Plans to build a bicycle playground at Concord Community Park faced resistance Tuesday night from the City Council, which chose to postpone a vote on the proposal until a future meeting.
Council members focused on the possible operating and maintenance costs of the project, which would be built and paid for by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority through its Street Smarts Diablo program, as well as impacts near its proposed location on Cowell Road.
The CCTA is proposing what it described as a “miniature street-scape” within the park with bicycle-sized “roads,” scaled-down signals and traffic signs and other markings to help would-be riders learn how to navigate busy pathways and roadways.
The bicycle playground might end up going to another city, though, unless the council members get on board with Concord Community Park as the location.
Council members asked if other parks in the city were better options for the project, but CCTA staff said Concord Community Park was chosen via a list of criteria such as how much usable space is available at the park, the amount of vehicle parking, and accessibility for residents.
The park on Cowell Road is a short distance from the Contra Costa Canal Trail, but Cowell has no bicycle lanes connecting the park to the trail, and some council members said the park already draws large crowds for swim meets and other events and programs there.
Councilmember Laura Hoffmeister said the project seemed to be “a square peg in a round hole in this location” while also citing long-standing budget issues affecting the ability to build bicycle lanes there and
elsewhere in the city that have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Councilmember Edi Birsan was the most vocal in support of the project, saying it could help Concord become more of a destination for families in Contra Costa County.
“I don’t want to gift this to another city,” Birsan said. “This is worth investing in.”
Ultimately the council members couldn’t commit to signing off on the project being installed at Concord Community Park, directing city staff to talk with the CCTA to learn more about the criteria for how they chose the
park and for more information from city staff on when Cowell Road improvements could take place.
The matter will come back to the council at a meeting taking place no sooner than sometime next month.
Finally some sanity from our City Council. Just in time for the November elections.
Concord, don’t let this opportunity slip away! It’s a great idea, and we don’t want another city snap up this chance. Granted, Concord Community Park is not the ideal location for a number of reasons, but to let another city get this golden opportunity would be a great loss for Concord and all the cyclist young and old.
“Golden opportunity”??? Dude stop.
@JazzMan – sarcasm, right?
I will gladly let this opportunity slip through our hands like grains of sand in an hour glass…
Let this go. We dont need it.
“Edi Birsan was the most vocal in support of the project, saying it could help Concord become more of a destination for families in Contra Costa County.”
Oh please, a park isn’t a deciding factor in choosing a home. Good schools and no crime are. Concord doesn’t qualify for either at this point.
Of course he was. Anything to move the agenda forward. Fix the roads. Vote these idiots out
“Honey, let’s buy that house in Walnut Creek.”
“I like the one in San Ramon, near the great school. The one with the views.”
“That’s a nice home, but the Pleasanton one is almost as good and has a park nearby.”
“Hey! We forgot about the one in Concord, near the bogus bike park thingy!! Now there’s a destination for the entire family!!”
“Oh honey, you’re the best!! Off we go to Concord, because it’s a destination for families, because of the bike track thingy!”
“I really like the asphalt roads beaten up by years of a lack of maintenance, and no curbs to control water runoff. Have you seen the piles of leftover building materials in people yards? Awesome!”
“Dang! Yessssssss!! The roadway medians with no landscape and just dirt and gravel, left exposed, can’t be beat either.”
“I know, that city invests nothing relative to the aesthetic quality of life for it’s residents.”
“Awse boss! I’d like to pay high property taxes for that!”
“Me too!”
“Yea! Now we have an advantage in life!! All because of that damn bike training facility!”
“I love life.”
Use the money to fix Meadow Lane.
If a kid can’t grasp the concept of traffic lights and stop signs and bike lanes they are a little too young to be riding on their own or just a little slow.
They need to waste more money painting the streets so bicycle riders know which direction to ride a bike. I grew up here and I rode my bike everywhere without anyone telling me which direction to go.
Maybe the light went on and they realized announcing a plan to spend more money is not a good idea when they are asking for a vote on a tax increase.
lol
apparently the council does read claycord
Councilmember Edi Birsan was the most vocal in support of the project, saying it could help Concord become more of a destination for families in Contra Costa County.
uummm dude this city was a great place for families
until the city council gig traded it for kickbacks and straight up using thre citizens
then it threw us into sanctuary status which drove out the families since the urgency was passing up american citizens in favor of housing all the illegals ….so they would not be on the streets
also you and your cronies on the board raised taxes so high again more families left
then you pulled in all the bums and druggies so you could emulate SF and act like your big city council members and more families left
then you botched and showed us how corrupt the council is by screwing up the naval weapon station land gift …and more families left
then you numbsculls against the wishes of the families and apparently american citizens families and pushed for a soccer stadium that you moved forward even though it was opposed ……then covid hit and your stadium partner left
so your track record for pushing out families is well established
so your dem socialist rhetoric for trying to push bogus schemes on us for your benefit seem to be not acceptable anymore
or at least try harder rather then the same old scam of oh for the schools or for the families …..tired old dem political garbage rants to steal from us
and these yahooos with the oh no someone will steal the idea
same democrats said that when there were only dirt roads
dont pave the roads than everyone will do it …ahhhhh
..insert paniced democrat pouty face
besides the obvious this city is in dire need of actual direction and as long as you council members continue to scheme to rip us off …nothing will get better ….even your political careers are being highlighted as bogus with the likes of pelosi and king kamala..lala….
the obvious tactics of dems to pilfer money from the american citizens is on full display and even those who refused for years to believe have gotten 4 years of the scathing hatred that dem politicians have for anyone forming an opinion they oppose or threaten their ill gotten earnings off of the public at large ….with the same old lines and rhetoric
as well as your shadow organizations ….they are all front and center and showing their bias and hatred for america as a free country …as they bleed it and pilfer it and try to divide it
these 4 years have showed your hatred and hypocrisy are glowing brighter than the sun for all to see
Put that money into bike infrastructure if you care about bicyclists. Making a bizarre, quarter-scale, play-skool intersection will not help anyone. I really don’t think this will be of much use in educating young riders.
Some facts need repeating.
Concord Community Park, isn’t that the park where the swimming pool is ? ? ? ?
Same park and surrounding streets that are CHOKED with traffic and experience ZERO parking anytime there’s swim team competitions.
An won’t those bringing small children to “learn” at this proposed venue be driving to get to it and need parking?
This should have been turned down during conversation between rational adults, how did it even get this far ? ?
OR did someone mention another bronze plaque with city council members’ names on it ? ? ? ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, … Approved ! ! ! ! ! !
“The best minds are not in government.
If any were, business would steal them away.”
–Ronald Reagan
Thanks Dawg. I agree.
Reading the article is always helpful:
The money is a grant – which means it will be available for a specific purpose. If you want to fix Meadow Lane, go get some grant money specific to that project.
Families are not going to stay in Concord for bike paths, but they might stay if there was an effort to make the existing situation better for people who live here. If and when I think of moving, Concord is not where I would continue to live. No ONE cares about what it’s like to live here. Anyone in their right mind would not stay here if they had a choice and it has little to do with whether there is money to fix streets.
Who thought this one up? A bike park? Just about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of discussed at a City Council meeting. Why fake streets and traffic lights, etc.? Since one will eventually be riding in the “real” streets, there’s no better time to start than right now.
Attracting families? Aren’t there other things families want with higher priority than a bike park? Like good schools for example?
I think a bike park would attract a lot of skateboarders, with inevitable conflicts and accidents..
I am thankful this project will not be launched, and I hope not ever. It is nowhere near the stupidity of even considering a soccer stadium on Monument/Galindo, but it is needless.
Any school could set up portable, pretend traffic signals and road lines on its playground, for Pete’s sake!
“Any school could set up portable, pretend traffic signals and road lines on its playground, for Pete’s sake!”
That’s a great point, man.
I was thinking the other day how cool it would be to put in a go cart park or put put golf in the lot next to the skate board park.
Nicely said, Random Task.
Edi, please go back to talking about your family ordering pot and it arriving to your house faster than the pizza guy.
FIX THE ROADS!
If you want to build something for bicyclists, do it after you fix the roads, address the hobo problem, deal with the police manager issues, handle the police recruitment issues, address the lack of traffic enforcement, and unhose the NWS issues,
Vote them out.
This is a dumb project. It won’t make the city a better place to bike nor will it make the park better for residents. It will just drive up costs. Concord should reject this project and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority should be focused on bikes as transportation, not on building a useless loop for kids to bike on in a park.
Also, Concord should improve conditions for bike riders. For example Willow Pass Road East of Galindo is 4 lanes to accommodate people from East County who cut through Concord. We shouldn’t build our roads for the convenience of people who don’t live here. Willow pass should be one lane each way with parking on one side and bike lanes through downtown and then one lane each way with a center turn lane and protected bike lanes east of that.
7 years ago MDUSD eliminated crossing guards for budget issues. In 2015 they had $60 million in surplus but still refused to enact and left it to local city government
In the past 5 years children ages 4-18 Concord has had:
77 children ages 4-18 struck by motorized vehicles while riding a bicycle or walking.
Approximately 22 children in MDUSD Area 3 schools Is the same number of children in all of Pleasant(22) Hill and almost twice as much as all of Bay Point(13)-Both have crossing guards
66% of the pedestrians in this group were struck while in a crosswalk and the driver was citied for not yielding to pedestrian right of way
15% on wrong side of the road-I suspect most were bicyclist
14% pedestrian violation-no other details at this time
172 children in the same age bracket for Concord, Clayton, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek combined
Majority of incidents were at 6:00am-9:00am, 3:00pm-6:00pm And 6:00pm-9:00pm on a Tuesday or Wednesday
Concord PD usually receives a yearly grant of $80K for various traffic enforcements-As reported earlier this year it was increased to $135K-
How much of this money do you want to see allocated to pay for Concord crossing guards or should MDUSD pay for them?
Follow on Facebook Concord CA Crossing Guards as information is being updated
Data is furnished by California Department of Transportation via California Berkeley TIMS system at https://tims.berkeley.edu/ For anyone needing data in their local neighborhood
I ride a bike and I know there is a bike route from the canal to the park. There is even a little bridge over the canal with access to Bart.
The reason no one knows about this bike route (marked even) is because it is a hidden route off the busy streets. Instead of a kiddie bike park why don’t we add routes and promote them with maps and flyers? And make sure the routes go places people often go, like schools, grocery stores, and shopping areas. How about spending that money on bike racks? A route that lasts 6 blocks isn’t helping much.