(Ed.'s Note: Motorists along 12th Street (Sam Perl Blvd.) were witness to the latest expenditure of public funds to make Brownsville "bike friendly." Literally millions of sales tax and general fund monies are being spent with reckless abandon on some of our major thoroughfares.Sixth and Seventh streets have been narrowed and bicycle rubber bumpers installed. Today, 10 city workers were put to work to make commissioner Rose Gowen's dream of putting down the rubber bumpers for the bicycle trail from the old bridge all the way to Levee Street a reality. What will buses do when they have to pick up passengers along this route, ride over them? It will only be a matter of time before an accident is caused by someone losing control of their car when they hit one of those rubber bumpers.
We don't remember many bike riders along this route, except perhaps, for guys from Matamoros who hunt for carton for recycling sale in the city's alleys. What will Rose do next? The folks working at the Cameron County Courthouse on Harrison Street already have to deal with reverse parking and a one-lane reduction to allow for bicycles after turning the street into a one way.The change has caused great inconvenience for drivers who want to get into and out of the courthouse on business. How long is this stuff going to continue. How about solving drainage problems, preventing flooding, or installing sidewalks and bus shelters in our neighborhoods?)