Editorial: Businesses and trails should be partners, not rivals

What is it about bikes that causes such friction?

There was the push and pull with former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto that stamped him with the “Bike Lane Bill” moniker for many critics. Now you’ve got people squaring off in Export.

Fights might make sense if you were talking about rival gangs and bars. Well, in this case, that’s kind of what’s happening, even if it’s bicycles and not motorcycles.

One of the rival gangs in this case would be the people pushing for a 750-foot extension of the Westmoreland Heritage Trail. Not a big deal, right? Bike trails are seldom controversial. Rails to Trails and Department of Conservation of Natural Resources projects happen all the time with little problem.

Not this time.

The other gang is the business owners in Export who say the cyclists are using up parking in the borough that should be used for people coming to the downtown.

“I think it’s a mistake to extend the trail at this time. Parking is getting worse, and it’s going to keep getting worse once the trail is extended,” Tony DeCesare said at a recent borough council meeting.

DeCesare is where we get a bar in the conversation. He owns Jigger’s Pub. He also is working on converting the former Master Auto Supply building into a restaurant.

The problem is the extension would affect 11 of the spots in the borough’s public parking lot. That does seem to be a legitimate concern. DeCesare and another business owner said they saw more than that number of spaces marked off by orange cones recently — ostensibly for trail construction.

Borough leaders and trail officials say the impact would not be as negative as anticipated. The extension would make use of leftover state grant funding from the original trail. Additionally, Export is pursuing a $1.95 million grant application for more improvements, including a trail landing with a variety of bike- and pedestrian-friendly features. That is doing little to reassure the existing business owners, though.

If Export — or Pittsburgh or any community — wants to sell businesses on the positives of a cycling-centric project, they have to listen to their concerns without brushing them off as irrelevant or ridiculous.

Conversely, business owners have to stop looking at bikes as something that will obstruct their car-driving clientele. Pennsylvania’s bike trails aren’t just a no-cost recreation option. The Great Allegheny Passage Economic Impact Study points to $98 per day per user spent in the communities attached to trails.

The two sides need to pay attention to the needs, risks and benefits on both sides without acting like enemies. There is a potential for business and bike trail to work together if they just learn to pedal — or peddle — in the same direction.