Friday, June 11, 2010

Bike Ban in Blackhawk?

Here's a piece from a UK publication about a town just 45 minutes west of Denver. It's a casino town, nearly no locals, no reason to go there except to gamble. The mayor sounds like a notorious crook, as you'll learn if you read the piece to the end.

As a gambling town, Blackhawk represents America at its worst, I'd say. I don't care if I'm banned from its streets on my bicycle; I don't want to be there anyway. Still, it's another nail in the coffin of public friendliness to cyclists. As Jim T says in his comments, we're soiling our nest, huh?

1 comment:

James Thurber said...

Banning bicycles along a public city road might not be legal - even in Colorado.

Los Altos Hills has a section of road (Moody Road) where signs were posted banning bicycle riding. The two mile stretch had absolutely no shoulder and was considered unsafe for biking.

Adjacent was Foothill College which had a perfect bicycle path that bisected this piece of road. It seemed a fine (and safe) thing to do

Not so. The court ruled that Los Altos Hills couldn't ban bicycles. A bicycle was a vehicle and, as such, was permitted on the roadway. The only government entity that could ban a vehicle "type" was the State of California.

If Moody Road had been private that would have been a different scenario. But as a public road . . . too bad. Gotta allow bicycles free passage.

Tickets were tossed and bikers now use it.

But I don't . . . the pathway thru Foothill is wonderful - and a lot safer.

California has its own "Blackhawk" community - a filthy rich section of our East Bay region (near the small down of Diablo, which is even wealthier).