OK all you Village of Webster residents — or more importantly, all you folks who like to ride your bikes to the village — we have some thinking to do.
Several weeks ago I received the happy news that the Village Board has approved the purchase of four new bike racks!
It was just about a year ago when some of my fellow Barry’s Runners and I were enjoying a post-run pint at Barry’s Old School Irish, and discussing the need for bike racks in the village. The recently created bike lanes on Main Street and North Ave. invite cyclists to visit, but aside from one small rack hidden in a garden at the corner of Lapham Park and East Main, there’s really no place to lock them up when you’re in a restaurant or the bookstore … or pub.
Shortly after that conversation, I presented the idea to the Village Board, whose members were very receptive. Kudos to them for doing the research and deciding it was worth the investment.
Jake Swingly, the village’s Superintendent of Public Works, did most of the legwork during this process, and reports that the new bike racks will come in two different designs. Two will be a hoop type with “Village of Webster Est. 1905” engraved into it, and the other two will be like the blue rack below, with the bicycle. All four new racks will be green.
Now the Board just has to figure out where to install them. And that’s where you come in. They said it would be great if I threw the question out to my readers. So I’ve created a little survey. I’ll collect the thoughts and comments of anyone who would like to weigh in on the issue, and them present them to the Board in a few weeks.
In the survey, I’ve suggested nine different installation spots for the racks. They should, of course, be centrally located to village locations people are likely to visit, but there are also a few other things to consider. For example, should all four be distributed individually throughout the village, or perhaps should two of them be side by side to accommodate more bikes?
Ultimately, the Village Board will decide where they will be placed, especially considering that the big planters will be returning to the sidewalks soon. But if we can give them some feedback to help guide their decision, I’m sure they’d appreciate it.
Here are nine locations to consider (if you have other suggestions, there’s a place in the survey to include those):
- In front of Village Hall, 28 W. Main Street
- In front of Barry’s Old School Irish/The Garage Sale Store, 2-8 W. Main Street
- In front of Smith Insurance, 4 East Main Street (northeast corner of the village’s four corners)
- Nestled into the small natural area just east of Smith Insurance (see photo below)
- In front of the Webster Museum (18 Lapham Park)
- In front of Harmony House, 58 East Main Street
- Near Village Bakery (44 East Main St.) or in that lower parking lot somewhere
- In Gazebo Park
- Somewhere north of 104, perhaps near Pub 235, at 235 North Ave.
This is that natural area adjacent to Smith Insurance
If you have other ideas as to where they should go, the survey will give you a place to include them as well.
Click here to go to the survey. It should only take a minute!
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This is going to be cool.
The Chorus of the Genesee, Webster’s very own barbershop harmony chorus, has announced that its annual spring show, called “Connections,” has been scheduled for May 18.
Wouldn’t it be great if every single student in our district could be handed a free book?
Sydney Bolton
There’s a lot of news out of 
webster on the web 