Let’s get some bike racks in Fayetteville

My name is Kaci Schram; I am a resident in the city of Fayetteville and have noticed an issue that the city possesses. Fayetteville has 491 documented bike routes and 47 bike courses, yet there isn’t any documented number of bike racks.

I immediately observed that Fayetteville had many people who ride bikes when I moved there a few months ago. Assuming there were bike racks everywhere, I had decided to go biking to Kroger to get a few groceries. Once I had arrived there, I saw no bike racks in sight. Instead, the store employee said to hide my bike behind the Tiki Torches in front of the store.

After that event, I also went looking for bike racks in downtown Fayetteville area to bike to the ice cream parlor later on; sadly, there weren’t any bike racks over there either.

This is not only a problem that affects me but the community as well, especially since many of the residents own bikes and use them often. I know I asked another resident who owns a bike about the bike rack situation. She said she would ride her bike more if the city had more bike racks downtown and other places.

We as a community and city should be encouraging cycling because it is an easy and cheap way to get around. It also is a great form of exercise and is more efficient than walking.

There are multiple solutions to the problem. The first suggestion to solve for this issue could be to have a fundraiser for bike racks and put them around the city.

Another solution could also be to start a petition to put bike racks around Fayetteville. We could also ask restaurants and shops to make their own bike racks outside their building in accordance to the city building codes.

Going door to door and asking for donations to put up new bike racks is a simple and easy-to-do solution. The city could also establish a tax that would directly fund the bike racks.

My suggestion to fix this problem would be to have a fundraiser for the Fayetteville bike racks. Before hosting the festival, there will be a survey taken about how many bike racks the city needs, which will then help determine how much money required to purchase the quantity of bike racks.

How we would promote this fundraiser is by hosting an active festival surrounding the awareness of the lack of bike racks and being active. This festival would have games, races and other fun activities open to the entire community. Local businesses could have booths to help show support for the fundraiser, which also shows they are encouraging people to be active. All of the proceeds would go to fundraising the bike racks. Anything left over from financing the festival would go to another charity. We could also do this festival annually and raise money for different items or fundraisers.

This is by far the best solution because of the way the fundraiser is being advertised. This isn’t just raising awareness to provide bike racks, but to encourage people to be active, promote local businesses and provide a way for the community to come together and have fun!

One problem that may surface is the city council not approving this festival or the fundraiser. Likewise, since the public is the one funding for the bike racks, there may not be enough money to provide the bike racks. Along with that, the ones paying for the festival would be coming from some of the city budget and out-of-pocket from the host. Another problem is the expense for a bike rack is on average about $660, which is quite expensive.

All these problem shouldn’t hinder the fact that we should provide bike racks for everyone because this would encourage exercise and is an affordable way of transportation.

Kaci Schram
Fayetteville, Ga.