Organizer Vows to Improve Bike Festival Experience for Birmingham Residents

The inaugural  was a success in terms of participation, but the organizer of the downtown event promises to learn from first-year mistakes to make it even better next year – if the city approves his plans. 

After much deliberation at at , the commissioners chose to postpone the decision as to whether or not to allow . to put on the festival again next summer, on Aug. 26.

There were a few concerns brought to the commission’s attention after the Aug. 28 festival, including complaints from residents in the Merrillwood Building that they were unable to leave their residence during the bike festival because the race route passed by their only parking exit. One of the residents at the meeting said the disturbance was from around 4 a.m.-6 p.m, including set up and take down.

“I’d like to respectively but strongly stand against this proposal just because of the major disruption it is,” said Richard Weingartner, manager of the Merrillwood Building.

Jeff Surnow, owner of , said he had discussed the issues with the Merrillwood Building management and was willing to work with them on a solution. Surnow said much of the problem on the festival’s end was that he had a huge team of volunteers, but they were inexperienced in navigating traffic. After this year’s festival, Surnow talked to the Birmingham Police Department to discuss having officers on site to navigate traffic to lessen the burden on residents trying to access their homes.

Chief of Police Don Studt attended Monday's meeting and noted that having officers on duty directing traffic was the difference between the Birmingham Bike Festival and the other events taking place downtown. “There will be a period of time that they’ll have to wait, but we could absolutely put a police officer at the corner and at the Merrillwood Building and get the cars out there in a safe manner,” Studt said.

Surnow explained that with each lap that professional racers took through town, residents would have roughly 1.5 minutes to exit their parking structure. There would be even more time with the children’s and community races, he said.

Mayor Gordon Rinschler suggested making sure residents were aware of the times of the numerous races so residents would know when they had a window of opportunity to exit their buildings. Surnow said he would make the effort to in the hands of neighboring residents.

Other issues with the event Surnow addressed at the meeting included:

• Surnow was unaware his team of volunteers was responsible for cleaning all of the city's trash bins after the event. He assured that would happen next year.
• Complaints about noise, which Surnow said he believes were due to the four speakers at the festival. Surnow's solution is to have the speakers talk at 10 a.m. as opposed to 8 a.m. and reposition toward . If the commission is not satisfied with that solution, Surnow said he would be OK with eliminating two of the speakers. 
• Surnow had requested that a Beaumont Hospital ambulance be on site during the length of the festival as a precautionary measure and the  requested they use their own ambulance.

The six members present at the City Commission meeting – Rackeline Hoff was not in attendance – voted unanimously to postpone the decision, requesting Surnow meet with neighboring businesses and residents and come up with a concrete plan to present to the commission that would address the concerns. After Mayor Pro Tem Mark Nickita made the motion he added that the bike festival is a "positive thing for the city."

“We have events like this because we want to promote the downtown, we want to do things for charity ... we want to provide activities in our city for businesses and residents to come and enjoy, so there are a number of positives,” Nickita said. “I would ask that everybody could come together and have a discussion about how we can try another time ... it’s not perfect the first time, but I think it’s a positive thing for the city.”