Jack’s letter to the editor about the proposed Sedgwick County budget cuts can serve as a guide for your own letter or call. Be specific and personal, tell how this might affect you.
Save bicycle plan
Among the many worthy programs that are on the chopping block in the proposed Sedgwick County budget is county funding to implement the Metropolitan Area Planning Department’s bicycle master plan. Like the other program cuts, this is shortsighted.
The bicycle master plan is a long-term plan. Projects have started, with several scheduled to be complete this year. We are on a roll, so to speak, but now the county has slammed on the brakes, always a dangerous maneuver.
This is personal for me. I depend on my bike for daily transportation. Many other residents do as well. For me, this is mostly voluntary, but many others have no other means of getting around.
We have lots of paths in parks but few real transportation-oriented bicycle facilities. The bicycle master plan is designed to remedy this by putting useful facilities around the city, all based on citizen input. We as a community decided what we needed.
MAPD’s support is critical in implementing the bicycle master plan, which will make cycling around the county much more convenient and safe for both cyclists and drivers. I urge the County Commission to rethink these cuts.
JACK MURPHY
WICHITA
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