More Opinions on Those Ubiquitous Bicycles in Dallas

Embarrassing pollutionDallas City Council is responsible for the embarrassing pollution of Dallas through this unplanned and unrestricted bicycle program. Take responsibility. Clean this mess up.This is not a question of whether bikes and other forms of public transportation are necessary in Dallas. This is a question of leadership and planning. If the chorus of opposition is growing, as Philip Kingston contends, elected officials should listen.Crumbling streets make roads unsafe for both bicycles and scooters. There are insufficient bicycle lanes. Bikes are parked on public sidewalks and in parks, blocking public access. They lay broken in Turtle Creek, White Rock Lake, under bridges and overpasses throughout the city.Kingston appears to contend Dallas constituents (curmudgeons) deserve this punishment of unbridled bike pollution based on the state of obesity, air pollution and Amazon's HQ2 city requirements. How will he punish us for the high mortality rate of mothers in childbirth, low education test scores and excessive property taxes? I ask the City Council to do something positive for the city. Consider the growing chorus of complaints from constituents (curmudgeons) and use it to make at least some plan.Mary Kiernan, Dallas/Oak LawnRegulation is not weaknessI've been very interested in Dallas' no-regulation-for-bike-share experiment. I have a lot of idealist conservative friends who are sure that government regulation is always bad for everybody and that the free market solution is the best answer to most of our government's problems. We now have a great example of how, even with something as simple as bike share, ideals seldom work well in our less than ideal world. I find it interesting that Plano political leaders are not willing to run with their free market ideals and are working to create sensible regulations before opening Plano's bike share market to bike rental companies. I can only hope that other conservatives can see the writing on the wall and realize that tweaking conservative ideals so that they have a chance of working in the real world does not represent weakness or giving in to evil liberals out to destroy our society.Kenneth Mathias, Grand PrairieWhere is the leadership?The continued tolerance of rental bicycles imported to Dallas by non-local companies in such a volume that they have created clutter and eyesores that interfere with Dallasites'comfort and enjoyment of life is truly appalling. Are there no requirements that the bicycle vendors rent or lease spaces to sell their wares (kiosks to house their bicycles at convenient locations that they pay rent on and maintain them in an orderly way) rather than have them helter skelter on the sidewalks, standing or toppled over or dumped into creeks or White Rock Lake? Is there someone in the bureaucracy getting compensated to overlook the inconvenience? I fear we have a vacancy of leadership at City Hall. Where is our mayor and City Council and even county judge on this issue?Howard A. Moore, DallasTrails need signs for pedestrians, cyclistsThe major roads that cross the Dallas trail systems need street signs to identify pedestrian/cyclists location. Specifically on the bridge overpasses or perhaps painted on the walkway. Tourists and locals using rental bikes, cyclists and everybody else would find it useful to know where we are when traversing Dallas' many trails.I'm not sure whom to contact regarding this need but need to start somewhere. Any advice out there? Ben Franklin, Dallas/Lake HighlandsClean up plastic bags and rental bikesTwo things we need to do to make our fair city fair again: get rid of plastic shopping bags and get rid of rental bicycles. The bags make a mess everywhere the wind blows them and the bikes create an obstacle course on streets, sidewalks and bike lanes. We used to have a 5-cent charge on plastic shopping bags, but our City Council gave in to pressure to end that. If we can't ban the bags altogether, we could price them out of the market by charging a quarter or even a dollar for each one a customer uses.The rental bikes are ubiquitous -- about 20,000 scattered throughout Dallas. A blind man recently tripped over one left sprawling on an otherwise familiar sidewalk along Live Oak Street and tore up his knee. At White Rock Lake, bike renters seem to know nothing of the rules of the road and regularly create confusion and congestion. If we can't ban these bikes, then let's raise the rental rate from $1 for 30 minutes to $10, which will cause riders to think twice about getting on one. And please, please, don't let LimeBike bring in their whole fleet, which includes electric bikes and electric scooters. Let's clean up Dallas.Roger T. Quillin, DallasThe big bike trickBig trick played on Dallas. For decades, the city ranked as least of bicycle-friendly large cities by Bicycle Magazine. Dallas now has bikes cluttered all over the streets, parks and neighborhoods. Residents sit in their SUVs and fume. Someone is laughing.Philip Watson, DallasThey're a public nuisanceThe bikes in Dallas are becoming an increasing nuisance. They could possibly be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act as they are sprawled across the sidewalks every day. Dallas is setting itself up for a possible lawsuit from someone who trips over a bike left on a walkway. Do citizens not have the right to say what is placed in their neighborhoods? I notice increasing numbers of bikes turned over. I really think this is rebellion from the citizens. How about placing these bikes on Katy Trail or somewhere that people walk and run? There is talk about having bike parking spots, but that is only if people choose to park them there. I ask the City Council to rein in these bikes and stop them being a public nuisance.Nancy Turner, DallasWalk a mile in my shoesI am writing this because I am angry, angry that my freedom, my limited freedom has been thoughtlessly taken from me. I am angry because I recently found myself lying on the ground with a knee and ankle injury because some thoughtless individual decided to park one of these bikes in the middle of the sidewalk. More often than not, it isn't just one bike but many. I don't need to tell anybody who takes the time to read this who lives here in Dallas that our streets and sidewalks leave a lot to be desired. They are uneven, buckled and cracked. For most people, this isn't that big of a deal; for me, because I am blind, it is a very big deal. And when you add to the difficulties that exist by littering the sidewalks with bikes, you have effectively constructed a wall for those of us who have mobility issues. To our city leaders, clean this mess up or the next letter the city receives might come from a lawyer suing for injuries incurred. To those who use these bikes, keep in mind that outside of yourself, there are others out there who need the sidewalk. And to everybody reading this, here is my challenge. Walk a mile in my shoes because I can't ride a mile on your free bike. Then tell me how you view this program.E.L. Burton, DallasBurglars on bikes?Well, see? Those ubiquitous bikes are indeed useful. How else would the burglar(s) in that incident on Kenwood and Ellsworth have gotten away?And, by the way, may I second a recent suggestion from a letter writer that The Dallas Morning News run "Piranha Club" comic strips from their beginning continuously as you do "Peanuts"? We need those smiles.Gay McGuire, Dallas  Continue reading...