A couple weeks ago I sent a quick questionnaire to the two District 20 Alder Candidates, Dave Glomp and Matt Phair:
Can you tell me what improvements to bicycling you see as necessary in District 20? Can you break those down in terms of improvements for recreational bicycling versus bicycle commuting?
Do you support projects like the Tocora connecter path? Why or why not?
What parts of the Mayor’s Platinum Bicycling Committee report do you support?
http://www.cityofmadison.com/trafficEngineering/bicyclingPlatinum.cfm
Can you tell me how you would prioritize spending between different modes of transportation (Pedestrian, Bicycling, Bus, Automobile) and your rationale for doing so?
The first to respond was Dave Glomp:
Thank you for your e-mail to me regarding my position on bicycling! First let me say that I support all modes of transportation as I want the people in District 20 and the city as a whole to have as many choices as possible in terms of transportation. I support maintaining bike trails and bike lanes on city streets in District 20 and city wide. I really don’t differentiate biking in terms of recreational and as a mode of commuting. Both are important in our community.
I must at this point say that I do have some concerns regarding the co-existance of bikes and automobiles on city streets and where bike paths cros city streets. As you seem to be an avid biker I hope that you share the concerns that for co-existence and preventing accidents both bikers and motorists must obey the rules of the road!!!!!!
I have not always found that to be the case in terms of motorists and bikers! In fact, since I am on the city streets throughout the city Monday -Friday 6AM- 5PM driving Handicapped persons around the city for Badger Bus I have some first hand experience with both bikers and motorists who don’t seem to pay attention to those using other modes of transportation! It is for this reason that I strongly support the enforcement of bikers and motorists obeying the rules of the road! Safety is a responsibility of both.
I have seen motorists run stop signs and yellow lights but likewise bikers have done so as well causing some very close near misses! Bikers, like motorists must not engage in the practice of rolling stops at stop signs and red lights!!! Automobiles are required to register their vehicles and obtain license plates so that other motorists, pedestrians, police and other citizens can identify when a violation takes place. I believe the same should be true of every bicyclist.
There is an ordinace requiring bike registration only it is rarely enforced. That is unfortunate since it would help recover lost or stolen bikes, as well as, level the playing field for identification of rules of the road violators! I know many bikers myself included who do not object to registration and identifying of bikes with a small license plate which attaches to the back of the bike seat! The additional revenue would also help to offset the expense of registration and improvements to bike baths and bike lanes
I support most conector paths so long as they are approved by the neighborhoods in which they are located. I serve on the Board of the Meadowood Neighborhood Assocaition and i think those groups should have a say in any construction or expansion of bike connector plans in their area!
I have not had the opportunity to study the Mayor’s Platinim Bike commitees report but will do so after the election! As you might guess my focus has been on knocking on every door in the District before April 5th! I assure you that I will study the recommendations and that I have an open mind to any reasonable suggestions to improve co-existence between bikers, motoists and pedestrians.
Sorry for the length of this reply but I do want to respond to all inquires! I hope that you will vote for me on April 5th! Thank YOU!!!
Dave Glomp
Candidate for District 20 Seat on the Madison City Council
And then Matt Phair responded:
The first thought that comes to mind as far as improvements is a bike lane on Raymond Rd. Commuters trying to get to the SW path at some point have to travel on Raymond. I’d also like to see sidewalks put in on the streets that don’t have them, taking walkers and runners off the roads seems to make sense to alleviate potential bike-pedestrian mix-ups. I know that is a contentious issue because no one wants to pay for putting them in, but I’d float the idea of having all city taxpayers pick up the cost of adding sidewalks, after all not just the people who live on those streets use them.
I love the SW bike path. I think we need to continue to look for areas that we can expand our bike path mileage and keep the funding for maintaining them. I think the Tocora connector path is great. I am puzzled why anyone would have a problem with it…although I’ve knocked on a few doors of people who have given me an earful about it. In fact, your name came up in one of those conversations-“one of the crazy bike guys.” 🙂
I support the idea of a multi-modal transportation hub downtown. I would say we need to be planning for a future the gets away from a singular focus on cars and highways and looks to rail, bus, and bike. Madison seems to be ideally situated to lead that kind of transportation innovation project.
However, I will caution you that, if elected, I will represent one of, if not the most, conservative districts in the city. Public safety, jobs, property taxes, basic services and the budget are at the top of the list with my potential constituents. Mass/modern transportation falls somewhere down the list. I will support efforts of the city and the council to continue to move towards a more comprehensive transportation system, just might not lead the way…at least at first.
Let me know if you have more questions. Thanks again.
Matt Phair
Based on their responses, this seems to be a match-up between a candidate that wants to do things to people who bicycle versus someone who wants to do things for people who bicycle.
The stance that Glomp takes is very much about correcting perceived behavior problems. I’ll give him points for trying to sound even handed about it, but when you get down to the kinds of behaviors he is interested in addressing and how he wants to address them, they do not align well with his stated goal of improving safety. During my time on the PBMVC, the majority of behavioral safety issues we discussed were problematic driver behavior in school zones and neighborhood speeding by drivers. Enforcement alone is ineffective at improving safety. Traffic engineers often talk about the three E’s: Engineering, Education, and Enforcement. Representatives of the Madison Police Department have stated on several occasions that they would prefer to see engineering solutions to many of the behavioral issues they are called up to enforce.
Keep in mind I asked Glomp for projects he thought were necessary to improve bicycling, not for opportunities for enforcement. Though my experience with neighborhood residents near the Tocora path suggests they too would prefer no path and enforcement.
Matt Phair did a better job of answering my questions as I put them to him. While I understand his caution about priorities, I would have liked to hear him suggest directly that all transportation is a basic service, not just the automobile and roads. Saying you support looking for opportunities to expand the network of multi-use paths means nothing if in the end that is all going to take a back seat to rushing through a highway expansion project like the S&M two years ago.
