Save Tower Grove Ave: A Neighborhood Meeting

Update: Slides from the January 26 Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association meeting described below are here.

Below is an update which was posted to the Save Tower Grove Avenue petition page about an upcoming neighborhood association meeting.  Please join us if you can – your voice will be invaluable.

Dear Friends,

I am writing with a brief update about bike lanes on Tower Grove Avenue, and to invite you to a neighborhood meeting next week where your presence and voice will be very helpful.

To the best of our knowledge the situation is more or less unchanged: as it now stands, buffered bike lanes will not be installed on Tower Grove Avenue before Kingshighway closes, and there is no commitment to implement them until after the Kingshighway project is complete. (Read more here: http://safetga.org/?p=691)

We did learn that postponing bike lanes will be expensive. The federal grant which funds Bike St. Louis Phase III runs out in March. By delaying the bike lanes the City is essentially leaving $50,000 — the approximate cost of buffered lanes on Tower Grove Avenue — on the table, and will need to find some other way to pay for it later. Responsible use of taxpayer money alone would argue against delaying this project.

There is still time to install bike lanes on Tower Grove Ave before Kingshighway closes in March or so, but City leaders must want it to happen. Fortunately this is an election year, and we know that Aldermen are paying attention.

To that end we will be presenting at the Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association meeting next Monday, January 26th at 7:00 p.m. at the St. Louis Activity Center (5602 Arsenal). This meeting is particularly important because late last year the SWGNA board voted — with no input whatsoever from the cycling community or community at large — to ask that bike lanes on Tower Grove Avenue be postponed until after Kingshighway reopens. Our aim is to make the case that calm and safe streets are in the best interest of ALL residents.

We will also present at the Shaw Neighborhood Improvement Association meeting in March, and will share details when we have them.

If you can, please come to the Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association next Monday. A strong show of support is critical to making the board reverse it’s position on bike lanes. Good attendance will also demonstrate to Alderman Conway — who has great influence on whether the lanes get installed — that there is broad support within the community for improved bike infrastructure and on Tower Grove Avenue.

If you cannot make the meeting, please consider sharing your opinion with the SWGNA board at director@southwestgarden.org (and CC matt.wyczalkowski@gmail.com). Details of the meeting are in the link below:

http://www.southwestgarden.org/january-26-th-first-annual-general-membership-meeting-2015/

With many thanks —

Matt