TO THE EDITOR:
As president of the Carolina Bicycle Coalition, a new student group that advocates for bicyclists, I’m concerned about the editorial board’s recent pieces on biking in Chapel Hill. Two weeks ago, they urged the town of Chapel Hill to listen to residents and build better bike infrastructure. That’s excellent advice, except they omitted the important fact that the town is currently creating a Bike Plan and had been actively seeking resident input. And although they said the town should listen, the city and University editors of this newspaper declined to publicize the town’s bike survey when we asked this summer.
And now the editorial board is critical of the town for doing what they urged two weeks ago: building better bicycle infrastructure. I won’t explain here why bike corrals are ideal for Franklin Street, but I will say this is a critical time for bicycling in Chapel Hill. There will be a public forum on the UNC Bike Plan on Oct. 23, from noon to 2 p.m. in Student Union 3206. Chapel Hill will host one the following evening for its plan.
I hope everyone interested, especially the editorial board, will come learn how these plans make our town and University truly bike-friendly, and give any feedback before the plans are finalized in January 2014.
Zach Ferguson
Law
