Dear Keene City Councilors and Mayor,
On behalf of the Monadnock Interfaith Project Housing Team, thank you for your thoughtful discussions about Keene’s downtown infrastructure project. On May 24 the Municipal Services, Facilities and Infrastructure (MSFI) Committee made a set of recommendations that we would like to comment on.
We commend the inclusion of infrastructure for public restrooms. This is forward thinking planning that will add to residents’ and visitors’ wellbeing, contribute to the economic vitality of Keene’s downtown, and save money in the long run.
Although not recommended by the MSFI Committee, we encourage you to continue pursuing protected bicycle lanes as part of the project.
Our region has excellent bike paths that lead to the center city from all directions. The Cheshire Rail Trail from the east and west, the Ashuelot Rail Trail from the south and the beautiful Appel Way and Jonathan Daniels Trail from the north. All that is needed for a sustainable, multimodal street system is for these trails to connect safely to the city center.
We see a connection between safe, secure bike lanes and access to housing. Keene has excellent housing projects in the works and being planned. These housing developments, and hopefully many more to come in future years, will benefit from connectivity to the city center where there are jobs, education, shopping, medical services, and all the great cultural and recreational features Keene offers.
Young people moving to these new developments may wish, or need, to be independent of the costs associated with car ownership. They will be looking for options to safely move around the region and bicycles are a viable means of economical transit.
Bicycles are not a “want.” They are a “need” for any sustainable, energy efficient, inclusive community. Please support bikeways in the infrastructure project as an essential part of forward thinking transit solutions. If we do not include them now, we may not have another chance to do this for many years to come.
Janet Furcht, on behalf of Monadnock Interfaith Project Housing Team,
Keene