HIT THE BREAKS!

Business owners and Bishop City Council members drove home a big loud “no” to a proposal by Caltrans to eliminate street parking on South Main Street/U.S. 395 to make room for bike lanes to nowhere.

Caltrans did not tell the city council or business owners on South Main who would lose parking in front of their stores about the proposal before unveiling it to the public at the April 13 council meeting. The plan would eliminate curbside parking on both sides of South Main Street and install bike lanes from the Jack in the Box restaurant to Line Street. At that point the bike lanes would abruptly end, forcing cyclists pedaling north to either try their luck riding in the vehicle lanes or diverting down Line Street to wind their way around town using residential streets. 

After hearing it should hit the brakes on the proposal, make a quick U-Turn and park the plan in the “Bad Idea Garage,” Caltrans District 9 Project Manager Jerry Milos assured the crowd no final decision had been made. The evenings’ public comments would be taken back to the District 9 management team and considered, he said. 

“My gut reaction was ‘you gotta be kidding me,’” said Councilmember Karen Kong. What “pushed me over the edge” was that some parking would be lost on Line Street due to the ongoing Bishop Paving Project, she said. “It makes no sense to me.” 

Robin Bolster, owner of the Great Basin Bakery and building, said for years Caltrans told her there would eventually be more street parking near her business. But the Paving Project not only blocked access via Lagoon Street for more than a month, it also resulted in losing three parking spaces in front of the building’s otther tenants. Losing more on-street parking would impact all three businesses, she said. 

Lynne Almeida, owner of Spellbinder Books and Mike Birkhimer of the Meat House, both said their businesses would suffer from the loss of parking on South Main. Besides providing easy access to customers, deliveries have to be made at their front doors, they said. 

Without street parking, the 38-space parking lot in front of the Mountain Rambler Brewery and other businesses would likely become a parking refuge for cars not carrying customers to those businesses, said building owner Randy Gillespie. There are already issues with vehicles overstaying their welcome in the lot which would likely increase he said. 

Perry Motors’ car lots would also likely see people pulling in and parking if the street spaces disappear, said owner Aaron Jahn. That happened when the paving project blocked access to Great Basin Bakery, he said, prompting bakery customers to park in the car lot. As for the bike lanes on South Main/U.S. 395, “nobody bikes it.” 

The Bishop Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center bought a new home on South Main thinking the on-street parking would allow visitors to park and make a quick stop at the chamber for information and maps, said Tawni Thompson, chamber executive director.  “It was quite a shock” to see the plan to eliminate the parking, she said, especially since the chamber has been involved for years in every planning effort regarding traffic and parking and the no-parking-plan never surfaced. 

Caltrans does “own” US 395 and does not need approval from the city to implement changes to the highway, it was noted. Also noted was Caltran’s unilateral move to eliminate street parking on North Main Street in downtown in the 1980s, which prompted decades of parking debates and angst in the city. 

Mayor Stephen Muchovej echoed other cyclists’ comments about how uncomfortable it can be to ride on Main Street, because of tight spaces and heavy semi-truck traffic, especially in the sections without bike lanes which he called “exhilarating and terrifying.” Even as an “avid cyclist,” he said he would not use the South Main bike lanes, “because they don’t get me where I want to go.” Longer term it makes more sense to create infrastructure that that lets cyclists move safely through town, he noted. “There’s no need” for bike lanes on 395; I don’t support it.” 

Councilmembers Karen Schwartz and Jose Garcia also objected to the plan, and said Caltrans should concentrate on slowing traffic into town and other improvements. 

Milos tried to tie the no parking effort to Caltrans’ and the city’s commitments to “active transportation” and various “mobility studies,” that point to creating more bike lanes. He said about 22 spaces would be eliminated by banning street parking on South Main, which is a reduction of about 5% of the parking in the downtown area. 

He confirmed that no decision has been made and any decision would require design work and change orders to the ongoing Bishop Paving Project. 

Anticipating the Caltrans reliance on such policies, former city planner Elaine Kabala provided a five-page rebuttal that outlined Caltrans’ policies, chapter and verse, to improve small-town streets and traffic without installing bike lanes. Complete with schematics and design suggestions. 

South Main is the “entrance to Bishop” and should be given more careful consideration than the basic highway treatment, and “community needs and desires” should be included in any decision, she said.

In her comments to council, she said removing parking offers “limited benefits to the community, but will negatively affect traffic speeds, walkability, and placemaking goals and parking for adjacent businesses.”

The crowd applauded.