Aaron Miller, our new Baristanet summer intern, captures last night's action as 95 cyclists from here and abroad rode 30 one mile laps for honors in Montclair’s first Giro New Jersey. That’s the nice part of our story. The race, which began at the height of rush hour, not only closed four Upper Montclair streets along the course, but many more for at least eight hours. We’re guessing that several hundred -- if not thousands -- of boiling mad Baristaville residents and commuters were caught in the monumental gridlock as they navigated their way home around closed and congested streets. We’ve been hearing angry complaints from folks about their kids’ delayed buses, simple ten minutes trips turning into 40 minute ordeals, and congestion beginning at the Garden State Parkway. Compounding the problem was the Amtrak power outage that canceled afternoon and evening trains and left hundreds of riders turning to Decamp for a bus ride home. Landscaping trucks and parked cars made the side streets almost impassable, repaving work closed the southern entrance of Brookdale Park, and PSE & G started digging at Bellevue and Grove right in the middle of it all.
The lack of planning for Giro NJ in Montclair is what has most people royally pissed off, and may create a severe backlash for future biking events in the town. This reader summed it up.
I'd really like to know how the town was able to close the roads to residents without any notification! Yesterday signs for No Parking between 2pm and 10pm where posted on Lorraine Ave, but there was no notification that the road would be closed to residents! I live on Lorraine and had to park on Inwood and walk home from the gym. Btw, it took 40 minutes for me to get through traffic and find accessible roads to get from Watchung Plaza to Inwood! The planning for this event was severely lacking. I sincerely hope other residents complain to the town about this because it's outrageous. People are just coming out of rush hour to gridlock in their own towns. Furthermore I'm disgusted to read that parents were left wondering where their child's buses were because of this lack of notification about major roads—roads which include school bus routes—being closed! I sincerely hope other residents complain to the town about this and I think someone needs to find out what company/organization paid how much money for this bike event to get priority of the roads over the tax payers of this town.And it was no better for bus riders. A tipsters writes: “Our driver was furious. Apparantly the detour route they were given was closed by the police. There was no way our bus could get to Bellevue Plaza, so most people got off before the driver took a side street off Valley.”
So what went so terribly wrong? We received a copy of an email Town Manager Joe Hartnett sent to an outraged resident. But it fails to address yesterday's mess.
"The sponsors of the bike race were two local non-profit groups -- Bike Montclair and the Montclair Economic Development Corporation. It was supported as well by the Upper Montclair Business Association and by Essex County, which offically provided consent to the organizers to Valley Road (a county road) being partially closed. All proper permits and insurance coverages were also obtained. The organizers paid all costs, including the hiring of the off-duty Police Officers who worked the event. All involved thought they were doing a good thing to promote the community and to have an event that the people of Montclair would enjoy. We will certainly debrief this event thoroughly starting tomorrow and if it turned out to be a negative, it will not be repeated."
Baristanet tipsters report crowds for the races were thin and only several dozen folks turned up for the post-race band performance, free Redken Bag giveaway and fireworks display. (Although there were large crowds at Tinga’s and Cold Stone.) Clearly, there are pros and cons for hosting this event again. So, we’re asking you, should we go through this again next year?
Yes, just not at rush hour! Proper planning would make this a lovely event. I was one of the people stuck in this mess - it's not the cyclists fault at all and they should not be penalized. It was the poor management/timing, call it whatever you want that turned it into a disaster!