Another Tragedy: Remembering Jeremy Pope

This week we lost a dear friend. Jeremy Pope was killed while riding his bike near BWI. He was rear ended by a person driving a car. He often biked that route home from the light rail station, coming from work or spending time with friends in Baltimore. He was a fixture in a group of friends I am lucky to be a part of. His loss is felt by many. Our hearts go out to his family and friends who now have to carry on without him. 

It’s never easy to be a bike advocate when someone loses their life in a preventable crash. It’s hard to find the right words. Each time someone dies, we are asked to reflect on what specific changes can be made to prevent another family from experiencing this tragedy. In Bikemore’s short history, we’ve written about this numerous times: for Aaron Laciny, for Ralph Roane and Marcus Arvin, and for Tom Palermo. Maybe it’s because I just saw Jeremy last Friday at Bike Party, maybe it’s because of the proximity to Aaron’s death, but this one feels particularly tough to write. 

People drive too fast, too distracted, and are killing each other’s loved ones. I think by now it’s clear we need a dramatic change in our culture, and that change needs to be pushed forward by our civic leaders.

Every time I have to beg and grovel for a little bit of decency or consideration for people who bike on the roadway, it seeps into the subconscious of the collective that we don’t belong there. 

Every time civic leaders weigh equally the safety of vulnerable road users against shaving a few minutes off someone’s commute or the convenience of getting to park right in front of one’s house, they are emboldening disregard for the lives of people who ride bikes. They make our deaths appear inevitable, of our own making. 

I’m living this right now—in the midst of planning one memorial bike ride for Aaron Laciny and attending one for Jeremy tonight—I’m still being told by some residents in Canton how unreasonable I am for asking for protected bike lanes to be designed at federally-guided minimum width. 

I met Jeremy Pope at my first Bike Party. I had just moved to Baltimore. In what was already a chaotic ride home through the park, Jed and I happened upon a crash, and were quickly called away to another crash on the other side of the park. When we got there, I saw bikes underneath a car, and all three back wheels on the bikes were bent. Jeremy was one of the people that was hit. Miraculously, nobody was badly hurt. I remember talking to Jeremy specifically, calming him down, encouraging him to stay level-headed while the responding officers treated the whole ordeal with the kind of disdain I’ve now come to expect. We worked with police to ensure all three had a safe ride home with their bent up bicycles. The next few days I connected the driver and the cyclists to make sure folks were working together to get bikes fixed and medical costs taken care of. 

Jeremy was always generous with his gratitude after that. To me, he represented my first Baltimore bike advocacy success story. I was a source of calm and support during an intense and stressful situation for him. He repaid me tenfold over the next two years in hugs, smiles, and encouragement. It’s not often in advocacy you get a concrete win, so kind words from folks like Jeremy are what fuel me to keep going in the face of adversity. 

Jeremy was on a path of self-discovery that is enviable. He constantly sought out ways to be more generous and bring others more joy. He was beginning his career in the bike industry—a career move that isn’t easy and comes with risks. He biked across the country raising money for cancer research last summer. He gave his friendship wholeheartedly to so many. 

Over the past two days I’ve witnessed the hole Jeremy’s death has left in our community. He was a fixture on many weekly rides, all the bike parties, and a new, but beloved member of the Baltimore Bicycle Works family. His friendship was the kind that was so full of magic and possibility, because he was willing to go deep with those who surrounded him. At a time when so many of our relationships are based on superficial connection, Jeremy succeeded at forging many deep friendships. Those types of friendships are so vital because they allow you to be seen and valued just as you are. These friendships are abundant in Baltimore’s bike community. So while Jeremy and I never got to know one another deeply, I recognize his magic in so many of you. I feel it even more intensely this week as we all suffer this immense loss. 

The bicycling community has planned a ride for Jeremy this evening (Thursday, July 6th) and all are welcome to come in celebration of the life of a wonderful human being. The ride will depart from Baltimore Bicycle Works (1813 Falls Road) at 7:30 and slow roll to Baltimore Design School (1500 Barclay Street) for a candlelight vigil at 8:30. 

Please keep his family and loved ones in your thoughts and always keep promoting safe cycling and safe driving throughout Baltimore.

Liz Cornish, Executive Director
 

Potomac Will Be Saved

Even under construction riders of all ages have been out enjoying the protected bike lane on Potomac Street. 

We have good news - the Potomac Street protected bike lane will not be removed! We will not be going to court tomorrow. Instead we have entered into a settlement agreement and will be sitting down this week with the City to assist in finalizing new plans for Potomac Street. We are confident this modified plan will preserve a high quality all ages protected two-way bike facility on Potomac Street, as well as safeguard public safety and accommodate emergency vehicles.
 
Once the plans have been finalized, they will be shared with the public for a two week comment period. During that time the Potomac Street bike lane will remain intact as is currently constructed. Once the public comment period has ended, the City will take comments into consideration and begin construction. We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the City and are committed to being partners as we work to make Baltimore a safe place to ride a bike. 

Your support and advocacy during these past few weeks has been tremendous. Each one of you that donated, called, and wrote letters played a part in bringing us to this resolution. As a thank you, please join us at the courthouse tomorrow 6/28/2017 between 9-9:30 am. We will be hanging out at the Battle Monument serving up donuts and coffee as a thank you! Join us as we continue to #FightForBikes! 

Judge Temporarily Halts Demolition of Potomac Street Bike Lane

Yair Flicker, Bikemore Board President, Mark Edelson, Attorney, Jed Weeks, Bikemore Policy Director, Mark Stichel, Attorney, and Liz Cornish, Bikemore Executive Director

A legal team led by Mark Edelson, Mark Stichel, and supported by Bikemore was granted a temporary restraining order halting demolition of the Potomac Street protected bike lane. The temporary restraining order was entered late Friday following a hearing before the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The team filed on behalf of Baltimore residents Marisa Saville and Steve Iannelli.

The mostly complete Potomac Street protected bike lane had been slated for removal by the Mayor’s office Monday morning, June 12, 2017.

“Our elected leaders and civil servants have worked tirelessly to attract federal and state funding for this project,” said Edelson. “Unfortunately, the city’s shortsighted decision put this funding and efforts at risk. Our city was already once forced to walk away from federal funding for transit and improved mobility. We will not allow that to happen again.”

Documents filed today by attorneys on behalf of the plaintiffs and Bikemore

“The Mayor has a responsibility to champion policy decisions that weigh equally the city’s stated goals of sustainability, public health, and safety,” Liz Cornish, Bikemore Executive Director said. “Bikemore has provided the Mayor with numerous recommendations to this aim. Bikemore had hoped this would have been resolved another way.”

33% of residents in Baltimore lack access to a car. This number grows to over 70% in our city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Safe, comfortable bike facilities like the one designed on Potomac Street are the key to improving mobility to the thousands of residents who need it.

“My son and I use the Potomac Street lane to get to and from sports practice at Du Burns Arena,” said plaintiff Marisa Saville. “Before installation of the protected lane, we only felt safe riding illegally on the sidewalk. We’re thrilled to know our family has a few more days of safe transportation until a hearing hopefully makes that safety permanent.”

In the coming days the court will schedule a hearing on the request for preliminary injunction. Help us continue the #fightforbikes by setting up a reoccurring monthly donation today.

Copy of the Temporary Restraining Order

Why We Oppose the Potomac Street Redesign

The original South Potomac Street design was a two-way, parking protected bike lane consistent with Baltimore City's adopted NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide. It was an all-ages, high-quality protected bike lane.

Bikemore was supportive of an initial requested change by the Baltimore City Fire Department that would have reduced the portions from Eastern to Fait to the narrowest lanes NACTO recommends in constrained settings, allowing a wide, 12 foot travel lane on South Potomac. While we feel a lane of that width is inconsistent with the goal of slower, safer traffic on neighborhood streets, it was a compromise that still maintained the bicycle lane as all-ages.

The new design is not an all-ages facility. It is not a high-quality facility.

The section from Eastern to Fait will be moved adjacent to the travel lane, and will be striped with an unprotected buffer. This introduces two-way bike traffic in an unprotected setting, and gives a person driving a car the visual appearance of a 20+ foot roadway. Without frequent speed humps and other traffic calming measures, this will create a roadway where people driving cars will speed and possibly encounter people riding bicycles head-on. This is not low-stress, it's not all-ages, and without traffic calming measures, is unsafe.

FHWA guidance for a one-way facility

The section from Fait to Boston narrows the two-way parking protected bike facility to just 7 feet with a 1 foot buffer.

The narrowest two-way facility NACTO guidelines recommend in constrained settings is 8 feet with a 2 foot buffer. FHWA guidance is a recommended 12 feet for a two-way facility with a required 3 foot buffer if parking protected.

This is not a two-way protected bike lane.

Even as a one-way protected lane, it would fail to meet recommended conditions from FHWA, as the buffer is too narrow. 

 

Not only do these design changes make the bike lane unusable for people of all ages and backgrounds, they jeopardize funding.

This facility was built using state and federal grants that require designs to conform to federal, state, and local street design guidebooks, including the FHWA Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide. The original design conformed to these guidebooks. The new design does not. 

It is likely that the re-design will need to go before State Highways Administration for a review in order to keep the dollars already expended on the project and expend further dollars. If this is rejected, Baltimore City may be on the hook to return expended dollars in addition to using local dollars to construct the new design, since it fails to meet guidelines. 

We can't back this.

We cannot back potentially paying back grant dollars with local dollars and spending even more local dollars on top of that to design and install a worse facility that makes the street less safe for all road users. 

Every local dollar spent on this imaginary problem is a local dollar that the city said they didn't have to invest in bicycle infrastructure in other neighborhoods. The West Baltimore Bike Boulevards project has been held up for a year because the city couldn't commit the funds to get the project done. But now there's suddenly local money available to cave to unreasonable demands in Canton?

Spend the money on facilities elsewhere.

We know the city has money available for bike facilities, because they have suddenly come up with it to make this change in Canton. We don't believe any change should be made. But if the Mayor's Office is committed to tearing out this perfectly good bike facility, they should revert the street back to the original configuration and use any money they allocated to a new, worse design on building out bicycle infrastructure wanted and needed by other communities. We can come back to Potomac Street once this fire access issue is fully sorted out. There's no need to build inferior infrastructure in the meantime. 

There are two ways to take action today! 

Register to attend our Shifting Power workshop, our new program providing livable streets advocacy training to everyday citizens.

Tell your elected officials that you are against the Mayor's Office decision to redesign the Potomac Street bike lane, and that you support safe streets for all. 

#FightForBikes: Potomac Street Downgrade, Other Projects in Jeopardy

Today, the Mayor’s office made a decision to redesign the Potomac Street protected bike lane. Construction of the Downtown Bike Network has also been halted, and sections of the Maryland Avenue protected bike lane may be evaluated in addition to Potomac Street for potential significant re-engineering or removal.

The Potomac Street redesign is impractical. It does not meet National Association of City Transportation Officials or Federal Highway Administration standards for a high-quality, all-ages protected bicycle facility. The original design did.

Neighbors along the Potomac Street protected bike lane lobbied the Baltimore City Fire Department around a provision in the International Fire Code that states "fire apparatus access roads shall have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet."

Bikemore has been working behind the scenes over the past two weeks to encourage the city to make a different choice at this crossroads between street safety and fire access.

This is not a new issue. NACTO and other NACTO member cities have commissioned reports on this particular provision of International Fire Code and its applicability to old cities with street grids where almost no street meets the 20 foot clear requirement. As early as 1997, Oregon amended their state code to ensure that standards for the width of streets adopted by local governments superseded International Fire Code provisions.

 The 20 foot clear rule is unreasonable and incongruent with the goal of reducing pedestrian and bicycle injuries and increasing bicycle ridership.

Baltimore City is effectively stating the Fire Department needs 20 feet clear to safely fight fires, despite the fact many streets in Baltimore fail to meet this standard, including the streets one block east and west of Potomac Street, which have in places just 9 feet clear.

This was not made an issue when miles of reverse angle parking installation, containing thousands of parking spaces, created the same condition as Potomac Street throughout Southeast Baltimore. 

Despite the precedent this sets, NACTO guidance, and support for the original design from Canton Community Association and the elected delegation in Southeast, the Mayor’s office has chosen to redesign the facility.

NACTO assisted with this redesign, and has produced an alternative design that meets the “unreasonable constraints” provided to them by city officials. This design is not an all-ages, high quality bike facility. The original design was.

This standard also does not take into account the reality that the majority of fire department response calls are not for fires, but for traffic crashes and medical response to chronic illness like heart disease, asthma, and diabetes that building more "complete streets" infrastructure helps prevent. 

Interpreting this provision of International Fire Code in this way will prevent some of the low-stress bicycle facilities recently adopted in the Bike Master Plan addendum from being constructed in Baltimore City. It will threaten millions of dollars of already engineered right of way improvements, and an untold amount of economic development dollars if new building construction or roadway projects cannot proceed under this interpretation of code.

After consulting national street design experts, we are unaware of any city in North America that has halted construction, or removed protected bike lanes, in response to fire access concerns.

Once again, Baltimore City is prioritizing parking of cars over people, and wasting money redesigning bike infrastructure to be less safe—money that could be used to build facilities in other neighborhoods.

You can read the letter from the Mayor to residents on Potomac Street and view the new, inadequate design here. 

We urge the Mayor’s office and Baltimore City Department of Transportation to prioritize the safety of Baltimore City residents and create streets that are safe for all modes of travel, and have clear emergency access. 

Take action! Contact city officials using the form below: 

More information: Bikemore Fire Access Memo, San Francisco Fire Access Memo, Best Practices: Emergency Access in Healthy Streets

Baltimore City Department of Transportation proposed design changes (with comments by Bikemore in red), Bikemore proposed design changes