Last Tuesday, January 22nd at 8:00 a.m., the Adams Avenue Business Association held its annual meeting. Blind Lady Ale House hosted a packed breakfast that was attended by City Council President Todd Gloria and Council Member Marti Emerald along with representatives of businesses located along the Avenue. Of the surprising mentions during the meeting, the first was that last year, ninety new businesses have come to Adams Avenue. Of these, seven have invested at least a quarter of a million dollars in development. The second surprise was the mention of bikes by three of the four speakers, hinting toward the importance of active transportation in this vibrant community. Both Emerald and BLAH co-owner Jeff Motch personally mentioned commuting via bicycle on Adams Ave. Council President Gloria who used to live on Adams Ave in college, said it’s a “bike friendly community and we’re going to see more of that.”

Marti Emerald called for “new standards, not just repair” and Todd Gloria called for infrastructure improvements in the Mid-City area stating that “all of these neighborhoods are one hundred years old. Some look it.” Both agreed that they were the community’s “customer service department” in this revitalized community with an emphasis on local business. Afterwards, local entrepreneur, Daniel Carlson, who recently opened Dark Horse Coffee Roasters on Adams Ave, said that he’d like to see more bike facilities as well as bike parking and parklets such as this one because, “if there’s a business that is friendly to cyclists, they’ll frequent it. If there’s a part of town (that’s bike friendly), then it benefits everybody.”

The bottom line is, the already dense Mid-City is experiencing tremendous growth and shows no sign of stopping. It’s time for infrastructure to catch up. While North Park has recently added two bike corrals with two more on the way, Normal Heights, Kensington and University Heights still have none and all four neighborhoods lack bike lanes of any sort on major thoroughfares. This is a big opportunity for everyone involved as studies have shown that providing bike infrastructure helps to stimulate the local economy. This evening, SANDAG is holding its first meeting on the North Park – Mid-City Bike CorridorProject open to the public and we urge you to attend and offer input.

How do you envision the bicycle-friendly future of Mid-City?

– Tyler Bergin