Dear Terry, President of CIA,
For several decades the question of a bike path has been frequently on
the agenda of the annual meeting of the CIA. As far as I can remember
each time it was either rejected or suggested to be further studied.
Last year my esteemed friend Bob Colvin approached me with the
question of whether I was in favor of a bike path on Chappy. I
suggested he should discuss this question with Edo Potter who has
given much thought to this question.
This summer, because of people asking me the same question, I have
spent some time thinking about it. For a number of reasons I have come
to the conclusion that I should not favor the creation of a bike path
on Chappy. some of the reasons have already been detailed in the
e-mail you received from Lionel Spiro. My additional reasons include
the following:
1) According to Ann Brine, who has checked the State of Mass.
requirements for a bike path, the compliance with the State law would
change dramatically and forever the character of our country road to a
suburban type of road. For people who care alot about preserving our
island the way it is this would be a great setback.
2) For over 40 years I have been biking on Chappy and on Martha's
Vineyard. During this time I have had hardly any problem on Chappy but
I have had many close calls on the bicycle path in Edgartown. For
example, in the summertime there are many bicyclists on the single
bike path who do not observe the rule of single file and the left and
right sides of the road. This could result in serious collisions.
3) I do share the concerns of people for safety when riding on
bicycles on Chappy. I think the cheapest and simples and most
effective solution to any possible problem is to urge the selectmen to
assign a policeman to monitor the Chappy road during the summer
months. this would ensure that people do not go over speed limits
which is the culprit for causing accidents. For all the tax money we
pay, we deserve to get a policeman to enforce the rules of the road on
Chappy.
In conclusion, I would greatly appreciate if you would send this
e-mail to the CIA members, so they would know why I am not supporting
the attempt to create a bike path on Chappy.

Sincerely,
Siamak Adibi