Last week, Madison traffic engineer Tom Mohr started getting postcards at work.
“I got 28 of them in the mail last week, I’ve gotten about 10 more of them this week,” Mohr says. “No addresses, just signatures. But they’re postmarked from all over — Green Bay, Florida, New York.”
The postcards are the result of an anonymous mailer sent to an unknown number of residents in the Tenney-Lapham neighborhood opposing a new traffic test on East Mifflin Street. The test involves a temporary diverter to close off car access heading east on Mifflin from Blair Street, which cyclists say is needed to keep traffic volume low on Mifflin as the area develops.
The Traffic Engineering department put up the diverter in October to see if it would improve bike safety on the street while not clogging neighboring streets with car traffic.
The postcards were included, pre-stamped, along with a flyer in a piece of mail with no return address. The postmarks on the cards lead Mohr to think most of them came from real estate investors nearby. The flyer gives plenty of information about the diverter — but Mohr says most of it is wrong.
The mailer starts by claiming that “the City of Madison is considering making the Mifflin Street corridor usable exclusively only [sic] by bicyclists.”
“That was never even discussed or brought up, and we would never do that,” Mohr says.
Further, it says the barriers “will probably be expanded to close the street entirely both ways.” Mohr says that’s not in the plan.
The letter also falsely claims that the Traffic Engineering department is not collecting data on how the diverter is altering traffic. Mohr says the department conducted studies on traffic behavior and speed before and during the diverter test, covering 16 different locations. That’s in addition to a manual count of cars turning at the intersection, recording before and during the test. Those studies have shown the number of cars diverted is significant.
Mifflin has for years been a dedicated bicycle boulevard, which the city defines as a low-speed street with little motor vehicle traffic designated for use primarily, though not exclusively, for bicycles. “Motor vehicles are welcome on bicycle boulevards,” the city’s website says, and “special blue street signs and shared lane (sharrow) pavement markings signify that motor vehicles must be attentive to the large numbers of cyclists and lower their speeds.”
But a residential boom down Mifflin has created opposition to Mifflin’s bike-friendly status.
Terrence Wall is part of that opposition. He’s president and CEO of T. Wall Enterprises, which owns the new Veritas Village apartment complex at Mifflin and Livingston. The company says the city sprung the plan on them with no warning or consultation just as it was starting to sign leases.
Wall faults the process even more so than the result — though he’s not crazy about the diverter itself either, which he finds unnecessary on a street with as little traffic as Mifflin. Wall says the plan was carried out in secret, pushed for by a small but vocal minority of activists.
“The attitude that’s out there right now is that they’re going to ram this through and have a permanent closure. That’s the attitude that we’re getting,” Wall says. “Whatever happened to public process? Whatever happened to public hearings and public discussions? The alderperson always talks about that, but when they want something it’s all done in secrecy.”
In fact, the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association held six meetings on the subject between April and August, including establishing a steering committee for the project. Asked about this in a follow-up email, Wall maintained that the subcommittee's agenda had not been published in advance and that his company was not given any notice of the meetings.
Mohr says that this is a temporary, 90-day test, the results of which will be presented at neighborhood meetings, then brought to city committees and eventually the Common Council. That process will begin after the test wraps in mid-January.
Asked if he was behind the flyer, Wall says he is “aware of the people who sent it.” When pressed, he doesn’t deny involvement.
Wall points out that opponents of the project have a First Amendment right to voice their displeasure with the process. “We property and business owners are also members of the public,” Wall says. “We have the right to have input — to be included — but we have been excluded.”
“We’re being belittled, we’re being criticized for speaking out, people are telling us flat-out we don’t have a right to speak out on this. And we do have a right,” Wall says.
Wall’s company continues to tout the bicycle-friendliness of its Veritas development. Promotional materials highlight active transportation in the area, calling it a “highly desired, pedestrian and bicycle-friendly neighborhood” and noting that “you will have easy access to bike paths and bike lanes.”
Editor's Note: This story was updated to add Terrence Wall's response to the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association meeting schedule.
