The City of Memphis will repave Madison Avenue between Cooper and Cleveland in the near future. The street will be restriped. Mayor Wharton's engineering department has recommended restriping this stretch of Madison into a three lane configuration (one lane in each direction and a bi-directional turn lane) with dedicated bike lanes and on-street parking. Most of this section is currently striped in a four lane configuration (two lanes in each direction with no turn lane).
One of the business owners on Madison has waged a very effective campaign to oppose the "3- lane option." This campaign has included personal visits with virtually all the businesses along this stretch, as well as other businesses not located on Madison. Flyers have been distributed to the business owners comparing the 3- lane option to the Madison Avenue trolley construction, and asserting that dedicated bike lanes will jeopardize their businesses and the jobs that they create.
We are residents of midtown Memphis who support the 3- lane option. The businesses that oppose dedicated bike lanes need to hear from us - after all, we are their customers. We want to counter the scare tactics with facts - specifically that we believe the 3- lane option will significantly help the neighborhood, improve pedestrian and cyclist safety, make Madison a destination, and be beneficial to the businesses on Madison.
Mayor Wharton will be making a decision soon about the future of Madison Avenue. We believe that he wants to approve the 3-lane option, but he's been presented with a list of 60 businesses that oppose it. The mayor's decision making process will be influenced by his perception of the support, or lack thereof, from the business community. Without action on our part, he may reject the 3‑lane option in favor of the status quo.
Our intent is to change some minds in the midtown business community, and to let the mayor know that a significant number of his constituents believe that Madison can be the Main Street of Midtown.
Please consider signing this petition. If we get enough signatures, we will hand deliver the petition to each business owner on Madison between Cooper and Cleveland. We will also deliver a copy of the petition to Mayor Wharton.
For the facts about dedicated bike lanes on Madison, visit www.madisonbikelanes.com.
Note: this is an online petition. Your name and zip code will be included in the final petition given to the business owners and Mayor Wharton, but your address and email will not appear on the hard copy of the petition. In the online petition, you have the option to have your name appear for all to see, or to keep it anonymous. You can also make comments online - please keep them respectful.
We, the undersigned residents of Memphis, support the proposed dedicated bike lanes on Madison Avenue, between Cooper and Cleveland (the "3-lane option"). We value and patronize the independent business owners along Madison, and we want to make sure that all the facts have been adequately communicated. We would like to reiterate some of the quantifiable benefits of the proposed 3-lane option, as described by LRK in recent public meetings:
Our spending supports the Madison Avenue businesses, and the health of those businesses is important to us. Madison Avenue can become the Main Street of Midtown if we all work to make it more friendly to bicyclists, pedestrians and automobiles. We believe that the 3-lane option is good for business and good for the neighborhood, and we hereby sign our names in support of dedicated bike lanes along Madison Avenue.
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