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The Bicycles of Oberlin Are a Success and a Challenge

On the Oberlin Campus
Oberlin College
/
Oberlin.edu
On the Oberlin Campus

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainability, the city of Oberlin and Oberlin College have long encouraged getting around via bicycle. 

But, City Council is now tightening regulations on two-wheelers in the downtown area. 

Pedestrians, some with disabilities, have been reporting difficulty with bicycles left in the way on sidewalks and in front of doorways in the business district.  A new ordinance requires all bikes parked there to be set in designated racks.

Fines and more

Interim City Manager SalTalaricosays violations can bring $20 tickets and police can confiscate bicycles deemed to be a hazard.

“If there are instances where we feel we have provided the education, the warnings, then we will remove the bicycles.  We don’t intend to remove bicycles as a first step.  We intend to remove them only as a last resort.”

On the Oberlin College Campus
Credit Tim Rudell / WKSU
/
WKSU
On the Oberlin College Campus

And, though the ordinance was just passed,Talaricosays it won’t be in effect until spring, to give plenty of time to get the word out about it. 

Copyright 2021 WKSU. To see more, visit WKSU.

Tim Rudell
Tim Rudell has worked in broadcasting and news since his student days at Kent State in the late 1960s and early 1970s (when he earned extra money as a stringer for UPI). He began full time in radio news in 1972 in his home town of Canton, OH.