Town Pursues Good Life on a Bicycle

Most cities with a downtown parking problem would put in more parking lots. But this southern Oregon community takes pride in doing things differently.

They built bicycle racks instead.

“We in this city will not compromise quality of life in the name of development,” said Mayor Cathy Golden. “It is not the will of the people.”

Ashland’s population, now just over 16,000, has grown only 1.5% in the last 20 years, but it is thriving. Housing prices are up. School levies pass while nearby districts struggle. The feeling of community is strong.

The accent here is on quality, not quantity.

Wary of California’s unbridled growth, Golden tells discount stores with visions of huge parking lots that they would be happier someplace else.

Along Main Street, beneath Elizabethan-style banners inspired by Ashland’s popular Oregon Shakespeare Festival, are bike racks, with lots of bicycles in them.

“Government’s responsibility is not to help move cars, but to move people,” Golden said. “When you change even that dynamic, change that approach, suddenly you have more options.”

The bike-rack idea is also good economics, said Planning Director John Fregonese. One evening, he counted 72 bicycles on racks that cost the city $2,000. That many cars would need an acre of parking worth $500,000, he said.

The city bought three bikes for city inspectors to use on their rounds. It saves time and money, especially when summer visitors to the Shakespeare Festival make parking scarce downtown.