City Council

From: Brian Flath To: Patrick Slayter; Sarah Glade Gurney; una.glass.seb@sonic.net; Neysa Hinton; Diana Rich; City Council; Kevin Kilgore; Mary Gourley Subject: Agenda item #8 October 5, 2021 City Council Meeting Date: Monday, October 04, 2021 8:20:15 PM  Dear Council members: I’m writing in regards to agenda item #8 for the 10/5/2021 City Council meeting. The proposal to remove the bike lane markings on Morris Street and replace them with sharrows will create an unsafe condition for bicyclist on a road which the Council has acknowledged is one of the most heavily cycled in Sebastopol. I find it unconscionable that The City Council would prioritize transient RV parking over the lives and safety of the citizens of Sebastopol. The discussion of agenda #8 states: “Morris Street gets a lot of parked vehicles, including employees and visitors to The Barlow, employees, and visitors to the commercial uses north of Laguna Park Way”. This is disingenuous as it is not the customers or employees of The Barlow or the businesses on Laguna Park Way that are creating an unsafe condition on Morris Street, it is the RV’s that are parked in violation of California Vehicle Code that are creating the hazard. The only way to rectify this unsafe condition is to remove the illegally parked RV’s that are obstructing the bike lane. This can be done at little or no cost to the City of Sebastopol, and will restore the use of the bike lanes to their original intent. Statistics show that the popularity of cycling has exploded during the pandemic. Many more people are using bicycles for transportation and exercise and Sebastopol currently has excellent bicycle infrastructure in place to help facilitate people getting out of their cars and on to bicycles. One of the stated Council goals is to “Maintain and expand a safe and efficient pedestrian, bicycle and transit network that connects neighborhoods with key destinations to encourage travel by non-automotive modes while also improving public health”. Removing the bike lanes from Morris Street is clearly antithetical to this goal. Tomorrow, Oct 6th, is California Clean Air Day. A day when the State of California asks the people and businesses of California to take action to improve air quality. One of the best ways we can help improve the air quality in California is to take fewer trips by car and more by bicycle. Please don’t place the safety of cyclist in jeopardy and decrease the feasibility of the citizens of Sebastopol to use bicycles for transportation and exercise just to benefit a few who wish to illegally park their RV’s on Morris Street. Thank you, Brian Flath