Letters: A safer detour for closed Sacramento bridge? | Sacramento Bee

Bridge for bikes

Re “Should bicyclists ride on I-5 freeway if it’s the shortest commute route?” (sacbee.com, Dec. 11): I am sure that bicyclists and others will all survive the necessary closing of the Jibboom Street bridge. The real issue is the lack of consideration being given bicyclists and pedestrians in the matter. In planning this lengthy renovation, due consideration should have been given to the people who use it. The county’s official detour map fails to provide people any safe and defined route to and from the bridge.

The map’s suggested detour to midtown Pipe’s Bridge or to the distant H Street bridge does not show a specific route from the closed bridge. One can ride the Twin Rivers detour and try to cross the river on the Highway 160 bridge. The narrow sidewalk with a high drop-off would have to be navigated to get across the river. Encountering anyone walking or riding in the opposite direction would make it hard not to fall into fast-moving traffic. It would be better if one lane of Highway 160 was closed off over the bridge, enabling safe passage for all concerned. Bicyclists and pedestrians would be elated.

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Traffic tickets?

We have little if any traffic enforcement in Sacramento. Ever see anyone getting a ticket? I haven’t. The only traffic enforcement are red-light cameras, which charge about $500 for a violation. I know, I popped a yellow left turn light and got the notice in the mail. We do have parking enforcement. Lots of parking enforcement. The scooters are ubiquitous in the downtown area, reaping the harvest of the unlucky and confused. Check out the small warning signs about not parking on a certain day for street cleaning – street cleaning that doesn’t occur.

Our city fathers want revenue on the cheap and they have it. Red-light camera operators simply notify the courts of a violation and skim their piece of the action with balance off to City Hall. Sweet deal, no cops involved and the red-light camera company installs the hardware. I have over 20 years in law enforcement and have worked traffic patrol, written tickets, warned offenders and helped peel out drunks from wrecks. Sacramento deserves better. Want fatal accidents to go down? Contract with the CHP to work traffic in the city of Sacramento.

Not a champion

Re “Tom McClintock” (Letters to the Editor, Dec. 20): Richard Tipton is quite right when he suggests that in abandoning his principles of fiscal conservatism, Tom McClintock has lost not just the support of his constituents, but also their respect. However, Tipton overlooks the second installment of the grand plan to further enrich the most privileged in America – the assault on the earned benefits of Medicare and Social Security. At that time, I expect McClintock to suddenly remember his longstanding concerns about deficit spending and debt, and to re-emerge as the champion of fiscal conservatism Tipton remembers. Any legislator with such fluidity in their principles, hypocrisy and blind adherence to political expediency deserves to lose our vote.