Posted on 06/15/2010 6:49:48 AM PDT by MissTed
Jamie Webb thought maybe she was speeding when a police cruiser pulled her and three friends over as they rode their bikes into Black Hawk from Central City.
Actually, the crime was pedaling. She was violating Black Hawk's ban on bicycling through town — the only such ban in Colorado.
"They said we had to walk through town. I think this sets a pretty bad precedent," Webb said. "There's really no reason for it."
Webb was the first cyclist ticketed under Black Hawk's new rule, which prohibits bike riding on nearly every street in town, including the only paved thoroughfare in Black Hawk.
City Manager Mike Copp said the reason for the rule, enacted in January, is safety.
The roads in Black Hawk are narrow and do not have shoulders. They teem with tour buses and delivery trucks that feed the bustling casinos. Demanding that those trucks provide 3 feet of space when passing cyclists — as required by a 2009 Colorado law — means trucks and buses must move into oncoming traffic, Copp said.
"We saw the conflicts going on with buses and with trucks, and we decided to be proactive on this," Copp said, noting that no accidents prodded the ban. "We don't want to be the city that knows we need a traffic light but waited until someone gets killed. This is what our city believes is best for its citizens, its businesses and its guests."
But Webb said she has often ridden on shoulderless canyon roads and has had no trouble with trucks.
"To say we all can't fit on the road together is ridiculous," she said. "We are all moving so slow through Black Hawk anyway, it's not like anyone is passing anyone."
After a period of issuing warnings, police this month began citing cyclists. To date, the town has issued eight $68 tickets.
Cyclists using the road to connect to the popular ride along the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway from Black Hawk to Estes Park are decrying the ban, which forces them to walk their bikes a half-mile through town. Another option is to ride over Berthoud Pass — but that excludes most of the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.
"This is unbelievable. We are going to do as much as we can to fight this," said Rick Melick, spokesman for the 380-member Rocky Mountain Cycling Club. "Now that cyclists have almost the same rules as motorists, the idea a small town can ban bikes is ludicrous."
Since news of ticketing began trickling into the cycling community, opposition is forming. A Facebook page called "Bicyclists and Tourists Boycott Black Hawk Colorado" launched last week. The website dismountblackhawk.com is peddling shirts protesting the ban. Bicycle Colorado, a nonprofit dedicated to all things cycling in Colorado, is fomenting a grassroots push to get Black Hawk to overturn the ban.
"They are singling out one classification of vehicle," said Charlie Henderson, president of the Rocky Mountain Cycling Club. "I wonder if motorcycles will be next."
Black Hawk officials expected the uproar. And they are not going to revisit the rules, Copp said.
"Our council looks at what they think is best for its citizens, for its businesses, which in this case are casinos, and its visitors, which are patrons that come to visit the casinos," Copp said. "We have had positive feedback from citizens, casinos and our guests."
I don't think that bicyclists boycotting a ban on bicyclists is going to have much effect.
Obviously, the bicyclists weren't welcome to begin with; voluntarily absenting themselves is strong proof that the law instituting the ban was effective.
Boycotts make much more sense when the boycottee (so to speak) experiences some discomfort by the (in)actions of the boycotters.
Boycotting a town which has already banned you isn't all that effective of a strategy. It simply affirms the success of the ban.
They have the freedom to walk. Lots of places have NO TRUCKS signs. Haven’t heard of any constitutional crisis about that.
That is friggin hilarious. They think a boycott will change anything. LOL
Right, because none of have cars. This is the dumbest thing I've read all day.
My comment is not scientific, you are correct. It is experiential — when I drive along the road and there are bicyclists and I am going 30, it SEEMS like they are going 10 mph. I might just lump 12-15 mph in with ten, and say ‘It SEEMS like they are going slow.’
I think I see the problem here. You feel that objects "use" things. I submit that it is not the object that uses our roads, people use the road. Your complaint is not that the person pays a tax to use the road, because I made the argument that cyclists pay more per mile for the road than motor-vehicle operators because the taxes for the roads we all use come from state and local sales, income and property taxes. Your argument seems to be that the tax burden is on the object.
So do you get just as upset over motorists operating electric cars? joggers?
Also, just for fun. Notice that local radio and TV set aside time each hour to tell you how bad a break-down or lost payload has buggered up traffic for miles around. When was the last time a bicyclist (other when a motorist runs him/her down) has caused a major back-up where helicopters circle like buzzards?
...until then, you just have your spandex panties.
You are just envious that some of us can appear in public without ridicule... :)
The tax automobile owners pay is a "use" tax, not a road damage tax
Actually, the law is not written that way. The fees are a way to cover the cost of registering your vehicle and to cover a certain percentage of the state's general funds. My registration fee is the same regardless of how much I drive. I think you are confusing a "use tax" with tolls that are to be paid on toll-roads. Bicycles are prohibted by law to use those, so you should be in heaven knowing that.
If the Automobile owners didn't pay that tax, you guys would be getting a lot of briars in your spandex panties riding on garden paths and wooded trails.
A few observations:
It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone get flayed as thoroughly as you have on this thread. Why didn’t you just stop after the first knock down?
Oh, for crying out loud!!!
Racial profiling?!!.....Reductio ad Hitlerum?!!
Its just a small town, local bicycle ordinance, folks.
I've been at FreeRepublic for almost 43 years now, and have never seen so many, so anxious to get their panties in a twist over a sarcastic remark.
I was thinking of blaming Bush for this too.
And your solution is to have thousands of taxes PLUS one.
Seems that you are ready to hold office today.
Certain types of threads attract the crazies -- especially the granola-eating, spandex-wearing, days-without-bathing, hypersensitive bicyclists, or in other words the exact type of personality that would equate a local ban on cycling in certain areas with a totalitarian regime bent on ethnic cleansing and extermination of non-Aryans. So your post kind of stood out like a red flag, and even though you've been FReeping since before algore invented the internet some of us aren't so familiar with you that we would intuitively recognize the sarcasm.
And perhaps it was lazy of us not to click on your screen name and then peruse your posting history to ascertain whether you were a granola-eating, spandex-wearing Volvo driver with a bike-rack and a "share the road" bumpersticker, or just a normal joe posting a sarcastic remark to ridicule such folks.
So on behalf of the rest of the posters who did not immediately recognize that you bathe regularly and eschew spandex and granola, please accept this apology for taking your sarcastic post at face value and responding to you in that vein.
no point spending the money, they won’t STAY on the bike trail, they will insist on riding on the roads anyway!
that was beautiful. we are soulmates. ; )
thought you might appreciate it.
Hey packrat.....he thinks algore invented the internet.
Go get him!! He must be one of those friggin loons!
I'm a carnivorous, spandex-wearing, Ford driver with a bike rack and "Share the road" bumper sticker. In other words, your stereotype blows.
Your exceptionalism doesn’t necessarily negate the stereotype.
Nah, trust me, your stereotype is flawed. Local bicycle organization here has rib nights. You won’t find many granola types outside of Seattle San Francisco or the like
I don't understanding your parrot-like repetition of this phrase. How is a Ford Mustang with a manual transmission "better" than a Ford Mustang with an automatic transmission? From the perspective of road use, they are the same car. It's a distinction without a difference.
Or are you just making a point about cars?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.