Many city council seats are up for election this November 3rd. This is a great opportunity to elect people to a decision making body that can a city more bike and pedestrian friendly.

There are two seats being decided in Ferndale. And among the four candidates running, two are on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to supporting biking.

No for Gagne

Tom Gagne, the self-proclaimed “most argumentative” candidate, is someone cyclists won’t want on Council.

Gagne wants to increase development on Hilton. He’s been quoted in the Daily Tribune saying”

What are we going to do about Hilton Road? It’s a thing of beauty that lives in the shadow of Woodward. I’d like to let developers know that bike lanes on Hilton Road aren’t permanent.

Hilton Road underwent a road diet, which took it from four lanes to three with bike lanes added. Road diets reduce crashes and excessive speeding (and noise), while making it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.

And the Hilton road diet doesn’t displace motor vehicle traffic. Hilton near Nine Mile has a daily vehicle count of around 7,000. The vehicle counts on Hilton could more than double and the current lane configuration would not be a problem.

Clearly Gagne is uninformed about the benefits of the Hilton road diet. There is no justification for suggesting their removal.

But perhaps what’s more troublesome is he’s equating development only with motor vehicle travel. Wouldn’t it be better if Hilton development catered to the neighborhood? Imagine if the Hilton were lined with more businesses and destinations that residents could bike or walk to and spend their dollars locally?

Yes for Piana

Melanie Piana is also running for a seat on the Ferndale City Council.

Her priorities include supporting “pedestrian [and] bicycle friendly… improvements to build our community.”

Her Facebook page includes the photo on the right.

According to Piana, “I commute to work by bike on weather friendly days. It’s easy when the office is only a mile away.”

And in speaking with Piana, it’s clear she understands the value in building safe bicycling and walking communities.

She’s also endorsed by the Eccentric.

Tags: bike lanes, Ferndale, Melanie Piana, road diet, Tom Gagne

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 12:14 pm and is filed under General bike news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.