More e-mails about downtown bike riding

In response to questions about people who ride bikes on the sidewalks on Water Street, Carole Sand e-mails:

"I'd like to throw in another suggestion on bike-riding downtown. We do want to encourage people to pedal downtown; this saves gas and congestion, and frees parking spaces. However, it is extremely dangerous to ride a bike on the roads downtown. With traffic coming, going, turning, and parking as well as parked car doors opening, I would never instruct my children to ride their bikes on Water Street. The better solution is to WALK bikes on the sidewalk. This is safer for the bicyclists as well as for pedestrians. And, of course, the walking bicyclists would follow the same safety and etiquette rules as pedestrians, making it a safer environment for everyone."

Another reader e-mailed: "your notion of officers writing a citation for offenders---word would spread about this---and I think this would take care of the problem in the most cost effective manner."