Back it In-Back it In-Sing Along With The Tuscarora DDA

The Tuscarora Township DDA still refuses to recognize "stupid". 

A good idea, stupidly implemented becomes stupid. Signage, pavement markings, and now a decision to print windshield cards to educate people on how to act stupidly is not a solution. It is always going to be stupid to expect vehicles closely following each other on a 35 MPH main street to stop in the travel lane and allow a vehicle sufficient room to safely back blindly into an angled parking space.

The Cheboygan County building’s “security system” seemed to come out of the blue and blind-sided us with the stupid premise that county employees and insiders are not a security risk while the rest of us are.

Unlike the county building, there were news reports and red flags raised, but too many of us sat in silent ignorance as Indian River’s back-in angle parking went from a stupid idea to the stupid reality it is today.

In July 2013, the Cheboygan Tribune reported “The public got its first look at the proposed trailhead development design project in downtown Indian River …” “Bill Sanders, of Sanders and Czapski Associates of Marquette, provided a power point presentation to the public Thursday on the concept plan for the project.” (Including back-in angle parking.)“ A 15-member trailhead committee representing Marina Park, the Downtown Development Authority, DDA, Inland Lakes Schools, the Indian River Chamber of Commerce, the Beautification Committee and the township board have been working with the MDNR and Sanders to create a 'vision of place,' for the trailhead, explained (Parks Commission Chairwoman Sally) Snyder.

Here were all the ingredients needed to implement a stupid idea; the Tuscarora Township Board, Tuscarora DDA, and outside “experts” including Emily “DNR Trails” Meyerson, trailhead designer Sanders, and streetscape design firm Gourdie-Fraser all working together toward a “vision.” It does not matter when the back-in angle parking idea was introduced; someone should have recognized it as stupid. These out-of-town experts all have offices in their respective locales on city streets with conventional parallel parking. I guess they spread their gospel but don’t practice it.

These self-professed experts are quick to introduce new buzz ideas ignoring possible impacts. In March 2014, Emily Meyerson said, “from a planner perspective, the reverse angle parking is a hard mental change for people to make, but it's much safer. The studies are all proof across the board,” she said. “It makes sense. If you have kids in the car and you open the doors, the kids are going towards the sidewalks. And if you want to put stuff in the back of your car, you're standing at the sidewalk. It all makes sense. It's just a mental shift.”

Is back-in angle parking always safer “across the board,” always stupid, or does it sometimes make “sense”? It can have safety benefits within some narrow contexts. From numerous studies, the best use of back-in angle parking is on low traffic count streets where there are dedicated bike lanes or bike routes mixed with on-street parking. Back-in angle parking will squeeze in a few more spaces than parallel parking while reducing bike-vehicle accidents by eliminating the hazard of vehicles blindly backing out into a street in front of a cyclist. The trade-off is often an increase in fender bender accidents as people collide with adjacent cars while backing in.

A heavily traveled two lane county primary road where the speed limit is 35 mph is no place for back-in parking. Well meaning local people and experts who should know better left us with a $100,000 mess. With the east side of one block redone; we have no ADA crosswalk cuts at the River Street or Lake Street intersections; unsafe and unneeded back-in angle parking in front of the chamber office; no ADA parking spot for the public restrooms; an ADA cross-walk in mid-block that will eliminate a few more parallel parking spaces in front of the Dairy Mart; reduced lane widths with the bump-outs; and a single off-street ADA parking space that violates ADA guidelines.

All of these inconveniences and faults with fewer parking spaces than the original parking lot and on street parallel parking offered. The bump-outs and narrowed northbound lane also frustrates through traffic as vehicles sit in block long lines behind those turning left onto River or Lake Streets.

Will we see more of the same at a total cost that may exceed $1 million dollars? More bump-outs, back-in angle parking, narrowed lanes, elimination of existing on/off-street parking and business driveways with the elimination of all on street parking for RV’s and vehicles pulling trailers or boats.

Will the “improvements” drive the few remaining retail businesses from Indian River’s main street? Should we allow the appointed people on the Tuscarora Township DDA Board who do not answer to voters, and the Cheboygan County Road Commission to continue to destroy Indian River’s main street? We better find the right answers. We must demand the Tuscarora board and Cheboygan County Road Commission, which has the final authority on county roads, restore Indian River’s main street to a sane, safe and practical design.