FABB Blog

 

Vienna Town Council votes down snow removal ordinance

We were very disappointed to hear that the Vienna Town Council voted down a proposed snow removal ordinance at their December 5th meeting. Unfortunately, this was the first we had heard about the proposed ordinance. Otherwise we would have testified in favor and would have encouraged others to do the same.

While we are aware of the dangers of riding on the sidewalk, many people do it anyway. In fact, Vienna Police encourage people to ride on the sidewalk and not in the street on Maple Ave. Not having plowed sidewalks prevents these people, many of whom depend on bicycles as their main form of transportation, to get to jobs and other places. Children walking to school in the winter would also benefit from the ordinance. It works in Alexandria and other Arlington and we think it could be made to work in Vienna.

One of the main arguments against the ordinance is that even when sidewalks are cleared, snow plows will often dump snow from the road onto the sidewalk. I assume the same thing happens in other communities and they figure out ways to deal with it. Otherwise, the message this sends to residents is that we care more about moving cars than moving people.

The only votes in favor were from Councilwomen Laurie DiRocco and Carey Sienicki. We hope the town reconsiders in the future.

To view the video of the public hearing, it's at about 22:40 of Part 1.

Labels: sidewalk, snow, town of vienna

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:35 PM permalink

 

Partch article on where cyclists should ride

We occasionally write a blog on the Reston Patch about cycling issues. The latest is entitled Where should cyclists ride? Cyclists can either ride on the road or on a trail or sidewalk in most places in Virginia. However, given the lack of bicycle infrastructure in Fairfax, we almost always will be riding on the road at some point in our trip.

The article discusses why cyclists ride where the do when on the road. It's mostly an attempt to educate motorists to expect cyclists in the road and to give us respect. I for one am tired of being harassed on a regular basis by motorists who think I belong on the sidewalk.

The other day I spoke with a woman who had made the very sensible decision to use her bike for her main form of transportation. When she weighed all the factors of how much it cost to purchase and maintain a car vs. using a bike, the bike won hands down. However, once she began riding regularly she was upset that on several occasions motorists yelled at her to get on the sidewalk, and she wondered if that's where she should be riding. The article tries to address that issue.

Labels: sidewalk

posted by Bruce Wright at 1:17 PM permalink