Small business owner claims about the effects of bike lanes tell you more about the reactionary and outdated values the petit bourgeoisie class that owns most small businesses in America hold than it does about the impact of bike lanes.
See also: small business babies flipping a shit about pedestrian takeover of former blocks of street that quietly changed their tune afterwards when it was clear it revived the block and made it a place people actually wanted to be
Man, if I had a customer facing business on a downtown street somewhere and they said they were going to pedestrianize it, I would be celebrating! Like how much more likely are people to stop at a little shop/cafe while walking vs. driving?
To the best of my recollection, all of the businesses along 30th who complained the loudest about the bike lanes getting installed are still open and doing fine!
It is always. ALWAYS! That the business owner drove and cannot imagine that their customer's experience is different from their own. Also, if even one customer *ever* complained about finding parking it was the bike lane's fault (and not that... parking would always suck because the owner took it).
They're the ones showing up early enough to park right outside their stores, but they're smart enough to realize it sounds more sympathetic to make something about how their entire business depends on customers parking in that one spot right out front.
The old unprotected bike lane on the right side made right turns on Valencia pretty scary because invariably you would need to pause for pedestrians, and you had to be very cognizant of bicycles overtaking on your right in your blind spot at the same time…
Somehow this keeps happening across all of the US. I've yet to see any evidence of a single pedestrian/biking friendly infrastructure improvement hurt businesses, but I see plenty of counter examples. Yet, city councils and mayors continue to give in to their demands.
