Historically, residents and aldermen in wealthier north- and northwest-side wards have been more vocal about pushing for bike lanes and racks than their south- and west-side counterparts. That’s one reason why the lion’s share of cycling infrastructure has been concentrated north of Madison.
“In the past, the city’s philosophy has been that the communities that already bike the most deserve the most resources,” Slow Roll Chicago cofounder Oboi Reed (now a Streetsblog board member) told me at the time. “That just perpetuates a vicious cycle where cycling grows fast in some neighborhood and not others.” He argued Chicago’s black and brown communities are the ones that most urgently need the health and economic benefits of biking.
Streetsblog’s Steven Vance reported that there were only three civilians at Monday’s event at the Austin library. And when I asked for a show of hands at Wednesday’s meeting at East Garfield Park’s Legler Library, only two people indicated they live in the west-side bikeway’s planning area, bounded by Austin, Roosevelt, California, and North.
One of them was Mark Yalverton, 60, a retired police officer who lives in Englewood. He helped start a bike-cop unit in South Shore, and also did a stint patrolling the lakefront on two wheels. “I loved every second of that,” he recalled.
A West Garfield Park resident, Montgomery got back into cycling after a coworker egged him on, and he’s been trying to get his childhood friends to take it up. “It’s fun, healthy, something we could do together,” he said.
—West Garfield Park resident Jerome Montgomery
“We’re creating a web of supporters, and that’s really important,” Amsden said. v
