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Mayor Curtis
May is a Good Month to Ride a Bike in Provo
May is Bike month, and Provo is celebrating! The popular website Bike Provo has almost daily updates on the different bike friendly events going on in the city. There are far too many events for me to list here, but two of the city’s big events are detailed below.
2011 Rivalry Ride
Because the Utes won last season’s rivalry game, Provo Mayor John Curtis and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker will bike approximately 50 miles from Provo to Salt Lake City, on Saturday, May 7, starting at the Provo City Center, 351 W. Center St., in Provo. There will be an opening ceremony at 10 a.m., with the bike ride starting at 10:30 a.m. It will end when all participants arrive at the Salt Lake City and County Building, 451 S. State St., in Salt Lake City. Anyone can participate. Get all the details on the city website: http://provo.org/displayarticle108.html.
Bike to Work Day
Join Provo City and UTA in Bike to Work Day on Tuesday, May 17, starting at 7:30 a.m. at the Historic County Courthouse at 51 S. University Avenue. Enjoy free food and complimentary bike tune-ups, and a bike ride with Mayor John Curtis at 8 a.m. UTA will give away free bicycle helmets to the first 50 participants, and Provo City will offer free bike registration to residents. Also, for the first time ever, Provo City will give away the nicest unclaimed bicycle from the city’s found property inventory.
In addition, May 15-21 is Bike to Work Week and those who bike to work sometime during that week are invited to a lunch with Mayor Curtis on Tuesday, May 17, at noon in the City Center lobby. (If you haven’t biked to work by Tuesday, but are planning to by the end of the week, you’re still invited). RSVP to Janeen Jones at jjones@provo.utah.gov.
Provo Airport Won’t Use Nude Scanner Machines
During last Tuesday’s meeting we had a discussion as well as a vote regarding the allocation of funds in preparation of scheduled service at Provo airport. It was mentioned that the TSA had been weighing in on the manner in which security would be handled at the airport. The TSA had indicated that they wanted a better screening location than just the simple Million Air terminal that had originally been planned for. During the council study meeting it was brought up that in the interest of safety Provo may need to begin charging for parking as it closes off an area for passenger parking. Additionally, in response to my question about the full-body scanners, it would appear that the TSA was planning on using them in Provo as they have done in many other airports.
I was concerned about this and during our main council meeting I offered a motion for Provo to place a formal ban on the use of full body scanners within the city of Provo.
Such legislation has already been considered in the state of Texas, New Hampshire, and New Jersey as well as the city of New York.
While my proposed legislation failed to pass during our April 5th meeting, it did prompt a response from Mayor Curtis who stated that the administration had shared some concerns regarding these machines with TSA and had been informed that TSA would not be employing these machines in the city of Provo at this time.
Which is great news, now folks in Utah County will see yet another advantage to choosing Provo over Salt Lake.