[SDCBC] Bicycle parking in front of the W Hotel

[Eric Converse]

Just to follow up, below is Martina Boettcher's response regarding bicycle parking in front of the W hotel.

You'll notice from the following "street view" image (see below) that the bike was locked (upright and parallel to the edge of the curb) to the first lamp post along B St, which is more than 20 ft from the hotel entrance.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=The+W&sll=32.85988,-117.230993&sspn=0.012491,0.020084&ie=UTF8&ll=32.718005,-117.1667&spn=0.000782,0.001255&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=32.717755,-117.166617&cbp=1,224.5429484851332,,0,4.917022900424715

Eric Converse

----- Original Message ----
From: "Boettcher, Martina" <Martina.Boettcher at whotels.com>
To: Eric Converse <econver at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 9:39:16 AM
Subject: RE: Bicycle parking in front of the W Hotel

     
<!--
 _filtered {font-family:Tahoma;panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
 _filtered {font-family:"Gill Sans";panose-1:2 11 6 2 2 2 4 2 2 4;}
 _filtered {font-family:"Century Gothic";panose-1:2 11 5 2 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
 p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
	{margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
	{color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
	{color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}
p
	{margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle18
	{font-family:"Gill Sans";color:blue;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none none;}
 _filtered {margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
	{}
-->
Well Hello
Eric:
   
 I want to thank
you for your post and email alerting us to the issue you had with parking your
bicycle in front of the hotel.  I apologize for any inconvenience you
experienced.  We strongly support your decision to bike and encourage our
talent to take alternative transportation to work as well.  
   
 The San Diego
County Bicycle Coalition is an excellent resource that includes maps, laws,
etc.  According to SDCBC, you can park your bike on the sidewalk, but you just
can’t lay it down OR obstruct traffic (including pedestrian).  The front
of the hotel is quite a busy area with guests arriving and departing as well as
the location for our valet.  So, we would appreciate it you could possibly park
your bike on either side of the hotel ( Columbia 
or State Streets), but just not near the main entrance.  Continue to bike and
hopefully your jury duty went well.  Take care.
   
 martina boettcher
general manager, W san diego
421 west b street, san  diego , ca 92101
t: 619-398-3000 f: 619-398-3026 c: 646-778-1946 
  
 Spring. Away. Bring your wish to life this spring.Explore whotels.com 
  
 Explore W
Happenings, Beach,and Ricefor more information.
 

From: Eric Converse[mailto:econver at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 6:17PM
To: Boettcher, Martina
Subject: Bicycle parking in frontof the W Hotel
 
  
 Hi Martina,

The following is a post I made to the SDCBC (San Diego Bicycle Coalition) listserver:

<post>
Speaking of bikes and the law.

I was lucky enough to get a summons to serve for jury duty this week (haha).  On my first day I didn't know where I should go so I attempted topark my bike near the North East corner of 421 West B Street (the location of "The W" hotel) when a
hotel employee came up to me and asked me to move my bike after I was nearly
finished locking two locks.  I responded by asking, "why." 
He said it was ugly in front of their building.  I responded by saying
that it was a public sidewalk and I was not obstructing people's path so I
shouldn't have to move it.  I also told him I thought it was a beautiful bike
and far more beautiful than the rusty construction truck parked right in front
of me.  He then said he'd contact the city to see if he could have the
locks cut and the bike forcibly removed.  I was shocked and wasn't sure
where I stood legally, so after a bit of grumbling I unlocked my bike and moved
it.  

Does anyone know what the law says about bikes
parked on sidewalks?  There was no designated bicycle parking within a
block, that I could see, and I was locking the bicycle to a lamp post.

Thanks

Eric
<end post>

The responses that I received informed me that what
I was doing was perfectly legal and a common practice downtown.

I strongly believe bicycling (as a healthy transportation alternative) is a
practice that should be encouraged by companies such as yours, not discouraged.

I would appreciate if you could forward ne the
official position of "The W" for bicycles parked on a public sidewalk
in front of your building.

Thanks

Eric Converse


 



 This electronic message transmission contains information from the Company that may be proprietary, confidential and/or privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or entity named above.  If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying or distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited.  If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by replying to the address listed in the "From:" field. 


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.bikesandiego.org/pipermail/sdcbc/attachments/20080410/97396807/attachment-0001.html