Denver Tech Companies’ Number 1 Demand: Bike Lanes

First Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel famously threatened to steal Seattle’s tech workers with protected bike lanes. Then Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn fired back saying the city would use protected bike lanes to keep them there.

Today, Michael Andersen at People for Bikes reports that Denver wants in on the competition. Tami Door, president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, recently told the local business journal that “the number one thing” Denver tech companies want is bike lanes. Andersen writes:

Door (who in the same interview mentions that one of her favorite authors is Ayn Rand) is the latest person to make this discovery at the local level. The single biggest obstacle to recruiting tech workers to Denver is its lack of good bike lanes, the head of the city’s downtown business association said this month. That’s why her organization, the Downtown Denver Partnership, is taking the lead to create a “comprehensive protected bike lane plan” for the central city. In cities where digitally driven office work or the tech sector are important to driving job growth, more business leaders seem to agree that comfortable bike access is quickly advancing from “amenity” to “necessity.”

What a wonderful thing when the interests of the business community coincide with better health and environmental outcomes for everyone.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Cyclelicious explores the political factions that collide around bike infrastructure and how ordinary cyclists get converted into activists. American Dirt takes a look at the evolution of suburban street and housing design, beginning with Levittown. And Transitized says Truman College in Chicago is taking the opposite approach we’ve seen from a lot of schools: rather than bold sustainability initiatives, the school will offer students free parking.