By Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com
Like never before, Arlington has a chance to dramatically remake its image from the depressing, concrete-encased suburb described in Super Bowl coverage to that of a contemporary city.
But this is Arlington, so some folks are against it.
After seven months of debate that originally involved a plan to make Abram Street less of a thrill ride and more of a friendly streetscape, we now reach a City Council election in which candidates are scared to support street/bike lane improvements.
Two candidates say they don't want to see bicycles at all.
In a university city with a student population as large as Austin's in the 1970s, the idea of ridding Arlington of bicycles seems as outlandish as banning dancing.
Yet incumbents Kathryn Wilemon and Lana Wolff are up against two challengers, Kelly Canon and Julie Douglas, who say bicycle lanes don't belong in Arlington.
Douglas, 60, called bicyclists an "accident waiting to happen" and wrote in a voters guide that Arlington can't mix bicycles with drunken drivers.
That's the
bicyclists' fault?
The transportation proposal is about more than just bicycles. It's also about changing some streets from four lanes to three, which keeps traffic moving but makes streets seem more like village lanes and less like racetracks.
The same kind of "traffic calming" has brought a restaurant boom on West Magnolia Avenue and West Seventh Street in Fort Worth and on similar streets in Austin.
When cars roll by at 30 mph instead of 40, people are more likely to see shops and restaurants and stop. The streetscape seems more welcoming and less like a busy highway.
But some Arlington residents -- no kidding -- don't want bicycle lanes on East Abram Street because that might slow their trip to a doughnut shop.
The "Save Our Streets" complainers and the ever-bubbling Arlington Tea Party predict "serious injury and deaths."
(Folks are serious about that doughnut shop.)
The street/bike plan has problems. It's too expensive. It crisscrosses the city instead of focusing on a few neighborhoods with more bicyclists and potential retail redevelopment.
But right now, only challengers like Christopher McCain, 20, are brave enough to defend the idea.
"I want to make sure Arlington is a place I can call home someday, not just a place to come out and work," he said.
Not just a place to speed through.
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Twitter @budkennedy817-390-7538
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