BIKESHARE: Taxpayer nightmare

| January 25, 2017 12:00 AM

After reading The Press’ front-page story “Coeur d’Alene moving ahead with bikeshare program,” I’m very disappointed with the city council vote.

The “Bike Lobby” obtains billions of dollars nationally in the form of grants. OK; it’s a grant, it’s free money. Not really; it’s our tax money. Most of the grant money comes from the federal, state and local transportation budgets. Ever wonder why our roads and highways are in such disrepair?

I moved to Coeur d’Alene from a small western Washington city that had a $1,000,000 street maintenance and repair budget a couple years ago. Guess what? They spent more than $800,000 on bike paths. When I spoke with the city council members about the streets and bike paths they informed me that they got matching funds for the bike paths. (Grants) What about our streets?

We live in a tourist town and have plenty of bike rental options available for our tourists, thanks to business owners like Alex Castagno.

The “Bike Lobby,” Monte McCully, states the “focus of the program is not on tourists but commuters.” Commuters, really!

Here’s a quote from Brier Dudley, a reporter for the Seattle Times, dated Feb. 8, 2016: “Bike-sharing is a neat amenity but it’s not working in Seattle. It also reeks of inside dealing and special-interest favors.” This fiasco will cost city of Seattle taxpayers an additional $5 million in 2017.

I believe there is a whole lot more to this story and none good for us taxpayers.

WYLIE CLARK

Coeur d’Alene