Editor, The News:
Re: Maple Ridge’s bike-lane plan hits speed bumps.
Mayor and council, I just found out about the ridiculous scheme to remove parking along 123 Avenue and replace it with bike lanes.
I am a parent with two children at Laity View elementary who are already in danger twice daily due to the traffic situation during drop-off and pick-up times.
The situation is already seriously dangerous with half the cars able to park on the avenue. If this ill-conceived scheme is allowed to proceed, the situation will be seriously exacerbated.
It is a wonder no children have been run over already.
I never saw any notices for public consultations, which appear to have been conducted secretly over the summer break so parents, like me, could not raise the alarm. This is sneaky and underhanded.
To slow traffic speed on 123 Ave., the city should install speed bumps like those on 124th Avenue.
Also, we need more parking and not less. The situation is already dangerous.
One merely has to visit the school once during drop-off or pick-up to witness first-hand how dangerous this situation is. I doubt any one involved in this idiotic proposal has bothered to do this.
An overflow parking lot should be built immediately along the edge of Volker Park to take up some of this strain and the bike lane idea scrapped.
Biking is a hobby. I will not allow my children to be sacrificed at the altar of political correctness and environmental fanaticism for someone’s hobby.
David Vernon
Maple Ridge