Black Hawk Bans bikes, send some emails

**Crinkle** · 06-10-2010, 12:56 PM

So the city of Black Hawk took it upon themselves to ban bikes on their streets to "promote saftey". Yet when asked they can provide no occurances of crashes or fatalities in their town. So Black Hawk police are issuing tickets for anyone caught riding through town, wow. They did not allow input from cyclists or cycling organization, nor did they consult with anyone prior to placing the ban.

http://bicyclecolo.org/articles/blac...ban-pg1118.htm

send a quick email CityClerk@CityofBlackHawk.org

To: Mayor David D. Spellman and Aldermen Linda Armbright, Paul G. Bennett, Diane Cales, Kathleen Doles, Tom Kerr, Greg Moates

Please restore bicycle access to Gregory Street and all Black Hawk streets. Your ban is closing a major cross-state route to bicyclists preventing residents and tourists from biking.

**Conundrum** · 06-10-2010, 01:39 PM

That's crap. I emailed the following:

To whom it may concern,

I heard a rumor that your city has closed it's streets to bicycles. I hope this is merely a rumor.

I'm from Idaho and traditionally take a yearly road trip for vacation through Colorado. The road your city is on is somewhere my girlfriend and I had not been and were planning to visit. I'm afraid that I can not support a town that limits transportation to motor vehicles especially in a time of environmental concerns and oil shortages. If we do make it to your fair city, I'll be sure to not spend a dime at any local businesses if the ban is true.

Please reconsider this policy if you indeed did ban bicycles on your city streets.

Sincerely,

Conundrum

I tried to find an email address for the Gilpin Co. Chamber of Commerce but it doesn't have one. The phone number is 303-582-5077 but I just get a busy signal when I call.

gunit130 · 06-10-2010, 02:01 PM

wait a second, is this legal?

**knumbskull** · 06-10-2010, 02:07 PM

I'm 99% sure they can't ban bicycles on state highways. City streets is another matter.

**InspectorGadget** · 06-10-2010, 02:14 PM

After uttering some words to myself about how stupid these people must be, my first thought was to bolt on a single training wheel and ride through town.

When I get pulled over, I would tell the officer I'm riding a tricycle.

**The Reverend Floater** · 06-10-2010, 02:15 PM

To Whom It May Concern,

I recently read that the City of Blackhawk closed its streets to bicycles. Bravo! We’re facing foreign oil dependency, an unprecedented economic downturn, rising CO2 emissions, and a steady increase in national obesity rates. What do the good folks of Blackhawk do? Prohibit the one thing that addresses all of these challenges simultaneously. Well played!. Add me to the list of responsible citizens who will not be stopping and spending my money in Blackhawk until this notable act of blatant stupidity is repealed. And before you label me as a Greenpeace loving liberal, know that I have more guns than Ted Nugent and love my country more than you do.

Sincerely,

Rev

**marshalolson** · 06-10-2010, 02:17 PM

email sent. what a bullshit move.

**toast2266** · 06-10-2010, 02:29 PM

email sent. Their city attorney is going to waste a shitload of time fighting that ridiculousness.

**knumbskull** · 06-10-2010, 02:32 PM

Here's the map:

And here are the ordinances:

http://www.cityofblackhawk.org/media/EDocs/2009_20.pdf

http://www.cityofblackhawk.org/media/EDocs/2010_3.pdf

They safety clauses are sadly funny.

**Greguar** · 06-10-2010, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by The Reverend Floater

And before you label me as a Greenpeace loving liberal, know that I have more guns than Ted Nugent and love my country more than you do.

Sincerely,

Rev

Haha! FKN hilarious!

**grskier** · 06-10-2010, 03:34 PM

If someone has requested the traffic studies quoted in the ordinances, I wouldn't mind taking a look at them this summer.....

**Greydon Clark** · 06-11-2010, 12:08 AM

Black Hawk is a fucking shit hole, with or with out bikes.

**eldereldo** · 06-11-2010, 09:12 AM

I would suggest that for safety reasons they ban cars on their roads. Then they can't have any accidents.

**mtnjam** · 06-11-2010, 09:50 AM

Here is said Mayor of Black Hawk. Looks kinda like the typical corporate bought mayor and kinda like a ATV ripping retard.
Unfortunately it sounds like they won't miss the revenue coming in from bicyclists considering they have their new Ameristar Casino and Spa revenue coming in. God forbid we wouldn't want bikes tarnishing the image of Black Hawk now that they have their Spa and Casino for all the fat fucks coming in by busload from Denver.

**dumpy** · 06-11-2010, 10:18 AM

It's not too often that I'd advocate acting like a major dick aboard a bike, but Critical Mass Blackhawk? Doesn't seem like they'd be able to arrest >100 people riding through their streets.

Seems like it would be a good protest that would gain some negative attention for the town.

Too bad I'm 1/2 a continent away, I'd love to ride in protest of this BS.

**nit wit** · 06-11-2010, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by dumpy

It's not too often that I'd advocate acting like a major dick aboard a bike, but Critical Mass Blackhawk? Doesn't seem like they'd be able to arrest >100 people riding through their streets.

Seems like it would be a good protest that would gain some negative attention for the town.

Too bad I'm 1/2 a continent away, I'd love to ride in protest of this BS.

this sounds like a perfect use of the CM retardedness.

**Crinkle** · 06-11-2010, 02:17 PM

CM sounds like a good idea, but look at blackhawk on a map, its in the middle of the front range. There is no easy way to do this here without shuttling a shit load of people. There are some beautiful contry roads to ride surrounding there, just no other towns that close by.

**Mani_UT** · 06-11-2010, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by mtnjam

that they have their Spa and Casino for all the fat fucks coming in by busload from Denver.

Well here you go. These are the businesses that should see the storm of emails. If they think it could have an impact on their business they'll press the town to repel that retarded law.

**rideit** · 06-11-2010, 10:47 PM

Interesting thing from over the wires...

Adventure Cycling: Ban on Bicycling in Black Hawk, Colorado Impacts Route
We are puzzled by some news we read earlier this week on Biking Bis and the U.S. Bicycle Route System Facebook page. Black Hawk, Colorado (pop. 118) has banned bicycles from most roads in their city. (Click on Press Release when you get to the page to see a map.) This includes roads we direct bicycle travelers to on our Great Parks South (GPS), Section 1.

As of this time, cyclists traveling the GPS route have two options to avoid a $68 ticket for riding through Black Hawk:

1. Walk your loaded touring bike the 1.5 miles through town before remounting your bike for refreshment in either Central City or Rollinsville.
2. Detour around the area entirely by using the Berthoud Pass Alternate bypassing not only Black Hawk but Rocky Mountain National Park.

In the bigger picture, there are other things you can do to let Black Hawk, a town that prides itself on having a tourism-based economy, know how you feel about its decision. Some of our suggestions are:

* Support Bike Colorado's efforts to overturn the law. Be sure to read their very informative page on the ban.
* If you are on Facebook, you can "like" the Bicyclists and Tourist Black Hawk Colorado page.
* If you live in Colorado, you could organize a "bike in" to the city to let them know cyclists are concerned about this action.

As a town that depends on tourism dollars to support its population, we're surprised that powers that be in Black Hawk seem unaware of the Bicycling and Walking in Colorado survey the state Department of Transportation did in 2000. It is very favorable to the idea that making cyclists welcome is a way to impact your economy positively. A more recently released study, The Economic Impact of Bicycling in Wisconsin (pdf), also shows cyclists and tourism in a favorable light.

We'd like to invite Black Hawk to revisit their decision. A good place to start is our pdf, Become a Touring Friendly Town or Bicyclists Bring Business (pdf), a joint publication of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, Parks & Trails New York, and the New York State Canal Corporation. They might also want to note the number of communities eager to be a part of U.S. Bicycle Route 20 in Michigan as highlighted in a recent article in The Saginaw News. These local governments see the benefits of tourism dollars created by bicycle travelers and have opened their arms wide to receive them.

--

GEOPOINTS BULLETIN is written by Jennifer 'Jenn' Milyko, an Adventure Cycling cartographer, and appears weekly, highlighting curious facts, figures and persons from Adventure Cycling's Route Network with tips and hints for personal route creation thrown in for good measure. She also wants to remind you that map corrections and comments are always welcome via the online Map Correction Form.

**LaBelle23** · 03-06-2013, 09:11 AM

Update: The CO supreme court overturned Black Hawk's bike ban

**chatton18** · 03-06-2013, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by Conundrum

...in a time of environmental concerns and oil shortages

Why are you taking a bike trip if you're worried about the environment. Don't you know you're elevated heart rate will lead to more respiration and thus higher CO2 levels.

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