Some sort of election thingy happening Nov 2. Who knew? The Picayune this morning has a nice bit on a $260 million bond proposal before New Orleans voters for a large scale capital improvements program. Included in the plan is $4 million for designing and marking new bicycle routes throughout the city. Anyone who lives and works in New Orleans can see the utility of such a project. As the article points out, nearly 30 percent of New Orleans residents do not own cars and rely on either our rather poor public transit system or their own two feet for their commute. New Orleans is a fairly compact urban center with limited downtown parking which makes bicycling an attractive transportation alternative for many residents. When I worked in the French Quarter, my bike was my best friend. Even now, it is my preferred way about town on weekends. Unfortunately, as this Gambit article points out, the city's traffic plan and its um.. eccentric... drivers are less than hospitable to cyclists. The projects in this bond issue are a nice step toward rectifying some of these issues.
I should also point out that while acknowledging the necessity of many of the improvements laid out in this program, the Bureau of Governmental Research has raised questions about the structure of the bond issue which you can read about here. Also details of the allocation of these funds (a part of which are set aside for libraries, I should mention) are available in PDF form from the city's website.
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