnats.
Composting is a clear, logical way to reverse global warming on an individual scale.
As the city reopens, the brown cloud will return, but if you happened to go outside and glance upward anytime in late March, April or May 2020, you were probably shocked at how blue the sky actually is — even over a large city. In early April, The Denver Post reported an 80% decrease in sulfur oxide in the downtown area and up to 50% reduction of particulates such as nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide compared to data from the same time in 2019.
Although the shutdown briefly reduced carbon emissions at home and across the globe, the respite is not nearly enough to reverse 200+ years of industrialization. If a significant reversal of global warming is to occur, everyone has to do their part. This does not mean you have to wear hemp sandals and ride a bamboo bicycle to work. You can actually help the planet out by doing less, that is, when it comes to throwing away grass clippings, dead tree branches and other detritus generated from landscaping and routine yardwork.
The Basics
But first, for those who may yet be unaware, the combustion of fossil fuel in automobiles, industrial machinery and farming equipment along with other agricultural activities releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, energy-related CO2 emissions across the globe are projected to increase from 32 billion metric tons in 2016 to 35 billion by the end of 2020. This atmospheric carbon, combined with methane, sulfur oxide, nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide make up what are known as “greenhouse gasses.” The greenhouse effect occurs as these gasses allow sunlight to pass into the atmosphere, yet they do not allow heat from the planet to radiate into space. The result is global warming, which if allowed to continue, can have devastating effects on human populations worldwide — especially in coastal areas.
Carbon emissions from here can be reduced from the same place, one yard at a time.
Make The Yard Work
While the population as a whole might be able to reduce how much they travel via automobile, bus and airplane, curtailing the use of fossil fuels is not enough to reverse global warming. As an individual, however, you can lessen your carbon footprint by decreasing the amount of atmospheric carbon that originates from your front and back yard. Activities once deemed as essential must be reexamined through a CO2-awareness lens. Upending the soil for gardens, incessant cutting of grass, trimming of hedges and pruning of trees all release carbon in one form or another. Tilling and digging opens up the topsoil — and the escaping carbon mixes with the ever-present atmospheric oxygen and becomes CO2. Meanwhile, organic material in the form of grass clippings, hedge trimmings and tree twigs that gets hauled off to the landfill generates methane as it decomposes.
A Novel Approach
The brown cloud was lifted, but global warming is bigger than a brief shutdown.
Carbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it through either biological or geological means. Plant life on your property is already doing this, all you have to do is to not interrupt the process with traditional yard maintenance protocols. Instead, you can leave dirt and soil undisturbed by growing flowers, plants and vegetables in raised garden beds. This leaves the soil intact while producing more oxygen and more plant material to reintroduce back into the ground. When you mow the lawn, prune trees, pull weeds and trim shrubbery you can take the trapped carbon in this “yard waste” and sequester it by breaking it down into small pieces (use a wood chipper for branches and twigs) and integrating it back into the soil through a deliberate process.
Composting Yard Waste
1.Air, water, nitrogen and carbon are the four essentials for compost. Nitrogen is supplied in the form of organic kitchen waste and green grass clippings. Carbon is just about anything organic that is brown such as pine needles, dry leaves, grass clippings, hay and sawdust as well as shredded paper and cardboard. The ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N) should be anywhere from 25:1 to 40:1 — which basically means material that is drier than fresh waste.
2.Choose a space that is approximately a cubic yard in dimension (3x3x3) and that is removed from high traffic pathways and living quarters. To partition off the area, you can use old wooden shipping pallets, hay bales, chicken wire or anything similar you have sitting around.
3.Next, build your compost pile keeping C:N ratios in mind. Be sure to place food scraps beneath pine needles, leaves, dry grass, etc. in order to keep odors down and insects and rodents away. Next, wet the pile and then simply allow worms, microorganisms, bacteria and fungi to break down the material. You can add air by poking the pile with a pitchfork or a rake or by turning it every few days with a shovel. Add a small amount of water every few days to keep the breakdown agents moist, and when you add more to the pile be sure to integrate the new material in with the old.
4.Once your compost is dark brown with an earthy texture, it can be added to your raised beds, placed at the base of trees and shrubs and sprinkled about the lawn. Composting can save you money on fertilizer, generate less waste that needs to be hauled away by a fossil fuel-burning engine and help yield lush plants and trees. Basically, to do your part for the planet, keep the carbon in the yard.
On May 26, 2020, during a televised press conference, Colorado Governor Jared Polis made a statement that turned more than just a few service industry heads.
New Space: Glendale’s Bull & Bush got the jump on outdoor seating through an expedited application process.
He suggested that Denver restaurants, upon reopening after the forced Covid-19 closure, commandeer adjacent outdoor areas, parking lots and even residential yard space so that they could increase their serving capacities under the current social distancing regulations. To many, the idea must have initially sounded farfetched and perhaps a bit naive. Yet now, for most establishments looking to resume business while complying with Department of Health regulations, this tactic may be their only hope.
Impossible Rules?
Governor: Colorado Governor Jared Polis stepped in to help restaurants quickly get approved for outdoor seating.
The restrictions on reopening are many and read like a restaurateur’s worst nightmare. Most involve distancing measures not only between patrons, but between employees as well (six feet seems to be a figure of ubiquity) and as anyone who has worked in a restaurant knows, following such a stipulation in a kitchen, behind a host stand, behind a bar or in a wait station is practically impossible. Navigating this turbulent stretch of the proverbial reopening waters seems daunting enough, that is, until you get to the part about capacity limits. All establishments must keep tables, yep you guessed it, six feet apart and can seat only up to 50% capacity or 175 people — whichever is less. Yet, realizing that restaurants employ 10% of Colorado’s workforce (300,000 people) leaders like Polis are urging proprietors and service professionals to get back to work — a crucial step in offsetting the economic disaster that looms on the horizon.
Uncertainty With A Side Of Harsh
So far, restaurants across the Mile High City in districts such as Glendale, LoDo and many others are getting creative with their proximal outdoor spaces. This unprecedented period of reopening could be deemed as a restaurant’s life support phase before either recovering enough to be released from the ICU or giving up and pulling the plug. After being shut down for three months (takeout and delivery notwithstanding) many places are simply unable to recover after such an extended hiatus from revenue and have already thrown in the towel. According to the National Restaurant Association, revenue losses through April 2020 are estimated at $80 billion and project to be as high as $240 billion through the end of the year. While (sadly) many restaurants forced to close are one-of-a-kind, mom and pop joints, several national chain restaurants are being forced into early retirement as well.
The New Abnormal
Despite the setbacks, some establishments with a loyal clientele and a strong identity across the neighborhood culture are attempting to forge forth. In doing so, however, they are forced to cut indoor capacities in half. This is where auxiliary external spaces turned into temporary seating areas can make a big difference. Bull & Bush Brewery (4700 Cherry Creek South Dr.) co-owners David and Erik Peterson have opted for a temporary exterior expansion. “So far it’s working out quite well,” David explains. “The waitstaff are all young, energetic and eager to work — so to them a few extra steps is no big deal.” While a recent Friday afternoon lunch service was moderately busy at best, Peterson was confident that the evening’s numbers would be many times greater — meaning that his overflow patio would indeed be helping circumvent the restrictions so that the restaurant could operate at an optimal capacity.
Another long time Glendale business, Shotgun Willie’s, has had to reimagine what their footprint looks like and how they can maximize their space while adhering to guidelines. When businesses were shut down, they shifted their sister company TBar (adjacent to Shotgun Willie’s) to a To-Go food and liquor business. They were even able to run some car washes during the warmer days to help generate some revenue which owner Debbie Matthews allowed her employees to keep. “I wanted to make sure when we reopened, that some of my most loyal and hard-working employees would come back,” said Debbie Matthews, owner of Shotgun Willie’s. “We got creative and kept Shotgun Willie’s and TBar on people’s minds. Now, having reopened, Shotgun Willie’s and TBar are seeing loyal customers return. They are both open for business at noon, seven days a week.
TBar: Jeremy Marshall stands inside TBar Patio which is the bar adjacent to Shotgun Willie’s at 490 S. Colorado Blvd. TBar Patio has an open-air concept and serves cold draft beer, specialty cocktails, and has plenty of games to choose from.
Unlikely Allies
While restaurant owners/managers have often found dealing with the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses to be highly challenging, getting approval for outdoor seating areas has been fast and easy for most. Whereas pre-Covid-19, garnering such clearance would have taken weeks or even months from an agency that is notorious for red tape, miscommunication and outright hostility toward businesspeople. Observations aside, the truth behind the sudden expediency is that on June 5, Governor Polis signed an executive order requiring that the Department of Revenue and the Liquor Enforcement Division respond to applications for extended seating/serving areas within 24 hours. The order allows restaurants to extend dining areas up to 1,000 feet of their entryways while allowing the consumption of alcoholic beverages within these areas as well.
Expansion: Esters has expanded into their parking lot in order to adhere to new regulations and serve at an optimal capacity. Pictured here is Paul Sullivan, owner of Esters Neighborhood Pub
Determined Stalwarts
Meanwhile, Esters at 1950 S. Holly has expanded outdoor seating into the adjacent strip mall parking lot. A staff member explained that an application was recently submitted and approved — giving the place the green light to expand seating by 40 guests at the start of the third week of June. “This is not something we would have normally done,” said Paul Sullivan, owner of Esters Neighborhood Pub. “This gives us open air seating which I think people are looking for. The landlord at this location and the other tenants were cooperative on getting this going and adjusting to our new reality of what people want in a dining experience. I am thankful we are allowed to do this, I hope people enjoy it, and I feel this is going to help us survive this tough time.”
Beer Garden: Blake Street Tavern has expanded their serving capacity and are now “in the beer garden business.”
Further west into LoDo, longtime area staple Blake Street Tavern is ahead of the curve. Of the 700+ Denver restaurants who applied for additional patio space permits, they are already serving meals in their parking lot like their aforementioned Glendale counterparts. In a recent piece published by CBS4, owner Chris Fuselier states, “We’re in the beer garden business now. It’s all about outdoor dining.” Although Colorado is beloved for 300+ days of sunshine per year, that was not the case the day Blake Street opened their temporary beer garden, as violent winds showed up without a reservation and made for an interesting afternoon. This brings to light another potential issue: While the additional seating remedy is seasonal at best and better than nothing at all, inclement Colorado weather that hits hard and fast can cause inadvertent violations. Should an outdoor area need to be evacuated quickly, a bunch of patrons being herded indoors will take the social distancing regulations and scrape them into the trash bin.
Silver Linings
Perhaps on the brighter side, diminished capacity of all restaurants still in business as well as the closure of so many others could present a boon for places like Bull & Bush, Esters and Blake Street Tavern, as other establishments competing for the dollars of patrons could be at an all-time low. Yet the question remains whether a society that has been cooped up for three months is ready to go out to eat again, or if they are still skittish — content to stay at home and dine with caution.
The Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure (DOTI) has elaborate plans for the streets of the Mile High City. These upgrades involve alteration of major travel routes, busy thoroughfares and neighborhood streets in order to accommodate an ambitious, multimodal, city-wide bike lane initiative. According to DOTI’s website, the Denver Moves: Bicycles project is driven, in part, by the fact that many would-be cyclists do not feel safe using two-wheeled, non-motorized transportation in order to get around town. The website infographics demonstrate that a majority of would-be bicycle riders (60%) feel “interested but concerned” about safety for cyclists across the city at large while 25% say “no way, not now” while just 12% are “somewhat confident” and only 4% of those surveyed say they are “highly confident” that riding through the city is actually safe.
A New Beginning
As of January 1, 2020, the Department of Public Works became DOTI, with a modernized mission that is “ … focused on increasing mobility and safety while reducing congestion and fighting climate change.” A fundamental part of creating a remedy for the above statistical disparities involves an overhaul of the existing network of bike routes — with increased signage, more visible lane markers and physical installations in the form of barriers for enhanced safety. Such measures are already in place in some areas of the city, with new lanes, buffered lanes and protected lanes popping up virtually overnight. While these improvements are no doubt paved with good intentions, many neighborhood leaders, property owners and longtime residents have been caught by surprise, with the look and feel of their community having been altered with little notice and without majority consent.
An Old Neighborhood
One such community is the Wellshire district, bordered on the west and east by University and Colorado Boulevards, respectively, and framed to the north and south by E. Yale Ave. and Hampden Ave. This quiet district was built over 60 years ago, and consists primarily of single family, owner-occupied homes. DOTI’s plan is to eradicate all on-street parking on E. Dartmouth Ave. to make way for a well-defined, buffered bike lane that would no doubt increase safety and security for users while creating possible hazards and other negative impacts for homeowners.
Some residents feel that, since there have been no recent crashes reported along this stretch of Dartmouth (already a designated bike route), enhancing the bike lane is an overzealous remedy to a nonexistent problem. This viewpoint also supports the idea that installing a buffered bike lane could create hazards for residents pulling into and backing out from driveways as well as minor inconveniences and major hassles when it comes to available parking for visitors, delivery drivers and service providers. Other residents feel that removing on-street parking can also have a negative effect on value of the homes along Dartmouth, which in turn can decrease property values throughout the neighborhood.
Some bike lanes in Denver are welcome improvements, others are not.
An Exclusive Agenda
The DOTI website lists several dozen bike lane installation sites — complete with the types of lanes to be implemented, expected completion dates and some with documents presenting the details of the neighborhood outreach. Yet, concerned homeowner Richard Davies — who lives just off Dartmouth — explains how City Council members and DOTI representatives seemed to forgo the outreach dimension of the project, using the Coronavirus shutdown as an excuse to push their agendas through uncontested. After the first public meeting was held in early 2020 at an area elementary school, the follow-up meeting on April 22 was scheduled as a “virtual open house” but organizers would only field questions and speaking points from attendees that were submitted and approved prior to the meeting.
Protected or “buffered” bike lanes are part of DOTI’s Denver Moves initiative.
The Political Side
City Councilwoman Kendra Black, who had claimed to be opposed to this particular stretch of the Denver Moves: Bicycles project, was also rumored to have inferred to a concerned resident that the proposed changes were a done deal, and they should not waste their time. Regardless, nearly 200 signatures opposing the measure were submitted with zero acknowledgement from DOTI or the city council.
Wellshire residents may have to get used to new signage along E. Dartmouth Avenue.
In an online interview, Councilwoman Black was neutral on the issue, transferring all blame to the will of DOTI’s traffic engineers. She attests that, “The city’s goal is to create safe alternatives to driving for people who are willing and able to use other modes of transportation. Fewer cars on the roads improves air quality, personal health and traffic congestion.” Black continues by stating “Every bike lane project is different depending on what type of street it is, the traffic count, the configuration of the street and more. The goal is to add safe bike lanes — sometimes, according to DOTI engineers — the designs eliminate parking because there is not enough room to have parking, bike lanes and car lanes.”
Some residents are concerned with collision hazards presented by installing a buffered bike lane.
A Possible Compromise
Meanwhile, Wellshire resident David Sherman offers another perspective, ex-
plaining that “Removing parking can actually increase traffic speed and volume.” Yet, he remains hopeful that a copacetic agreement can be reached between residents and DOTI by “lowering the speed limit by five miles per hour and providing plenty of signage about ‘sharing the road.’” Either way, repaving is scheduled for June and the buffered bikeway installation will coincide. Whether a compromise is part of the outcome or the city gets its way uncontested is still a few cycles away.
