This is what Bob Llamas (one of the committee members) had to say: (From
www.velobuddies.com)
Rose Bowl Loop Pedestrian Safety Meeting
February 26th, 2008
By Robert Llamas
The meeting tonight was interesting and I will try and briefly summarize what went down, although being brief isn't one of my strong suits.
The meeting lasted from 7:00 to about 9:15 PM or so. Someone counted about 80 people in attendance. Represented were walkers (both recreational and racer-walkers), runners, dog walkers, pedestrian users, golfers, residents, and, of course, a few cyclists. There was one woman representing the equestrians (We probably made up about 40% or so of the people there.) Not represented were any skaters, soccer or baseball players. Uncharacteristically silent were the golfers and, while in attendance, none spoke up.
The City outlined what they were trying to achieve-a coordinated use of the Rose Bowl as a common recreational use area that accommodates all users and promotes the safety of all. At issue was to get MOST of the people to walk counterclock-wise so all are facing oncoming traffic. This is an important issue because many of the initial complaints about the peloton were from walkers and others who were "surprised" and/or "frightened" by the peloton coming up on them from behind. One of the city council members had even testified at one of the Council meetings that he felt "intimidated" (while at the same time being "fascinated and awed by it") when the peloton came up on him from behind. As most of you will recognize, these complaints essentially resulted from pedestrians not obeying the law and walking the wrong way.
Now I said one of the goals the City is to try to get MOST of the people to walk in the right direction. There were a couple of people who spoke about how they and their 80 year old mother used the RB and they (understandably) didn't make the 3.1 mile circuit and would double back and walk the other way. So there will be exceptions and we should not expect everyone to follow the clockwise rule. The City made it abundantly clear that they would not be ticketing people for this. However, at the same time, the City will be doing educational endeavors (e.g., the Mayor's Walk--who, by the way, is a cyclist) to get people to walk in the correct direction. The City has hired a PR firm and has pamphlets they are handing out; they've put up signage; have laminated "posters" on the pavement to indicate the direction of traffic, and they passed out our "Rules of Etiquette" at the meeting. (I will have a copy of these rules to post on PAA-groups soon.) Besides these rules, the Rose Bowl people have agreed with us to shut down the south entrance to parking lot K (the entrance right after the bridge) during the ride to prevent people from turning (illegally) left into the lot and to prevent people from exiting out of the lot. This is a pinch point and causes a dangerous situation to cyclists and pedestrians alike.
To make a long story short, the meeting went well. Every complaint was reasonably countered or clarified. Most surprising to me were people who came out of the woodwork to testify on our behalf. I mean, little old ladies who said things like "I walk down here all the time and I really think the cyclists are ("cool," "charming," etc.). Yes, CHARMING! When was the last time we were called that?! I mean, we couldn't have engineered better support.
In closing, the era of a testosterone crazed, foaming at the mouth, expletive ejaculating peloton has to end--or the peloton will end. I would hope that everyone is with us on this one.