
In February, Little Italy Association leaders mailed a letter throughout the community informing residents of their opposition to the Downtown Mobility Plan, a transit-oriented plan to help promote walking and cycling in the city.
"It would just be detrimental to our community and to downtown san Diego as a whole," said Christopher Gomez, District Manager of the Little Italy Association of San Diego. "Understanding what the dynamic is of our community, we recognize there are certain streets that make sense and certain streets that don’t."
The concern for the Little Italy Association are the proposed two-lane bike paths along Beech and West State Streets.
Why some think bicycle lanes “would just be detrimental to our community and to downtown #SanDiego.”@fox5sandiego pic.twitter.com/zneDuz8bg3
— Robert Burns (@RobertBurnsTV) March 5, 2016
"With these two locations that they’re proposing we are going to lose an additional 50 parking spaces in little Italy," said Gomez.
Association leaders say they aren't against cycling, they are against the proposed locations of the dedicated lanes. Their counter offer requests the lanes be relocated to Pacific Highway and Ash Street.
The letter states; "The proposed [Downtown Mobility Plan] cannot move forward as it is currently recommended by Civic San Diego staff... In an effort to create safe connectors for our downtown and visiting cyclists, we ask that you voice your support for the [Little Italy and Little Italy Residents Association]-approved alternative."
If an alternative plan is approved, cyclists would be required to ride around the Little Italy community on dedicated bike lanes rather than riding through direct neighborhood routes.
Brad Richter with Civic San Diego replied to the concerns with the following email: