From a local bike advocate:
The Bike-Ped Advisory Committee and Park Board have advanced revised ordinances that city staff have drafted over the last many months to allow and regulate e-bikes and e-scooters in the city. After those two committees have voted to recommend those e-bike and e-scooter ordinances, council member Kahlow has proposed a new amendment for the Judiciary and Administration meeting this Tuesday evening.
Read the amendment in the file “Proposed Amended Ordinance for J&A 5.5.pdf” and the original ordinance as “Ordinance” on file 26-0377 on Legistar: https://cityoflacrosse.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7980886&GUID=A6D4AA28-848A-49A9-B342-F2B7DCFB0BC8&Options=&Search=
The new amendment adds to the e-bike and e-scooter ordinances by first, banning all bicycle riding (not just e-bikes and e-scooters) on sidewalks in Riverside Park. Second, the new amendment says something else about sidewalk riding in the city – it's not clear exactly what the second change does.
There are concerns with this amendment. At the very least, the ordinance changes what people have worked on since 2024 about e-bikes and E-Scooters. This amendment takes legislation about e-bikes and e-scooters and jumps to making changes about *all* bicycles, which was not the intent of the legislative push and which has not gone through city committees and public hearings.
Whether or not you believe that Riverside Park should allow bicycles of any sort on sidewalks, the decision about whether or not that is the case should be treated separately from making decisions about e-bikes and e-scooters, and should go through our existing process to allow public input. You can see on the staff report that accompanies the item on Legistar that these bicycle sidewalk bans were not part of the staff report; there is no mention of them there.
If you have opinions about the proposed amendment or the underlying e-bike/e-scooter ordinance, your only chance to speak in person at a public hearing will be this Tuesday evening – tomorrow – at J&A; there is no public hearing at the Common Council meeting.
You can also email the city clerk [CLERK'S ADDRESS: CITYCLERK@CITYOFLACROSSE.ORG) and ask that your email be attached to the legislative item, 26-0377; that way it will be visible to the public and to all J&A and council members. If you want them to vote against the amendment but for the underlying ordinance, you would say that; or you could urge them to vote against both; or for both.
If you have questions please use the CONTACT form on this page and CP will get them to the local advocate.
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If we want people, including tourists, but especially the families who pay taxes to maintain our parks, to enjoy them, we can't block people on bikes by limiting where they are allowed to exist to nowhere. If the council refuses to allow infrastructure that is safe for bicyclists of all ages and abilities (protected bike lanes) and streets that are bike and pedestrian friendly, we can't say we are following any of our city plans nor the current active transportation guidelines with proven health, safety, and environmental benefits.
If your council member doesn't get it, maybe they shouldn't be on the council.
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