Please restore access to Black Hawk

The city of Black Hawk, Colorado has banned bicycles from most of its streets. You can read the press release and the actual legislation here. (via cityofblackhawk.org, which uses an annoying flash navigation menu).

I submitted the following email using language from Bicycle Colorado's response.

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to: CityClerk@cityofblackhawk.org
date: Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 11:48 AM
subject: Please restore bicycle access to Black Hawk

To: Mayor David D. Spellman and Aldermen Linda Armbright, Paul G.
Bennett, Diane Cales, Kathleen Doles, Tom Kerr, Greg Moates

Please restore full bicycle access to the city of Black Hawk.

Your ban prevents residents from commuting and shopping by bicycle,
and from having the choice to live car-free. Your ban closes a
major cross-state route by denying bicyclists access to Gregory
Street/State Highway 279, the only paved street connecting the Peak to
Peak Highway with the Central City Parkway.

The reason for the ban is unclear because, although City Manager Mike
Copp said the ban was put in place "to promote safety," neither he nor
Police Chief Cole were able to cite any bicycle fatalities or
bicycle/automobile collisions preceding the ban.

And the ban was made, according to City Manager Copp, without any
input from bicyclists or bicycle organizations, despite Bicycle
Colorado's Dan Grunig's request that the ban be reconsidered so that
the bicycle community may have an opportunity to provide input.

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Bikinginla offered this blurb, with informative links, on the matter:

Cyclelicious offers a couple of great looks at the Blackhawk, Colorado bike ban, which was supposedly done for safety reasons — even though there were no cyclist or pedestrian deaths in the entire county in the last four years for which records are available.