New Haven Independent

Some at Elm City Cycling’s Bike Plan Subcommittee meeting in City Hall Tuesday evening were disappointed that the designation from the League of American Bicyclists wasn’t higher. Others said an honorable mention indicated, accurately, that we have a long way to go, while still providing some encouragement that we’re on the right track.

The League indicated the city’s main shortcomings were a lack of bike parking, especially around schools; no Safe Routes to School program; and no city employee dedicated to bike/pedestrian issues.

“I want to do a really good plan here,” transportation chief Mike Piscitelli (pictured above) said, “not only with your effort, but a more comprehensive schedule of what our policies are for the city, and what specific improvements we’re going to make and start scheduling them out over a period of years.” He added, “We’re going to go through a really tough budget cycle in the next couple of years,” making a well-thought out plan with a timetable even more essential.

He said in the mayor’s 2008-09 proposed budget he has included funds for 15 bike racks, one bike lane, and more specific plans for downtown.

Members of the subcommittee have read the city’s 50-page bike plan that was produced a few years ago with input from the cycling community. “We’d be really happy if we made [its goals] our initial goals,” said member Erica Mintzer. “There were a lot of specific things in there, but what we realized was lacking was more the process and the accountability and the schedule.”

Piscitelli said, “Fifty pages is a lot. Let’s see if we can get that down to a 10- to 20-page action plan.”

Committee members thanked Piscitelli for coming to the meeting. But bike plan subcommittee chair Tom Harned (pictured) wanted to know what was the best way they could work in a productive, ongoing way with the city. Piscitelli said evening meetings that just he attended were not the best way, and invited them to come by his office on a regular schedule when his entire staff was available to discuss cyclists’ concerns.

Hua Tan (pictured) told him, “You have an excellent reputation locally as someone who will support bike and pedestrian [concerns].” Then she ticked off all his other responsibilities under his full title of Director of Transportation, Traffic, and Parking. “What can we realistically expect from you?” she asked.

He answered, “I’ve positioned money to be put into these improvements. We’ve put money in place; we had no bond money for bicycle improvements, so the new bonding is $45,000 that’s available and I’ve transferred, I think, $10,000 for bike racks.”

He asked for the committee’s help in deciding where the bike racks should go. He passed out a sheet showing all the streets in the city (about a dozen) that are wide enough to accommodate a bike lane. And he asked them to prioritize where they’d like to see the next bike lane go.

Piscitelli added that he’s meeting with New Haven school officials next week to discuss Safe Routes to School, the federally-funded program whose absence the League of American Bicyclists noted in its rejection of the city for Bronze bike-friendly status.