Taxpayers shouldn't pay for bike paths

In your Sunday April 2 issue of Mailbox, you printed a letter from John L. Wagner about the bypass bike lane. In response to this, I sent the following letter to Mayor Ray Masayko, City Manager John Berkich, all Carson City supervisors, and the Regional Transportation Commission:

I would like to refer you to the Mailbox section of the Nevada Appeal, dated Sunday, April 2, 2000. There is a letter from John L. Wagner concerning the proposed bike lane along the new bypass. I am in total agreement with Mr. Wagner, in that not everyone rides bikes, and the cost of $8,750 per person signing the petition should be paid by them, not the taxpayers. Since bicycles do not pay a license fee to pay for these bike lanes, why does the cost have to come from the pockets of automobile drivers who do pay road taxes, for the construction of roads not bike lanes, through the purchase of gasoline, but are not able to use this portion of the roads and streets?

You have been pleading poverty, in that there are not enough funds to keep the budget balanced, and that there will have to be tax increases and reduced employee benefits to make up for the shortfall. How, then, can you justify $1.7 million to help pay for the bike lane? If you want to approve this expenditure, I believe that it should be voted on by the registered voters of Carson City, not just because 400 persons signed a petition.

On any given day of the week, I challenge you to drive on streets that currently have bike lanes. I dare say, that you will find less than 10 bikes on all these lanes combined. You will find more bikes riding on sidewalks instead. I have yet to see a bike on the expensive bike path from Governor's field to Saliman Road. How can you justify all this money for little or no use of these bike lanes?

I have been a Carson City resident for more than 21 years, and I am very much against spending any more of my taxpayer dollars for more bike lanes, and in fact, I think the current ones should be abandoned.

Thank you for your support."