Bike Rack(et)

Nudging the predictable Cultural Development Committee (CDC) - now turns into poking! In the eye! With 5 artistically created bike racks for the downtown core.

To prepare for this poke a bit we may want to go to posts below

City Hall's Blurred Vision - Part 3
18 Jan. 2014
The City Hall (Blurred) Vision Quest - Part 2
4 Jan. 2014
The City Hall (Blurred) Vision Quest - Part 1
23 Dec. 2013

and look at how it, we, they get to this.

When - at the end of last year - the $33.000 Nelson identity sticker is proposed to Council - Joy Barrett, Cultural Development Officer, justifies the need for it with We realized that unless we have a unified creative vision, what we will be doing may be (actually has been all along!) a bit piecemeal. Ostensibly this e-shopped I.D. would provide that vision for the CDC - don't ask! - as it would for Councillor Kiss, bemoaning large amounts of money spent without a cohesive vision. Both referring to (gobs of) money (solely) spent by the CDC on projects all consistently striving upward willy-nilly towards artsy mediocrity. Willy-nilly!
So one could reasonably assume that the CDC will wait with initiating more of the same until this I.D. with its unified creative vision has materialized. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Mere seconds after that proposal to Council and Barrett's opinion voiced, the CDC announces said 5 artistically created bike racks - a few thousand bucks for them already easily secured - soon to be formally announced to local artists for design-submissions.

And a couple of months later - a few days ago and no unified creative vision in sight - the project is announced formally. A single design may be accepted for all 5 racks from 1 artist, or several designs may be acceptable from several artists. Or! May! Whatever! In a CBC interview Barrett is looking forward to being surprised.

Without this mythical unified creative vision - criteria for choosing the design(s) will be left to spontaneous combustion among a volunteer-jury comprising a business-person, an architect, an artist, and I forget the usual rest. This being Nelson - usually the same insiders cross-pollinate between committees (including the CDC), boards, groups - sometimes 1 on several at the same time. They know the drill; the CDC - also supposedly run by volunteers - for all intents and purposes - literally - with Councillor Macdonald their handler.

From the outside - 2 reality-based points beg to be addressed here:
1. The need for bike racks
2. Funding of bike racks

The Need for Bike Racks
In biking weather - say within 1 hour - one may see 3 bikes tops ridden through downtown. Maybe an additional 3 or so are chained somewhere. There probably are a few more cyclists on their way to/from work before/after office/store-hours, but their bikes are safely kept away from Baker. Few would be foolish enough to leave an expensive bike outside - somewhere downtown - for a whole work-day. Bicycle racks will not make that more appealing.
A convenient aspect of riding bikes: no parking-problems - they can be left anywhere, as long as there's a post of some kind or a wall. No matter where these racks will be set-up: some of the few downtown-cyclists won't care for having to locate 1 closest to where they want to go, leave their bikes there - and then walk.

There have been no problems with bicycles downtown - why artificially create them?

Those who think there will be an increase in bikes directly linked to a decrease in cars - environmental issues and all that - are seriously large-urban-center-deluded!

This fully-grown smallish town - city by classification on paper only: confusing many even at City Hall - has an ever-increasing senior population which will not deal with hills, inclement weather, shopping, etc. on a bike.

Neither will the more hardy. They will not give-up their SUVs, pick-ups, etc. - needed for work, tailgating and lugging stuff and people around. Some of these drivers may get/have a bike - but not as a primary means of transportation. Nelson's economy depends on people from as far as The Valley - yet even the most ardent gluten-free tree-huggers won't come on bikes from a greater distance.

Speaking of economy: what about tourists? Who come in cars. And the more tourists we'll get - that's what we want, isn't it? - the more cars they'll drive-up in.

So What's With The CDC Anyway?
And why is its well-financed output never realistically connected to an economic goal/benefit for Nelson? Installing 5 bike racks with say 5 slots each downtown means about 20 slots never used. While cluttering sidewalks. Using a (highly questionable) future increase in bikes as a reason would be ever so righteous but pointless - a waste of today's taxes on still more predictably self-congratulatory artsy expressions.

My suggestion to the CDC: If you can't do unified creative vision - how about basic context. Common sense? Reasonableness?

What fuels the CDC's decision-making processes? To find out first-hand: monthly meetings are open to the public - so walk right into the Mayor's Office (he won't be there), 2nd floor, City Hall, usually at 11:30am. For dates go to www.nelson.ca and click on Meeting Calendar in the top-right corner.
Next CDC meeting: Wed. March 5, 11:30am.

Funding of Bike Racks
They are installed to help facilitate pedestrian-flow - in large urban centers. Here the hook possibly is but who knows a more convenient "downtown-shopping-experience". But where are the bikes? And why should average shoppers' taxes pay for these racks - ultimately to the benefit of business-owners. Rhetorical question: What have downtown business-owners ever done for customers?

People sponsor benches, so why not - elementary! - have businesses sponsor a bike rack, if we absolutely can't live without them! Supermarkets - including both incarnations of the Co-op - should install their own as a matter of course and service. Seeing that - in theory anyway - who could get more bike-friendly than gluten-free tree-huggers patronizing the Co-op? Yet I never see bicycles there either! Anyway and not to forget: Jocelyn Carver, the Co-op's manager, also is a member of the CDC wink-wink poke-poke!
Banks, mall, pink building, copshop/library, realtors, Osso. They could advertise on their racks - thus deduct costs from their taxes. And City Hall getting a rack, easily financed from Kevin Cormack's deep/dark pockets.

While the CDC saves its curiously allotted funds - ours really - for something truly magnificent.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

                                                                   Albert Einstein




Bicycles, in above order:
Adam Jones - Fuessen, Germany
Izzet Kezibar - Rome, Italy
Lou Jones - Paris, France
Julian Love - Damascus, Syria
Robert To - Beijing, P.R. China
Frank Fell - Amsterdam, Holland
John Banagan - Nha Trang, Vietnam