The signs are starting to go up. Now we'll see if they make any difference.
If you've been reading these the past few years you may recall all the issues that the city of Marquette has had with e-bike (actually, riders of all bikes) riding where they're not supposed to, and with many suggestions on how to control the few people who ride their machines like they're out of control. Out of that came a series of laws that the Marquette City Commission passed earlier this year.
One of those new ordinances involved the banning of riding any kind of bike or e-mobility devices on sidewalks in downtown Marquette. One of the ways to inform the public about the new law involved posting signage throughout downtown Marquette, and that has, after several months, finally started--
Even without the signs, the new ordinance has been in effect for four months now, and I've noticed a marked decrease in people riding bikes on sidewalks outside the station. However, it's not universal,; I still see kids (and adults) speeding down the Front Street sidewalk, oblivious as to the fact that someone may be stepping out of a building or getting out of a car. Hopefully, the signs will inform them that you can't do stuff like that.
And hopefully, those people actually listen.
I talked about this on TV a month or so ago. There seems to be a (small) subset of people out there who think that any kind of rule infringes upon their “freedom”. When it comes to things like public safety, that actually baffles me. You're being asked not to speed down a sidewalk on a hill to avoid injuring people. How is that infringing upon your freedom other than, perhaps, your freedom to hurt others?
Some days, I just don't get some people.
But that's neither here nor there. The signs are going up, which means that anyone on any wheeled device will soon know that they're not supposed to ride on sidewalks in certain areas of Marquette.
I'll be curious to see if those signs actually do their job.
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