[RP TownTalk] Bike Enthusiasts Needed

[Rob Oppenheim]

This Thursday (9/21/06) Hyattsville is hosting a "Bicycle Friendly Community" workshop from 7 PM to 9 PM at the Hyattsville municipal building.

Unfortunately the workshop conflicts with our own Kennedy Smith event on economic development here in Riverdale Park. If you are a bike enthusiast and would like to attend the Hyattsville event for us - then please do. And report back on how it went and hopefully help spear head bike improvements in RP and help coordinate our bike improvement efforts with Hyattsville. 

The Kennedy Smith event will be video taped and rebroadcast a few times so our bike enthusiasts will have a chance to see it too. While we need a few bike enthusiasts to go to Hyattsville that night, we need everyone else in town to come down to town hall and see Kennedy Smith live. We are hoping for a big turnout! We need you to attend. Refreshments start at 7 pm. If you cannot attend in person, then you can watch our event on Comcast channel 71. But please come down in person.

Trolley Hiker/Biker trail

RP is just beginning to explore making the old trolley line into a hiker/biker path from Hyattsville thru Riverdale Park to College Park. This could be a great way to get to the CP metro. The old trolley line runs roughly parallel to the railroad tracks. There is a dirt path there now. 

We could use a bike lane that would connect the Anacostia river paths to town center and the trolley bike path too. Perhaps running down Sheridan street and under the E-W highway bridge to town center.

A more walkable community is important too. As traffic continues to increase - adequate, safe, wide sidewalks will become ever more important. My proposed fence and shrub setbacks from sidewalks are designed with this in mind. Our current 4 foot wide walks are too narrow to comfortably walk two abreast or to pass others - especially if the walkway is crowded by fences or shrubs. Ideally new sidewalks would be 6 feet wide with a minimum of 5 feet wide (which is the ADA proposal for sidewalk widths). 
 
The trolley hiker/biker trail needs to be designed so it is safe and comfortable for both bikes and pedestrians. 

So let me (and Vern) know if you can attend the Bike workshop for us, and I hope to see everyone else at Town Hall, this Thursday evening.

Rob Oppenheim
Community Affairs Chair
Ward One Councilman, Riverdale Park
5902 Cleveland Ave
Riverdale Park, Md 20737-1930

Home Office: 301 779 1745

City of Hyattsville Press Release
                                           
September 1, 2006
 
The City of Hyattsville will host a "Bicycle Friendly Community" workshop from 7 PM to 9 PM on September 21 st at the Hyattsville municipal building (4310 Gallatin Street).  Mark Plotz and Anne Villacres from the National Center for Bicycling and Walking ( www.bikewalk.org) will be the workshop facilitators.  
 
One goal of the workshop is to create a local bicycling advocacy group that will lead to the City of Hyattsville's certification as a "Bicycle Friendly Community" (see www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org for additional information).  
 
The workshop will provide examples of steps communities can take to increase the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, and engage participants in discussing the current bicycling conditions and potential improvements in and around the City of Hyattsville. 
 
Hyattsville Mayor Bill Gardiner said, "The City of Hyattsville has great potential to increase cycling, whether for recreation along the Anacostia Stream Valley trails or commuting to our metro stations and commercial areas.  Better bicycle routes mean safer and healthier residents, plus a cleaner environment.  This workshop will help us understand how to improve safe cycling in the City, and energize residents to help develop solutions." 
 
The workshop is free and open to all residents interested in learning how bicycling facilities (trails, on-street lanes, bike racks, etc.) can also improve the safety and quality of life of all residents.  Staff from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the State Highway Administration, local elected officials, and others have been invited.  
 
For additional information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Anne Villacres at 240-667-4550 (or Annelbv at yahoo.com). For information about the 
National Center for Bicycling and Walking, please contact Mark Plotz at 301-656-4220 or visit www.bikewalk.org.


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