There is active sidewalk cycling in the business districts because there has been no comprehensive public education campaign by the City to educate cyclists as to the local ordinance prohibiting that practice. The Board of Aldermen has gone on record requesting such public education, but the Administration has not complied. Various aldermen have received complains from constituents about the sidewalk cycling.

City Hall has undertaken many initiatives for cyclists, but fails to address this public safety issue for pedestrians. That is not consistent with the Administration's claim that Somerville is a "walkable city." Other U.S. cities have dealt effectively with this issue--why not Somerville? Is City Hall content to leave pedestrians--especially seniors and the disabled--at risk?

Your previous response is inadequate, sorry. What constituents deserve here is City Hall effectively addressing the issue, not some vague boilerplate response invoking selective enforcement.

Let's hear from the Administration the details about a comprehensive public education campaign on this matter, especially now that fall is approaching and cyclists will be out in force.

Citizens deserve nothing less!

This is a big problem. When I first moved here I actually thought sidewalk riding was legal because its so frequent.

Illegal sidewalk cycling continues unabated in the city squares, still no enforcement, no public education campaign. City Hall still refuses to deal with these violations of pedestrian public safety...

This 2012 video of Somerville sidewalk cyclists still holds true today:

http://vimeo.com/55565560

I intend to keep this issue OPEN, until there is appropriate enforcement!

GH,

As mentioned before, SPD will monitor the area and the best thing you can do if you see a motorist or cyclist doing something that could harm others or impact safety, is to please report it to the police at their non emergency phone number 617-625-1600 as it is happening.

The local ordinance prohibiting sidewalk cycling in the business districts should be ENFORCED, not blithely palmed off on pedestrians having to make incident reports!

Other cities enforcing sidewalk cycling ordinances DON'T put the onus on pedestrians for enforcement.

City Hall, get a grip and get this done, will you?

Sidewalk cyclists still prevalent in city squares....

We have brought this to the attention of police department on miltiple occasions, they have been monitoring and enforcing and will continue to do so. Please be sure to report issues to us as they are happening so we may notify SPD.

Sidewalk cyclists STILL creating hazardous conditions for pedestrians.

Why hasn't City Hall tried to educate local cyclists about the local ordinance prohibiting
sidewalk cycling?

Often promised, never delivered!

The City of Somerville has been ranked as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country and was recognized as a Bronze-level bicycle friendly community by the League of American Cyclists. Back in 2006, Mayor Curtatone convened a task force to identify priorities for improvements to the City’s traffic and pedestrian systems aimed at enhancing safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Last year this initiative was revisited to assess its progress and accomplishments and gather data and input to identify new priorities. The team confirmed that not only were nearly all tasks accomplished, a push for citywide improvements went beyond what was identified in the report. Full details of the report are available here: http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/Safe-START-Report-FINAL.pdf

We are closing this request because there are no other actions for 311 to take on the matter at this time.

This Task is NOT ACCOMPLISHED while there are still cyclists using the sidewalks in the business districts. You can spout all the rhetoric you please, but there is no substitute for ACTUAL OBSERVATION, is there? These violations are observed DAILY. Video excerpts will be provided soon.

And no public education for cyclists about this issue, either, despite numerous requests by the Board of Aldermen. It looks like City Hall's priority is not to inconvenience violators, but to pretend that
there are no more violations!

In the infamous words of President G.W. Bush, "Mission Accomplished!"