Fort Worth Avenue Development Group Rides In With Money For Bike Lanes City Can't Fund

We ended the year by lamenting City Hall's inability to implement the new Bike Plan due to two speed bumps -- the need for public hearings and the lack of money. But we begin the new year with word that for at least one stretch of concrete, money has been found -- not by City Hall, but the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, which is putting $25,000 toward the design and implementation of bicycle lanes along Fort Worth Avenue from Colorado Boulevard to Beckley Avenue. Says president David Lyles, $15,000 comes straight out of the FWADG's coffers, with business owners and "others within the community" kicking in the other $10,000.

Lyles tells Unfair Park this morning that the money is intended to serve as a "challenge grant" of sorts in the hopes that City Hall can finally make this happen. The expectation is that the money will jump-start the design and implementation process; he hopes to have this finished within six months.

"They can't sit on their hands indefinitely," he tells Unfair Park this morning, in advance of a noon press conference in the City Hall Flag Room during which council members Scott Griggs and Monica Alonzo will announce the grant. "We'll see. I hope they take us up on it. Private and public entities have a lot to gain, and if this is enacted, other communities can follow suit. ...

"We want to see something happen, and I think everybody wants to see something happen," he adds. "Everybody has agreed this is what we want --- well, most everybody -- and we see it as an opportunity to expedite them. Possibly waving a little money in everyone's face may do the trick. We'll find out."