Proactive approach to Chandler needed

The news report on the Chandler one-way agenda item picked up resident Dink O'Neal's comment about residents' defending their rights with pitchforks ("Council delays one-way decision," Feb. 25). He made another, more provocative, remark. In dismissing my expressed concerns at the meeting for the safety of the bikeway users, he remarked that the absence of bodies does not mean they are yet to come. Given the context, I interpreted that to mean that since no bikeway user has been injured by a car to date, it's not a justifiable concern to think that it won't happen at some future date. By my observation, the room was not packed with opponents. It was mostly the same regular council speakers for whom Chandler was this week's cause. For me, O'Neal's remark was worrisome as well as reactive.

I was dismayed to think that those in attendance may have shared that sentiment without reservation.

The bikeway was funded with public money to provide a public benefit. It has created issues of traffic flow and user safety. It is clearly important to hear from the locals on matters of traffic, but they are not the only users of Chandler and not the only voice to be heard when public safety is also at issue.

It is my strongly held belief that at the end of the day, the issue of the Chandler configuration should be heavily weighted toward an assessment of the risk to public safety. It is not enough to say that it is safe because no injuries or deaths to bikeway users have occurred. That totally marginalizes the potential risk factors.

The information-gathering process, at least as it relates to public safety, needs to continue vigorously. It should not be shelved in deference to an over-the-top notion that locals may respond by defending the status quo with revolutionary zeal.

If the assessed risk and public safety facts favor a different Chandler configuration, then that would be an essential point at which to examine carefully the one-way pair from all angles. It is impossible for me to imagine that any Burbank parent or grandparent would oppose putting safety first or that the safety of bikeway users of all ages will only be at issue if someone shows them the bodies.