Cambridge business owners say bike lanes are keeping customers away

CAMBRIDGE – The city of Cambridge is staying sued to avoid the installation of more bike lanes. Harold Gilmer owns Elite Barber Store on Mass. Ave and has been cutting hair in the neighborhood for 21 decades. “It is affected everybody about right here, the company is not the exact same,” Gilmer mentioned.

He suggests the city’s present biking security ordinance, which phone calls for bicycle lanes all along Mass. Ave, is hurting community enterprise owners.

“We’ve been getting parking up and down Mass. Ave for this full time and to pay out your costs you will need to have individuals be equipped to pull more than and go to the retailers,” Gilmer said.

Other entrepreneurs agree, the new lack of parking signifies significantly less shoppers by way of their doorways.

“We could not properly construct a consumer foundation, people were not going for walks in so we experienced to adjust to endure we had to do extra takeout and shipping,” claimed Som Pogosov of Phoenix Kitchen.  

Proponents of the bike lanes place out the city will be removing the median amongst Roseland and Beech Road by the finish of July to create far more parking places in the Porter Sq. place.

Chris Cassa, a volunteer with Cambridge Bicycle Security, adds approximately two-thirds of the Cambridge community rides bikes and basic safety stays the largest issue.

“We treatment deeply about making confident that there is certainly sufficient parking but also want to make guaranteed that individuals understand that safer streets that assistance individuals move more effectively by means of the streets are heading to assist aid tiny enterprises,” Cassa stated.

“Particularly on Mass. Ave from 2015 to 2021 six men and women have died on our streets who are biking and 250 folks who have been biking have been included in a crash that was with a motor car that resulted in an injuries or more than $1,000 injury.”  

“If we go out of company we’ll have a large amount of fantastic bike lanes, but it will be a shallow area,” Sam Pogosov reported.