by Parry Burnap
Executive Director,
B-cycle
This information is going out to
all of the people who provided feedback and/or supported in any way Denver Bike
Sharing’s proposal for GOCO funds.
(Editor’s note: Colorado voters created
Great Outdoors Colorado in 1992, directing a portion of Colorado Lottery
proceeds towards the state’s wildlife, parks, rivers, trails and open space.)
On June 19, the GOCO statewide board met to
formalize their decision not to fund Denver Bike Sharing’s request for
financial support for six stations on property owned and managed by Denver
Parks & Recreation. In this round of GOCO Local Government Park and
Recreation grants, 10 projects were funded throughout the state, only one of
which was in Denver. The winning proposal was submitted by Denver for
improvements in Westwood Neighborhood Park, west of Federal Blvd. and north of
Mississippi Ave.
I
am reaching out to you to give you this news.
We
had a call yesterday with GOCO staff to get a better understanding of why we
were not funded and whether we might fare better if we apply again in the next
round, due in August. To summarize a long healthy conversation, we were advised
that it is unlikely we would be funded by GOCO in the next few years. There are
several reasons:
• Bike sharing is a new untraditional use of
parks with which the statewide review board is unfamiliar.
• Our appeal as
both a transportation and recreational amenity available to both residents and
tourists is not consistent with their giving priorities and in fact counted
against us. GOCO is focused on recreation and residents.
• We are unable to
make a compelling case for need, given that we are an amenity that children
cannot use and that few low income or diverse individuals have used us to date.
• We are in a bit
of a Catch-22 situation. In future years, we are told it is possible that we
could make our case for recreational and neighborhood benefits, but we would
need stations in parks to generate the data to document this allegation.
While
we were disheartened by this outcome, we understand GOCO’s perspective. We
remain committed to identifying other funding for bike sharing stations in
Denver’s parks: those parks that could use the relief from car traffic; those
underused parks that might be enlivened by this affordable access; as well as
those that might serve as useful transportation nodes to provide neighborhood
access to the rest of the Denver B-cycle system.
We value our terrific partnership with
Denver Parks & Recreation; and we are grateful to you for your involvement
in our public outreach process. We learn from every conversation and every
relationship.
If you have ideas or suggestions, never
hesitate to reach out to us.
Thank you for your activism on behalf of our
great city. (Reach Denver Bike Sharing at denverbikesharing.org
or 303-825-3325.) |
