City should alter bike path route

The Elgin citywide bicycle plan needs to be refined. As a proprietor of a business on the south side of the 800 block of Walnut Avenue where a new bike path has been established by the city, I took exception to the route when businesses in that area were surveyed two weeks ago. We are located in a Neighborhood Business district with off- and on-street parking. The planned route would eliminate street parking for customers and delivery trucks. The new path would force more parking onto the side streets - the 200 block of Wilcox Avenue does not permit street parking and the 300 block already is used for business parking. While we have an off-street parking lot, many times each day the driveway is blocked horizontally by parked cars on the street or blocked by cars parked in the driveway so that the lot is rendered useless.

I commented at the time that perhaps an alternate route of South Street, starting at the fork of Walnut and South streets and ending at Crystal Street, be utilized instead because there are no businesses along that route. I guess we were overruled. The South West Area Neighborhood Association (SWAN) "favored eliminating parking on Walnut's south side to make room for the bike lanes," according to the recent Daily Herald article. SWAN does not seem to care about the businesses in its district.

Perhaps the current route can be modified by simply removing the 800 block from the path by having it end at the 700 block. I believe the small businesses - many of them more than 10 years old - in that area deserve consideration as well as any of the businesses in the city.

Susan Hess

Kindness Inc.

Elgin