Editor,
This is an open letter to all bicyclists who lock their bikes to handrails, especially my peers at the School of Architecture and Planning.
As a long-time bicyclist and bicycling advocate, I completely understand the frustration of not having a bike rack near your destination. Designers and planners who don't live with and on their bikes don't understand how important it is that bicycle racks be in proximity and in line-of-sight of your destination doorway and in the pedestrian mainstream.
If the planners were to live in our cycling shoes even for a day, they would perhaps understand our needs.
But the fact that there is no convenient place to park our bicycles isn't an excuse to inconvenience others - or worse.
All those handrails you see around campus are mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The handrails are installed to assist people who need them to get around. This includes older students who need help getting up stairs or ramps as well as students who are sight impaired and who use the rails to guide them.
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Please, for a moment, put yourself in the shoes of someone who depends on those handrails to get around our campus. How does it feel when you, as a person who needs the assistance of that handrail to help get you up that ramp, see that there's a bicycle blocking your path? How does it feel when you, as a person with limited or no eyesight, come across a sharp, amorphous obstacle in the middle of the stairs you need to get to class?
Do you feel frustrated and angry? Do you wish those bicyclists would understand your needs and lock their bicycles someplace that won't hinder your ability to get around campus?
If so, please find another place to lock your bicycle. You're not only violating a federal law, but also violating the rights of people for whom the federal law was written.
Danny Hernandez
UNM student
