Hold a vote on bike lanes

Re.: Bicycle lanes in Penticton

Spending millions of dollars on "lake to lake" bike lanes should have been voted on as a referendum in the last city election.

This important spending of our tax dollars should have been voted on by the Penticton population, not rammed through by city council.

The use of more funds spent on more bike lanes must be left until we can vote in a referendum in the next city election.

We need more police officers to fight the rising crime rate, not more bike lanes.

Our home is located one house behind the bike lane on Fairview Road. Since the bike lane opened here, we've seen just four people cycling on the bike lane. As a matter of fact, we've seen more people cycling on the other side of the road than on the bike lane.

The barriers on the bike lane have already been smashed down by a vehicle and now there are orange pylons in the place of the barriers. The roads have become far too narrow for trucks and cars—especially when turning at corners/intersections.

When there's enough snow to be plowed how is the city going to remove the snow from the bike lanes? Where are they going to put the plowed snow? On the sidewalk? If the snow is poured on the other side of the road, where do people park?

No cycling events - like the Granfondo - are going to use the bike lanes. Races like this event need more road space than a bike lane.

There are so many options for cyclists in Penticton. The KVR trail, the canal pathway, and the list goes on. The canal pathway should have been used as a "lake to lake" bike lane. It's already there lake to lake.

Penticton is now known for having one of the highest crime rates in Canada. We need to spend funds on more police officers not on more bike lanes. Police officers help fight the ever-growing crime rate, not bike lanes.

Penticton is becoming an unsafe city to live in. As the mayor said, we need a larger police force to fight all the different crimes that are happening here daily.

A referendum would show the city how many cyclists actually use the bike lanes.

Why is the city afraid to have a vote on how our taxes are spent? Who's behind having the bike lanes paid for from the City of Penticton's funds?

If we don't fight the massive crime rate here now, tourists won't come two months out of the year to use the bike lanes.

Mattie and Nick Parsons, Penticton