In spite of trying the "Raise Less of A Ruckus" approach to this issue of threats to public safety posed by dumping these
"environmentally-friendly" alternative modes of transportation,
Mesa has not proposed any regulations for rental scooters and bikes, but the idea is being considered.HUH?
According to a story written by the Arizona Republic reporter Rick Randazzo , city spokesman Steven Wright is quoted as saying "We are looking into how we regulate these things, . . ." HUH?
It was also announced today in a press release that a 5th company - Uber - is deploying 1,000 electric bikes and scooters in Mesa and Scottsdale via its Jump subsidiary. The image to the right, taken outside Mesazona Market on Main Street clearly shows another eScooter left in the public right-of-way.
Readers will note in the link provided to Randazzo's report that it's all about money, business and tech. Randazzo also reports that unlike Lime and Bird [2 of the other venture-capital funded companies who dumped eScooters on the sidewalks, Uber reached out to the cities beforehand, rather than dropping the scooters off unannounced.
Apparently, officials inside City Hall said OK instead of calling a moratorium of more threats and risks to public safety that are posed by eScooters dumped or operated on the sidewalks here. Uber spokesman Walter Andrews, who is overseeing the Jump deployment in Arizona, realizes that eScooters belong on 'bike-friendly roads' NOT THE SIDEWALKS: "With great weather, popular local events, and bike-friendly roads, Scottsdale and Mesa are perfect cities for e-bikes and scooters, . . ."
Blogger Note: Every day I see users of eScooters operating them on the sidwalks, not on the streets at the same time there are clearly-marked warnings to WALK YOUR WHEELS.
Apparently there is no monitoring or enforcement of the regulations!
Yesterday yours truly witnessed a very ugly confrontation between an eScooter user barreling along on the sidewalk in front of Antique Plaza and a family man walking his baby carriage and two dogs when he point-black told the eScooter-user she was dangerous to his safety and posed a threat. It turned into a loud, shouting, profanity-infused and angry stand-off. When one of the owners of Antique Plaza stepped-out hearing the loud shouting, I asked him how many times he's witnessed eScooter users whizzing-by in violation of state state statutes. . . many times. Did he complain? Yes - to who? The Downtown Merchants Association.
