SAN DIEGO — The City of San Diego's director of transportation apologized to Rancho Penasquitos residents during a Zoom meeting Tuesday morning.
The focus of the meeting was recently installed bike lanes on Azuaga Street. Some residents are upset because they said the city did not communicate with them about the bike lanes, they just suddenly appeared.
"Our apologies as far as the outreach. We're strategizing now. There's a lot of zeal behind the bike program," said Director of Transportation Jorge Rivero. "We're trying to work quickly to deliver a more multi-mobile city for San Diego. And in that zeal sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. So just a little bit of an apology as far as outreach."
CBS 8 has been Working for You on this issue since the bike lanes first appeared.
Jim McCorkle, the president of the Cantabria Homeowners Association, said he's been watching the street and noticed there aren't many bikers even using the new bike lanes.
"If this was done for safety for bike riders, it's an absolute fail," he said.
Rivero said it may just take some time for bikers to get used to them.
Several residents voiced concern over the elimination of parking spaces on Azuaga Street.
The city says it did a study and found only 23% of the 152 spaces on the north side of the street were being used.
However, residents were quick to point out the study was done during the middle of the day when people are at work.
McCorkle asked if there's a chance the city will allow parking on the bike lanes at night. The city said no, citing issues of enforcement and safety.
Watch Related: New bike lanes in Rancho Pensaquitos cause concern (Apr 6, 2022)