Ravenswood Manor bike advocacy: Support now!!!

This is the link to the "neighborhood plan" survey I told you about: https://north-river-plan.metroquest.com/
Anyone who lives, works or plays in the "North River Communities" (roughly from the River to Cicero, Montrose to Bryn Mawr, plus Horner Park which is south of Montrose) is welcome to take the survey.  It's completely anonymous, no spam or mailing lists will follow you. The survey will be active until September 15, please forward the link to anyone you think has opinions to share.
 
The plan we are working on focuses on economic development, transportation of all kinds (cars/bikes/CTA/pedestrian), housing needs, public/park spaces and environmental concerns (including flood abatement for the neighborhoods along the North River branch). Details available here:
Then there is the controversial Manor Greenway project:
The city has a long term goal of creating a continuous North/South bike/walking trail along the north branch of the river that will connect to the North Shore Channel trail and head to the suburbs. Major improvements to the trail between Addison and Montrose are underway, due to complete next year. Once that is done, there will be a significant increase of bikes on Manor Ave, which is the official bike route from Horner Park to Ronan Park on Lawrence.  CDOT already considers the vehicle traffic on Manor Ave to be "unsafe".  At rush hour, it has the volume of an arterial street but at times is only wide enough for a one way street (in particular north of Wilson near Manor park). Creating a Greenway on Manor between Montrose and Lawrence is meant to calm traffic speeds and disperse some of the car traffic to surrounding streets in order to accommodate the influx of bicycle traffic the trail improvements will generate.
Main point to share: anyone who supports the Greenway and the river bike trail in general should write to manorgreenway@gmail.com , which is an account Deb Mell  set up to field people's feedback on the project.  
The most controversial element is the Wilson/Manor diverter, which proposes that Manor Ave cars travelling both north and south bound must divert off of Manor at Wilson. Cars may not turn onto Manor from Wilson or Mozart. Bicycle traffic WILL be allowed to continue on Manor across Wilson.  A temporary trial period will run approximately Sept 19 - Nov 19 to collect traffic counting data and see if if the diverter achieves the desired results.  There is a  monthly Transportation Action Committee meeting that Mell's office holds at Horner Park: the next one is September 22 @630pm.  There will also be public meetings during and after the trial to discuss, and I will let you know when they get scheduled. 
There is a Not-In-My-Back-Yard anti-Greenway faction in Ravenswood Manor (primarily those who live north of Wilson) who are trying to reduce or even kill the project by strong-arming Deb Mell (who does seem genuinely surprised at the nasty response from RM people) into pulling her support.  Their position is that traffic on Manor has been a point of contention for decades, this whole issue has been blown out of proportion and no changes are needed. I think they just don't understand that regardless of past conditions or actions, the evolution of the city currently underway will fundamentally change their neighborhood, and they have to change with the times.   This is not just a Ravenswood Manor decision, it affects literally all of Chicagoland.
Some others in RM are at least granting that the Greenway should happen, but are advocating to eliminate all parking along Manor Ave to make room for a separate bike lane.  These people have off-street parking for themselves, so the fact that this would essentially leave all the renters with nowhere to park, not to mention anyone who wants to drive to visit Manor Park or any of the businesses by the Francisco el stop.
TLDR: everyone who bikes in Chicago should chime in!
Thanks for any help you can provide, let me know if you have questions ( I do tend to get a little too in-depth on details sometimes).
Cheers,
Nathan

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Permalink Reply by Betty B on September 13, 2016 at 7:20am

and ps, not all renters park on Manor.  Some actually park on the streets they live on and some have garages.  Some home owners actually park on Manor.  And pretty sure we all love our local businesses on Manor and definitely want them to stay in business.  Which means parking is needed for them.  Again, don't know who you are listening to, but I've never heard anyone say they want to annihilate all the parking on Manor. 

Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on September 15, 2016 at 4:00pm

I don't see it specifically mentioned or emphasized but there is a public meeting coming up on this:

http://www.thechainlink.org/events/a-call-to-arms-manor-greenway-pr...

Thursday, Sept 22nd, Horner Park, 6:30 PM. southeast corner of Montrose and California.

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