Some Support From Iowa City Candidates for Gilbert Street Road Diet

At a City Council candidate forum on Wednesday evening tailored to bicycling, candidates called for more streets with bike lanes, more bike racks, more bike law education and enforcement of laws that pertain to where cyclists and motorists intersect.

All seven candidates spoke generally in favor of enhancing bike use in Iowa City and creating a safer community for all modes of transportation, but some backed off on some topics, such as the controversial proposal to convert Gilbert Street to three lanes.

“I don’t know yet. I am open to those kinds of discussions,” said Iowa City Mayor who is competing against three others in his reelection bid for an at-large seat.

Roughly 50 people attended the two-hour forum. The turnout from both the public and that all candidates in the Nov. 8 election showed up in itself was a positive sign for cycling in the area, even if some answers were disappointing, organizers and some in the audience said.

“We are just trying to get on everyone’s radar that cycling is an issue people are concerned about and they should pay attention,” said Brian Loring, a volunteer at the who helped organize the event through Think Bicycles, a local biking advocacy group. “I am pleased. I think we did that.”

All of the candidates favored more bike lanes, but only three – Jarrett Mitchell, and Steve Soboroff, said Gilbert Street should be on that list.

“I would do it. We need to do something smart and something relatively quickly to make it safer for everyone,” said , an at-large candidate and owner of Iowa City coffee shop.

Bike advocates have been pushing to reduce Gilbert Street from four lanes to three and adding bike lanes on either side, but the proposal has got backlash from some. 

Currently only a handful of streets have designated places for cyclists, which some feel is a safety concern for both motorists and cyclists.

“We need more roads with bike lanes that have bicycle designation,” said , an at-large candidate. “And, I think we need to education the public about what the rules of the roads are for bicyclists to keep them safer. And, drivers don’t want to get into an accident with bicyclists.”

Candidates Rick Dobyns and also participated. 

Some like Del Holland, 64, of Iowa City, and Brad Parsons, 40, of Iowa City, called some of the answers disappointing.

“I would have liked to see more innovative thinking,” Holland said, suggesting talk of bike lockers downtown, converting a downtown street to bike, bus and pedestrian only and encouraging competition between businesses to support customers to cycle.

Parsons said he wanted more aggressive answers towards calming traffic on stretches of Burlington Street, Riverside Drive and Gilbert Street to make those roads not only more bike friendly, but makes Iowa City a more “livable” community, he said.

“These are major issues we need to address,” he said.