Business owners have expressed outrage at Aspen’s choice of bike line test

The local business owner presented more than 1,000 signatures to Aspen City Council on Tuesday in protest of the new bike lane and parallel parking structure in the city center.

Kennedy and Robin Smith, owners of the Meridian Jewels on Cooper Avenue 500, have presented signatures collected from various businesses along the corridor since the operation began in late June.

Kenny Smith said: “If the car is constantly moving away from the main parking lot, we are seeing a lot of pain and negative feedback and frustration.” “We received 1,019 signatures in one week, which I think is a significant complaint for what people see on the road. አሉ There are many names that you people know and there are many people who ride bicycles or go to the main.

He also said that 44 parking spaces in the city have been removed and replaced in remote areas of the city center, which will not accommodate the elderly and the disabled who want to trade and eat in the city.

Kenny Smith said, “I think we say welcome, even if you can’t walk or ride a bike.

Under the council’s direction, the city’s engineering department has implemented a test run until September 26 to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.

The city conducted a community survey last year, with most of the 400 respondents saying they needed more security measures for pedestrians and cyclists in the city center.

For the past several years, the council has been interested in staffing and giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists and finding ways to reduce the number of cars entering the city.

Mayor Torre said he and his colleagues were listening to the council, waiting for public opinion on the topic at Tuesday’s regular meeting.

“The objectives of the project were to develop a comprehensive plan to improve safety and mobility in downtown Aspen by balancing the priorities of all users, including pedestrians, bicycles and cars,” he said. “This is a living laboratory, it means experiment and experiment and this council is open to the input of the community and we want to know what improvements you can see.”

Joe Disalvo, a resident of Aspen, a business tycoon in the center of the city, and the owner of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, told the council that the city was unsafe last Friday when some people left the scene and did not see the bike on the sidewalk and the bike lane.

One of the problems is that parallel parking lots are several meters away from the sidewalk and people are forced to walk on the bicycle lane to get to their vehicles, Disalvo said.

“This is a preventable risk. “As a sheriff, I have no product in my hand, my only product is safety and I look at that living laboratory and it is not a safety model, it is exactly the opposite. …

“Now is your chance to make these changes.”

Other comments from pedestrians pedestrians continue to use the bicycle line in front of the parking lot and the yellow barricades to patrol the road and search for parking spaces on the block.

“I personally think it makes the main part of the city center safer,” said Pat Dello, a custom tailoring and improvement business that serves a wide range of customers in downtown. “I don’t think it’s safe because cars are driving around and around.

“If your goal is to reduce emissions, it has increased because the cars are moving and you want to stop because this is the United States of America, the country of driving,” she said. Everyone is in a car, especially tourists.

csackariason@aspentimes.com