Its strange how these things just come out of nowhere. I pay close attention to activities of a couple cycling advocacy groups, go to meetings here and there, am subscribed to the city mail list, etc.
I didn't hear about the Dec-5 meeting for this until after it happened.
I suspect it is because it was a neighborhood meeting, only those in the vicinity are invited. Same thing happened when they put a ped/cycle freeway bridge near my hood, i was invited, but those outside the area didn't hear about it.
That makes sense in a way, they get local input first then open up for wide input via email, etc.
wheel - good to hear you feel similarly about this as me. I'm fine with beautification projects, fine with leaving the bike lanes as they are, but am very concerned about adding traffic calming that in effect makes it more dangerous and/or tedious to cycle thru.
As to what is acceptable and not, I am pretty sure they are gonna follow the 5th street model, which the city touts as a great sucess, but has all these in cyclist annoyances and dangers built in. I'll find out.
This is what was done on 5th and on 13th street - take a close look at before and after pics:
http://www.tempe.gov/tim/5thStreet.htm
http://www.tempe.gov/tim/13thStreet.htm
For example - Before:
After:
Al