James's Story - Suggestions for a Better Boulder

[Story collected at Neighborhood Office Hours, Glenwood Grove - North Iris.]

"I have a ton of ideas. One of them is as simple as pavement. My 7-year-old daughter rides her bike to school, but there are places where chunks of pavement are missing in the bike lane, and she has to swerve to avoid the damage, which puts her in danger of getting hit by a car. That’s my thing – I really think road maintenance is primary. We walk to school, too, just to get out, because it’s beautiful.

"Another thing: we have all these Lance Armstrong wannabes who just come flying down the trails – it’s scary! They’re training for something, but the rest of us are just out recreating. We could have training routes specifically for athletic bicyclists, or days dedicated to that and the rest of the time let the paths and trails be for the rest of us. We need to minimize the conflicts.

"I’m also wondering, why aren’t the buses free in Boulder? In the city of Seattle, the buses are all free within the city limits. Everybody rides the bus. It became a social thing, versus an economic thing. Parking was a nightmare before the buses became free there. I remember riding the bus by myself at age 8 because it’s just what we did. It only makes sense to ride the bus downtown. I think Boulder would have the same response."