I was disappointed with the city’s decision to route the Open Streets bicycle event to Penn Avenue in the Strip District.
I witnessed the masses of cyclists taking advantage of the ride through the Strip as I did my shopping this past Sunday. I didn’t see any appreciable number, if any, of the riders stop to patronize any of the Strip District businesses.
What I did see was a drop in regular customer patronage that normally would have taken place during that time on a typical Sunday. At every one of the eight businesses where I made a purchase, I heard the management say the same thing: that business was about one-tenth of what it normally would be on a typical Sunday.
As I stood on the sidewalk discussing this with a business owner, we both wondered why the route couldn’t have been on Liberty Avenue or Smallman Street, rather than reducing the already scarce on-street parking so vital to this business district. The cyclists were coming from, and going to, somewhere else without any benefit to the Strip District businesses. We didn’t even notice any of the riders paying much attention to the area.
As an avid city bicycler myself, I can say that I don’t need “Open Streets” or dedicated bicycle lanes; I didn’t find that there was any impediment to city cycling before any of these programs or events!
DOUG THOMPSON
White Oak
First Published: June 3, 2015, 4:00 a.m.