The Annapolis bike lane has been a topic of discussion for the past two weeks. In an article by Danielle Ohl this morning in The Capital , the Mayor’s Chief of Staff advised that the success or failure of the bike path will be measured in the court of public opinion rather than in any sort of measurable way like usage and the boost or decline to merchants along Main Street. However, in Ohl’s article, she was hard pressed to find any merchant on Main Street in favor of the project.

Yesterday, we reported on a meeting of local business owners and solicited your feedback to our anonymous tip line — 443-266-3600 (by the way this is ALWAYS open, so feel free to leave a message or a text with your tips or thoughts). We also put out the call again this morning in our Daily News Brief.

And here is a sampling of the responses. Note, the three longer ones needed to be “stitched” together so in that sense they were altered along with blurring of the phone numbers but the content is intact.

And we had a few voicemails as well:

Mayor Buckley had an Op-Ed in The Capital yesterday that explained his position on the bike path. This morning, he appeared on the WRNR Morning Show to to talk bikes as well. The Mayor encouraged families and supporters to come out to the Bike In scheduled for tomorrow morning at 11am (Whitmore Park) and explained that the bike path on Main Street will be connected to Anne Arundel Medical Center via a network of paths and trails that do (and will) parallel West Street. Buckley also said that the bike path is not just for bikes and that it is also for walkers and runners to share the facility (4:14).

The Mayor also countered the naysayers about the number of bicyclists in the city with his version of “build it and they will come” (3:43) by saying that the City never supported the cyclists with the infrastructure.

There are several upcoming events surrounding this bike lane. Here is a list:

Friday, September 21, 7pm. Opponents of the bike lane will gather at Church Circle and Main Street. Local businessman Ron George is organizing this effort and will provide signs, but has encouraged people to make their own. This protest will take place on the sidewalk (not in the road or in the bike lane) and is scheduled to coincide with and be visible to the Lighted Bike Parade at 8pm. Here is the Facebook Event.

Friday, September 21, 8pm. Supporters are asked to meet at the Knighton Garage with illuminated bikes to travel down West Street, down the Main Street bike lane, around Memorial Circle to City Dock. Here is the Facebook Event.

Saturday, September 22, 10am. Supporters are asked to gather at the Whitmore Urban park on Calvert Street for a “Ride In” with the Mayor and his staff from City Hall to celebrate Annapolis Bike Day. The “Ride In” will go from the Whitmore Park to Calvert Street, to Northwest Street to Church Circle, down Main Street (in new lane) to City Dock where there will be a bike rodeo and lessons for children on biking safely. The event is scheduled to end at 1pm. Here is the Facebook Event.

Saturday, September 22, 2pm. The Mayor has announced that there will be another protest against the bike lane at City Dock. We do not know who is organizing it, but they have been issued a permit and it is expected to start at 2pm, shortly after Annapolis Bike Day ends and be wrapped up by 3:30pm.

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