Coming soon to an Omaha Bikes meeting near you: Carlos Morales, the city's new Bike/Ped Coordinator! The September Omaha Bikes meeting will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 14th at 11am at the Courtyard Marriott in Aksarben Village. Although we will have a couple of short items to discuss, we'll be clearning the agenda so that we can have a dialogue with Carlos on how we can best work together to move the city forward on bicycle and pedestrian issues.
All cyclists are welcome to attend the meeting. The Courtyard allows bike parking on the back patio. If you are going multi-modal, check the 15/55 route on Metro.
I know we are all anxious to make Carlos feel welcome and let him know that there are plenty of people who will be supporting his efforts!
8 comments:
I wonder if he will be available for the public to talk to him. I know many people in south Omaha, including myself, that have ideas on ways to improve bicycling infrastructure.
How long do these meetings usually last and how long is this particular meeting expected to last, given Carlos' attendance? I only ask because I have an appointment in Lincoln at 10am that day and would like to try to catch some of the meeting if possible (though I would be arriving via Prius rather than bike, unfortunately).
I'm sorry for the "controversy" that has come up upon the creation of this position. Omaha is sorely in need of direction in this area and adding this position is key. With Des Moines launching a bike sharing program, Kansas City and Minneapolis spending over 2 mil. each on pathways, and places lake Fargo and Sioux Falls being ranked ahead of Omaha for Bicycle Friendliness (Bicycling Magazine), it's about time Omaha made a move towards a stronger dedication to Bicycle and Pedestrian awareness.
The meeting will start at 11:00 and we usually wrap up by 12:30, but some people hang around a bit longer to chat about various committee items.
I hope Omaha has a better experience with Carlos Morales than some of us in Los Angeles did.
One of his job responsibilities with the Department of Transportation was overseeing the installation of new bicycle racks, which was done without consistent (or any?) standards. One outrageous example are three in front of Hollywood Neighborhood City Hall, which are placed so close to a brick planter that a "properly" parked bicycle has one wheel on the ground and the other up in the planter. When requested to re-install the racks, Mr. Morales blamed the installer and refused to accept responsibility. Despite an angry promise last May to look into the matter, the racks remain as they have been for the past year -- improperly installed.
For many years there were no bicycle racks in front of the public entrance to Los Angeles City Hall. Some were finally (properly) installed a month after Mr. Morales left town.
Good luck, Omaha.
Glenn... thank you for your efforts to keep us informed by posting this exact same comment on every post pertaining to Mr. Morales.
I wasn't sure where else to leave this comment, except that the issue of bike fees arose in conjunction with the new bike/ped coordinator. This article argues against extra taxes for bicyclists:
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-27-why-an-additional-road-tax-for-bicyclists-would-be-unfair/
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