STAMFORD — As metropolis officers weigh how a lot house electrical scooters and bikes ought to take up on Stamford’s streets, not everybody is certain they need to be welcome in any respect.
During an hour-long dialog earlier than the Board of Representatives this week, members by and huge rehashed their help of and anxieties over welcoming scooters to town.
As earlier than, banning scooter riders on sidewalks and creating designated parking areas for future ridesharing applications emerged as widespread options to issues over pedestrian security issues.
City representatives — led by Rep. Cara Gilbride, D-11 — first floated lifting Stamford’s 17-year ban on electrical scooters and bicycles in June. Officials initially drafted the ordinance to ban mini-motorcycles, which would stay banned underneath the present plan. During early conversations, Gilbride and town Transportation Department pitched scooters as a useful “last mile” resolution for folks making an attempt to get across the metropolis.
But earlier than the Transportation Committee for a second time, newer questions over enforcement and security loomed giant over the assembly, which featured members from the incapacity rights neighborhood, pedestrian advocacy teams and Stamford’s Transportation Department, amongst others.
“It’s going to be a delicate balance,” native incapacity activist Phil Magalnick mentioned.
Not everybody is certain they will strike that steadiness, together with Magalnick, who co-chairs town ADA Advisory Council. He raised issues over how including electrical scooters to the combo may amplify disabled residents’ navigation challenges. Enforcement may pose a difficulty, he mentioned.
And if scooters are on sidewalks whatever the guidelines, Magalnick defined, it may threaten folks with disabilities.
“Having something speed up behind us is quite concerning,” he added.
State legislation presently permits for scooter customers to trip on sidewalks, although it additionally stipulates that these riders should give deference to pedestrians. Similarly, Connecticut’s e-scooter guidelines permit for rideshare customers to park on sidewalks. However, city ordinance may ban it.
Rep. Jeffrey Stella, D-9, additionally took concern with the potential enforcement downside that scooters may create. Gilbride, who launched the scooters dialogue, beforehand advised the committee that metropolis police weren’t imposing the present scooter ban on metropolis streets. In that case, Stella puzzled, why enhance their burden?
“We were constantly hearing in Stamford how we’re short on manpower when it comes to law enforcement, so who’s gonna be doing this enforcement?” he requested.
While Magalnick and Stella eyed the way forward for electrical scooters with warning, Will Wright of the native pedestrian group People Friendly Stamford pointed to them as a ripe alternative, particularly given that individuals are already utilizing scooters on the town. Adjusting town ordinance to permit e-scooters, he mentioned, is “about bringing the ordinance into these realities.”
Among board members, not each enforcement-minded consultant on the assembly noticed scooters as a legal responsibility. In reality, Rep. Sean Boeger, D-15, argued that updating metropolis scooter guidelines provides “teeth” to Stamford because it makes an attempt to control its current scooters.
“I’d rather have some teeth to control the situation from an enforcement standpoint than have nothing at all,” Boeger, a metropolis police sergeant, mentioned.
Even although issues associated to ridesharing operations dominated the dialogue, Stamford would not be welcoming shared scooters instantly even when it lifted the ban. Gilbride on the final assembly floated placing e-scooter distributors by a Board of Representatives vetting course of if town desires to introduce ridesharing.
With preliminary conversations earlier than the Board of Representatives completed, metropolis officers should introduce a proper ordinance to board members earlier than scooters come to an official vote. That’s possible, mentioned Transportation Committee Chair Rep. David Watkins, R-1.
“It’s pretty clear that this will come back to us, very possibly as a draft ordinance, either from the administration — which wouldn’t have been my preference — or by any representative,” Watkins mentioned.
An lawyer from town Law Department has been assigned to focus on micromobility forward of any ordinance, Stamford company counsel Doug Dalena confirmed.
veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com