A group of Bloomfield residents, who say bike share stations will disrupt businesses, have sparked the furor of cycling advocates.
In a meeting earlier this week with city officials, Bloomfield Citizens Council head Janet Cercone Scullion, along with Gloria LeDonne of the Bloomfield Business Network, said the three bike share stations along Liberty Avenue “would cause disruption on the sidewalks and disrupt the businesses there,” according to mayoral spokesman Tim McNulty.
The city, along with non-profit Pittsburgh Bike Share, are set to launch a program called Healthy Ride in May that will for the first time allow residents to rent bikes and return them at any of the proposed 50 docking stations around the city. Three stations are planned for the Bloomfield area on Liberty Avenue.
News of Scullion’s meeting made its way to local bike supporters who expressed concern that the city might re-think the placement of bike share stations in Bloomfield.
“Liberty Avenue is a very Pittsburgh street,” says Bruce Chan, a Bloomfield resident and chairman of neighborhood group Bloomfield Livable Streets. “It runs through so many neighborhoods; it’s very crucial to the network of the city and cultural aspects of the community. We have a bike lane on Liberty Avenue – what better place to put a bike-share station?”
Scullion, who apparently objects to the placement of bike stations in Bloomfield, would not explain precisely what those objections are. Reached by phone, a woman who identified as Janet Cercone said “I don’t have any information on that for you,” before hanging up. She did not return messages.
“We’re trying to show the mayor and city administration that this small group doesn’t speak for the entire community,” Chan adds.
For its part, city spokesman McNulty says placement of bike share stations have “always been in flux.”
City Planning Director Ray Gastil wrote in a statement that the meeting with Scullion and LeDonne “was a meeting that, frankly, should have happened earlier in the process of designing the network of station locations. Given the serious concerns we heard, we are now reviewing station locations and will be looking at options with the Bloomfield community.
“We have also heard your strong support for the Bikeshare program, and its importance to you,” the statement continues. “We will be working with everyone to create the best opportunity for residents, businesses, and cyclists.”
Bike Pittsburgh Executive Director Scott Bricker says “it’s a very hot button issue,” but did not immediately want to comment further.
A Facebook page in support of the bike share stations in Bloomfield had 231 members at press time and Chan is organizing a meeting to discuss the issue 6 p.m., Tues. April 28 at the East End Book Exchange.
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2015.
we will take them in squirrel hill if they don’t want them! we aren’t even on the map!
Really???? ….. There are serious concerns and you should have had a meeting earlier in the process design??? Why should they consider the life long residents or business owners of a community before they propose something? You need to balance between the new and the old. However, you need to give the life long residents and home owners and property owners and business owners and life long taxpayers a vested interest over those of short term renters, transient residents, and suburban drive-thru’s. I have seen the city alter major streets, install bike paths, and make the environment more convenient to those who want to bike. But they also need to realize that those biking daily are such a minority of the population that they also need to balance out the safety and convenience of the majority of the population that are drivers and non bikers.
With the increase of bike traffic over the last ten years, accomodating all types of commuters needs to be considered, making safety and access paramount. Giving up a parking space or two for a bike dock makes obvious sense, as it also relieves car and car parking congestion. Think about everybody’s needs, not just one’s own.
New home owners and (gasp) renters are also equal residents and part of the community. Who besides renters do you think pay the bills for Bloomfield landlords?
It’s not just “cycling advocates” who don’t want Cercone and her cronies to derail the planned bikeshare stations. It’s those of us who are Bloomfield homeowners and taxpayers and people with vested interests in the neighborhood who they do NOT speak for, that they constantly presume to speak for, without ever even giving us an opportunity to have any input. Seriously, the woman is upset because ONE of the stations will be on “her” street, and suddenly the entire project is going to change? Just tell her to eff off and put the station where it makes the most sense!!
All Hail the mighty upper middle class cycling lobby, how else can they gentrify a neighborhood if there is no support for bikes? We need to chase out all the old residents so that they can get a chance at buying up the homes while they are still relatively cheap. Look how effectively they’ve been at chasing out the black residents of East Liberty, er, I mean Shadyside North. Why should we have a decent transportation system when we can allocate resources for affluent white guys who ride bikes? How dare anyone complain!
Where does the idea that biking is for the well-to-do come from? It’s an affordable alternative for people who can’t afford vehicles or rising bus fare, including students, who are keeping the universities populated. PAT is failing, inconsistent, and often unsafe.
Go to East Lib and Garfield and Homewood and tell me it’s only white folks on two wheels.
A recent survey of cyclists on the South Side revealed that 85% of them owned cars. So, there’s that. Students really don’t count since they are not yet in the job market. Contrast that with the great amount of poverty in Allegheny County, much of it in the suburbs, and the need for transportation for poor people to get and keep jobs. Sure they can get bikes if they have some money, but 2 hour rides each way isn’t going to work for them, even if there were safe routes and it never snowed or rained here. Mass public transit that serves the whole population, not just centered on affluent neighborhoods is what is needed. Instead of bike lanes and bike rental centers, we need something that works for lower class residents as well as everyone else. 40 years ago we had a great trolley system that served everybody quite well. This focus on bikes is just fiddling while Rome burns.
I don’t ride a bicycle. I’m not a “bicycle advocate”. I am just a homeowner in Bloomfield. I plan on raising a family here. I find it very stupid thay someone would actually want to stand in the way of something like this. I think it would be awesome to be able to have such a thing in my neighborhood and be able to walk out my door and rent a bicycle for a few hours to run errands or just joy ride. I am the new lifelong resident of this community. Janet Cercone and her bunch won’t even be around in the next decade…this is about building for the lifelong residents of the future. The majority of people in bloomfield want this. It’s not just about the lifelong homeowners…it takes many to make a community.
I have deleted a comment because it contained a personal attack as well as a call to harass someone. Discussions like this are good, but please stick to the issues.
Not too dissimilar to what’s going on with the dog park in Mount Washington. It’s a generational gap. Opposition to change because “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the mindset. People who don’t use the park don’t care if more people will use it. Same thing, people who aren’t going to be using the bike share don’t need it, so they don’t want it. Liberty was perfectly fine before any bike share, so they don’t see it needs improved. Pittsburgh is evolving. Bike shares, dog parks, better public transportation… these are what will attract new residents. We had an entire generation uproot and leave Pittsburgh because there was nothing to offer… it’s time to incentivize people to come back and stay!
This article is factual incorrect. The objections raised at the meeting with Bloomfield business people were focused on 2 main issues. First, the businesses along Liberty were not even aware that the bike share project was in the works. Nobody involved in the development or implementation reached out to them even though it was later learned this was 3 years in the making. The businesses learned of it 2 days prior to the meeting. Legitimate concerns about safety, handicapped parking and traffic congestion were brought up. Nobody at the meeting said they didn’t want the bike share stations, it was just a question of best place to put them. Alternative locations were presented and positive suggestions were made to make the placement better for pedestrians, motorists, cyclists and businesses. A follow up meeting occurred insuring the project would proceed with an agreements on placement of one station immediately and 2 additional stations to follow after site review of revised locations. Bloomfield is bike friendly but also safety conscious. Liberty has parking on both sides of the street, it’s a major thoroughfare between Shadyside and the Strip. It’s a major bus route and sees numerous ambulances rushing to West Penn on one end and Children’s Hospital on the other. There’s a lot going on in that corridor with new buildings and construction vehicles. Had the stakeholders in this project reached out to the businesses along Liberty and involved them early in the process, the issues raised could have been settled long ago.
Bike-share will be good for everyone including the working poor as it gives a way to connect the distances where current transit options are not so good. Everyone will be able to use it and it takes cars off the road, gives people a way to exercise and be healthy, and gives another option for transportation in the dense city core.
It really is no wonder that all of the neighborhoods around Bloomfield are growing and Bloomfield is stagnant. I am a life long resident of this community and is saddens me to see what is happening in our town. While the world around us progresses, our town gets left behind. The bike share would be great for the neighborhood, no matter where it is located. My feeling is that the businesses on the Avenue, what few there are, would be happy to have more traffic, whether it be walking, riding or driving. Instead of going through Bloomfield to go to a destination, people are going around it to visit the outside neighborhoods. It is great to see our neighbors blooming, but we should be too! It is past time for old ways … we need new beginnings!
“Life long residents,” lol.
Paleeeeze, lol.
#1, anonymity(fictitious usernames) is the clothing of a coward.
#2, for those who attended these meetings, and I am not speaking to the “private” meetings that were held with little or NO notice to the business owners and others who were not saying “not in Bloomfield,” they were just saying “not in the heart of Bloomfiield/Liberty Avenue, where there already is a shortage of parking.
The current placement down by West Penn is fine, as would a docking station down by the Bloomfiekd Bridge, as there is ample room for a functional safe docking station.
#3, to attempt to villainize Janet Scullion is just plain wrong, not to mention very short sighted. It is this Woman who has spear headed numerous grants to upgrade and beautify Bloomfied, specifically Morrow Park, which was an eye sore for years and now is a beautiful park where ALL may go and take their Children & Families. She also is instrumental in organizing Bloomfied’s participation in the Marathon every Year, not to mention the Halloween Parade, which is a favorite activity for the Children of Bloomfield, not to mention Children and Families from around the city.
It always amuses me that people have to attack the messenger, instead of communicating their message, and I find this done when their attacks are much stronger than their message.
Janet Scullion is also a “Life Long” Bloomfielder and her family has been a staunch supporter for all that is good in keeping Bloomfield a vibrant community, for both it’s residents and it’s businesses
Also, to demonize the business owners, who provide the “roots” for the plant that is the community, all you have to do is look around the city, and you don’t have to look far, to see what happens to a community when the businesses pick up and leave…
So, before You cast an opinion, I would look a little deeper than the inflammatory defamatory sound bites that are coming from “Life Long” Bloomfielders…
Paleeeeze…..
Also, I can’t seem to log into FB(I forgot my PW), so it will only allow me to post “anonymously,” however my name below.
All the Best,
Richard
RP Jacobs II
Just because it is “bike” related doesn’t make it good, Just because someone thinks there might be a better location for a bike share doesn’t make them backward thinking, non-progressive or uncaring about the future of our city. Let’s use our heads folks – some of these shares make no sense in terms of their location – In Oakland we have shares so close to each other it makes no sense while other neighborhoods have none. The application of single minded mantra of bike good, everyone else bad doesn’t help us make good decisions which is the really hallmark of a forward thinking city. In Oakland we lost use of a green space for the concrete of a bike share. This isn’t a “green, environmentally friendly act! Again no notice/input from neighbors. The Ohio bikeshare installers crushed our community plantings during installation – no remedy. There are a lot of negative feelings about these shares and the project itself is to blame for its poor planning and execution. Clearly they didn’t want input. We’ll see what these slabs of concrete and metal look like in five years when there are no funds to maintain them…but I guess that means I am thinking about the future which I couldn’t really care about because I am criticizing the bike shares.
From what i have witnessed janet cercone doesnt want anything new. She is blatently racist and make comments to people in the neighborhood stiring up hystaria. Starting rumors and judging everyone. Ive never spoke to someone who had a positive thing to say about her i think the first order of business should be to pull new blood on to council. People who are really for growth of the community as a whole. Im glad the installed the bike stations it is great for the community and more people bike now because of it. Times they are a changing out with the old in with the new time to evolve for the better.