Editor: I attended the meeting in 2008, and not one citizen there was in favor of a bike lane on West Spain Street, yet the council approved it anyway. I would have attended the recent meeting to voice my opinion in person, had I been give sufficient notice of the meeting.
I have lived in Sonoma all my life and have enjoyed riding my bike on the specially made bike path. It is a safer way to get to town and only shared with other bikers or joggers/walkers. To put a bike lane on West Spain would not be safe for traffic or bikers. Just pulling out of my residence is dangerous enough. As motorists turn off of Highway 12 onto West Spain they tend accelerate to more than the speed limit. In fact, an officer was parked in our lot waiting for speeders just last week. With parking already packed at the far west end of Spain Street, it is difficult to see oncoming traffic as we exit our driveway. There are also several businesses just a few doors down that don’t have parking lots, so customers park on the street. With a new bike lane, it would jam up the already crowded parking on the south side of the street, making things worse than they already are.
Also, what would be the environmental impact to the area? Has the City checked to see if this is approved by California Environmental Quality Act? As a lifelong resident of Sonoma, I demand that it should. Moving traffic around affects other areas of the neighborhood and the environment.
It is ridiculous to spend a ton of money on a bike lane when the bike path is only about a block away. Where are the residents and business patrons supposed to park? This is a waste of money and will displace a lot of people for no reason.
Thank you for your consideration on this matter.
Anthony Bertolucci
Sonoma
Nice thoughtful comments Mr. Bertolucci and I agree….Removing parking from West Spain or any other street only to harm the residents, businesses, patrons, delivery persons, service vehicles, property values, and tourists of this need is the common wrong thinking and self centered mentality being fostered in this day and age. If cyclists do not like riding around Sonoma leave, go out to the middle of nowhere stake your claim and build a city that works for you. Sonoma is one of California’s oldest towns and its streets were not designed around the bike. They were first designed for horses and wagons so they did not need to be very wide and next came cars and need for parking them. In our life time cars are not going to disappear. Accommadations have been made and you have a bike path. Now go use it.
Very truly yours,
Mike Larbre