City should not forget pedestrians

To the editor:

The City of Portland has made many efforts to revitalize downtown Portland. Money was paid to Ball State University for students to give ideas for this revitalization. There were many very good ideas brought up.

Unfortunately, there was one major oversight in all of the considerations. That overlooked item is bicycle riding on the downtown sidewalks. I realize that there are not a lot of pedestrians on the downtown sidewalks, but bicycles will only keep those pedestrians off of the downtown sidewalks, no matter the revitalization that is done. People do not want to be run off sidewalks by bicycles, many of which don't seem to show any consideration for pedestrians.

There are, or should be, age limits to riding on sidewalks. Mothers with young children, whose bikes have training wheels, are, or should be, quite welcome. I'm talking about children from third grade or older, as well as adults, should be banned from riding on sidewalks in downtown Portland.

Sidewalks are for pedestrians, not bicycles. If someone chooses to take their bicycle onto sidewalks, the rider should dismount their bicycle and walk it by the pedestrian, as a common courtesy. A bicycle using the pedestrian crosswalk should walk their bicycle across the street, not ride across the crosswalk. A pedestrian should not find a need to concern about their safety when walking on a sidewalk.

Parking bicycles on the downtown streets is not always pedestrian conscious. I've observed bicycles laid down and blocking the sidewalk. Bicycles are, at times, parked blocking the sidewalks in other ways.

I do realize that most people do not walk places. A vigorous downtown will require more pedestrian traffic, if it is to succeed. Bicycle traffic on those sidewalks will make pedestrian traffic an undesirable thing.

Daniel E. Chase

Portland