city of Manor bans bikes on certain roads

[Laura Pierce Carbonneau]

Hello - I'm just a watcher here admiring your work.

 

I'm wondering if any of you had heard that the city of Manor just enacted an ordinance not allowing bicycles on Brenham Street and Blake-Manor Road east of FM 973.  It is apparently in response to a lawsuit filed by a friend of mine who had a pretty bad accident after hitting one of the many enormous cracks in the road out there (4 inches wide, 6+ inches deep and multiple ones across the road).

A friend of mine who lives out there read about the ordinance in the Manor Messenger, a local paper.

 

This seems like this ordinance would be against state/federal law, and I'm planning to contact Bike Texas, but thought I'd let y'all know in case you have any insight/other ideas.

 

--
laura pierce carbonneau
web and event project management, content development, social media
austin, texas
512.707.7823
---
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[John Mayson]

On Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 9:03 PM, Laura Pierce Carbonneau
<laur...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This seems like this ordinance would be against state/federal law, and I'm
> planning to contact Bike Texas, but thought I'd let y'all know in case you
> have any insight/other ideas.

I've recently heard of similar cases in California and Virginia and in
both cases the state DOT helped shoot down the ordinances because only
the state can decide those issues. I don't know about Texas.

John

--
John Mayson <jo...@mayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA

[Tom Wald]

I just want to give a quick update on this.

A few of us, including myself in my LOBV role and Robin Stallings of
BikeTexas, are getting some more information on this. We're going to
work out a plan, and my intent is for bicyclists to regain access.
However, in the meantime, we're gathering the relevant facts and
background on the situation so that we can better negotiate. I'm hoping
that we can have some progress to report back with by this time next
week, if not earlier.

Feel contact me with any questions, thoughts, concerns, or helpful
information.

-Tom

--

Tom Wald
Executive Director
League of Bicycling Voters
http://lobv.org
tom...@gmail.com
512-203-7626 (mobile)

[Daniel Norton]

Why is no one publicly sharing the so-called "more information" and "relevant facts and background?"

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[Tom Wald]

Because there is a conspiracy going on.  I actually work for TxDOT, ExxonMobil, Toyota, and Rick Perry.*

The other possibility is that I don't have much information so far.  That's why were gathering information in the meantime.  I expect to get the Manor City Council draft meeting minutes this Thursday.

In the meantime, I may discover a little fact here and there, but it would be quite time consuming to disperse every bit of information as it comes in.  It also would result in misleading and incorrect information getting spread around.

It sounds like the closure is temporary, but I could be reading into what the Secretary for the City of Manor told me.  He might also not know what he is talking about.  I'd rather not start a rumor, so I'm erring on the side of making sure I have my facts straight before I blast them to 1000 people, who, in turn, will let a few thousand more people know.  Of course, I've just spilled a rumor here -- take it or leave it.

The primary reason for my last e-mail was to let people know that I'm working on it -- that anyone at all is working on it.

My phone number is at the bottom of these e-mails as is my e-mail address.  There are there because you are welcome to use them to contact me directly.

-Tom

* not

Daniel Norton wrote:

Why is no one publicly sharing the so-called "more information" and "relevant facts and background?"

[Daniel Norton]

On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 11:34 PM, Tom Wald <tom...@gmail.com> wrote:

Because there is a conspiracy going on.  I actually work for TxDOT, ExxonMobil, Toyota, and Rick Perry.*

There's no need to be snide. I'm looking for clarity and transparency, and the City of Manor is providing neither and instead is stalling.

You seem to want to gather and interpret information before sharing it. Please don't. Instead, please share information that you receive in the context that you receive it, and trust that we are intelligent enough to recognize it in the correct context.

--

Daniel

[Ellen]

Thanks Tom. I for one would rather read a full report later than a thousand facts piecemeal. I’m glad to know you are working on it.

Ellen Gibbs

--

[Lee Rigby]

Lee is no longer at this address. Please update your contacts to reflect his new address. ALee...@gmail.com

 

Thank you.

 

 

---

[Tom Wald]

Lee, I have removed your old address from the list and I have invited you at your new one.

For various reasons, it is best if e-mail list members make their own changes to their subscription.  A link to make such changes is given at the end of every e-mail received from this list.
This is the link here:  http://groups.google.com/group/austin-bac?hl=en

-Tom

Lee Rigby wrote:

Lee is no longer at this address. Please update your contacts to reflect his new address. ALee...@gmail.com

 

Thank you.

 

 ...

 
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[Laura Carbonneau]

Is there any update on this ordinance? My friend who lives in the area says Blake Manor is being repaved already. 

Sent from my iPhone

[Tom Wald]

Update:

I talked yesterday with the Manor City Manager, Phil Tate. He was very
polite and helpful.

I also talked with Robin Stallings of BikeTexas today. We are going to
put together a letter, along with Austin Cycling Association (pending
approval), to state that the road in Manor should remain open to bicyclists.

We are also working together to find bicyclists who live within Manor
city limits. These people will be the most valuable in keeping the road
open to bicyclists. We are looking through membership rolls to find out
if any Manor bicyclists are members or friends of our organizations. If
you or anyone you know is a resident of the City of Manor, please let me
know so that we can send notice to them for how to ensure the road stays
open. (Please note, that some people may live near Manor, even in the
Manor I.S.D., but not within the Manor city limits -- these people do
not qualify as Manor residents.)

Manor City Limits map:
http://www.cityofmanor.org/Permits_files/etjmap.pdf
Only residents in the yellow area on the map qualify at Manor residents.

So... note that I suggest the road is still open to bicyclists.
Apparently, the road is not officially closed to bicyclists until 30
days after the public notice. The public notice is the notice that was
in The Manor Messenger on Oct. 29th. That date plus thirty days is Nov.
28th. The Manor City Council meets next on Wed., Nov. 18th, 7-9pm.
While I am sure that we could summon up dozens and dozens of Austin
bicyclists who would want to go out and attend this meeting, the key
here will be for Manor resident bicyclists to show up and speak against
the road closure, not to overwhelm the city council with a bunch of
outsiders.

Here are a few facts that I learned from the Manor City Manager:

* The impending road prohibition is not specified as temporary -- it is
of indefinite duration.

* The prohibition is only with the Manor City Limits. (The Manor ETJ is
identical to the city limit on that road.)

* The road is Blake Manor Rd., from FM 973 / Lexington St. to the city
limit, just past the "Hamilton Point" development.

* The restriction would be 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

* Pedestrians and farm equipment will not be affected by the prohibition.

* There have been complaints about bicyclists for some time, mostly
about special events, but the impetus for the closure at this time was a
recent $250k claim against the city. It turns out that the incident
related to the claim actually occurred outside of the Manor city
limits. The city incurred costs from a lawyer, but paid nothing toward
the claim itself.

------

The short of it is that if you are a Manor resident or know a Manor
resident who would want the road to remain open to bicyclists, please
get in touch with me, save the date (Nov. 18th 7-9pm), and stay tuned.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Tom

[Daniel Norton]

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Tom Wald <tom...@gmail.com> wrote:

* The impending road prohibition is not specified as temporary -- it is
of indefinite duration.

Right. They changed their answer on this one after I challenged them on it.

 

* The prohibition is only with the Manor City Limits.  (The Manor ETJ is
identical to the city limit on that road.)

The ban could be only for a few feet, but it still requires a 25- to 30-minute detour.

 

* There have been complaints about bicyclists for some time, mostly
about special events, but the impetus for the closure at this time was a
recent $250k claim against the city.  It turns out that the incident
related to the claim actually occurred outside of the Manor city
limits.  The city incurred costs from a lawyer, but paid nothing toward
the claim itself.

If bicycles were banned whenever somebody got sued for failing to properly maintain a road, how many roads would start closing down?

It seems clear that the ban is a knee-jerk reaction and not proportional to the situation.

> Please let me know if you have any questions.

What conditions would need to be satisfied for the ban to be lifted?

This is a trivial question if they have any thought of ever lifting the ban.

Their (drifting) answers simply don't add up.

--

Daniel

[Tom Wald]

Daniel Norton wrote:

...

What conditions would need to be satisfied for the ban to be lifted?

...

The question can be answered in a number of ways.  I'm going to state a few factors that apparently went into making the decision.

The city manager stated that the road closure is for "safety" reasons and related to that, the expense of the city responding to safety issues.  ("Convenience" for motorists was not mentioned as a factor explicitly, but I would guess that that plays one of the biggest roles.)

The city is going to be in deficit again this year.  The soil/ground conditions, especially because of our long drought, have taken a toll on the Manor roads.  The soil out there is especially bad for the roads.

Sure, the road could be widened, but the city does not have the money to do this.  The city manager gave me several figures about the city budget.  If I remember correctly, the police department takes up about one half of the city's budget, for example.  Their sales tax base is roughly $300k / year, if I remember correctly.

If we could find county, state, or federal money to cover expansion of the road to include shoulders, I am guessing that that would be enough to lift the ban.

There are likely other ways to get the ban lifted, however....

*** However, there is an easier way:  The City Manager emphasized to me what seemed evident to me already, that the city council listens to the concerns of the people it serves:  Manor residents.  Finding several of the approximately 5,500 Manor residents to speak up against the bicycle prohibition may be a sufficient condition to lift the ban. ***

-Tom

[Laura Pierce Carbonneau]

I just received this message below from the League of American Bicyclists. Perhaps there is something here that would give them hope of improving the road in Manor. 

Regardless, if there aren't enough Manor residents to protest the closure, it still seems like it would be against TxDOT or other federal rule (which I presume pays for at least part of the roads) to ban any user.

Federal Transit Administration Eligibility of Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements under Federal Transit Law More Info Federal Transit Request Comments     Great news -  FTA has published a federal registry notice describing the eligibility of pedestrian and bicycle improvements for FTA funding and proposes a formal policy on the catchment area for pedestrians and bicyclists in relationship to public transportation stops and stations.   The proposed policy would expand FTA funding eligibility for bicycle and pedestrian improvements beyond the current threshold distances of one-half mile for pedestrian projects and within three miles for bicycle improvements.   To view registry and provide comment

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[Daniel Norton]

If the argument you present is theirs, they're speaking out of both sides of their mouth: they don't have the resources to correct the problem, but the resources will magically appear if enough citizens complain.

--

[Tom Wald]

I guess that I wasn't clear about what are my arguments and what are "theirs" for every single point.

"The city manager stated..."  -- city manager's thoughts.

"The city is going to be in deficit...." -- city manager's thoughts.

"Sure, the road could be widened, but the city does not have the money to do this." -- refers to what the city manager implied.

"If we could find county, state, or federal money... I am guessing...." -- my thoughts.  I offered this idea to the city manager, but stated that I am not aware of any specific available funds.

"... The City Manager emphasized to me what seemed evident to me already...." -- I'm pointing out here that I agree with the city manager on this.

However, the city manager did not make the following claim:
"Finding several of the approximately 5,500 Manor residents to speak up against the bicycle prohibition may be a sufficient condition...."

My thought about citizen input was that the city council would listen to what its citizens' priorities are.  The city council's decision was apparently based on citizen and staff input.  If future citizen input specified that a bike ban is not acceptable, then the city council would presumably, hopefully, and likely act to remove the ban (or not instate it in the first place).  I don't see any doublespeak here.  The city council seems to be doing its best to interpret its citizens' priorities and needs.  However, such analysis and conjecture is superfluous if getting five Manorites to show up at a city council meeting actually does the trick in the end.

I suppose someone with time over the next few days could go to Manor, go door to door, and find some enthusiastic bicyclists who are Manorites.  That would end the problem.  Does anyone have time to do this?

-Tom


Daniel Norton wrote:

If the argument you present is theirs, they're speaking out of both sides of their mouth: they don't have the resources to correct the problem, but the resources will magically appear if enough citizens complain.

...

[Tommy Eden]

As far as I am aware, there is no TxDOT or federal rule which prohibits the City of Manor from banning bicycles within city jurisdiction.

However, there is a CAMPO policy which requires that all roadway projects which receive federal funds must have sidewalks and bicycle facilities, such as a shoulder or wide lane.  If the City of Manor hopes to get funding to improve their road, they will be required to provide a bicycle facility.  CAMPO would not be likely to approve a project in which a bicycle facility must be provided, but bicycles are prohibited from using that facility.  The Manor City Council would be well advised to reconsider their bicycle ban if they ever hope to get federal funding approval from CAMPO to improve Blake-Manor Road.

The City of Manor also had a recent request for CAMPO funding for their sidewalks.  I could imagine that the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board might review their contingent Transportation Improvement Program amendments of Nov. 9, 2009, based on the bicycle ban from Manor City Council.  Their next regularly scheduled board meeting is Jan. 11, 2010.

--Tommy Eden

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Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:56:35 -0600

Subject: Re: [AustinBAC] city of Manor bans bikes on certain roads

From: laur...@gmail.com
To: tom...@gmail.com
CC: austi...@googlegroups.com

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