|
|
|
Thwart the Daily News' stupid poll and vote yes for bike lanes
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Thwart the Daily News' stupid poll and vote yes for bike lanes
 |
| Stu: J'accuse! |
Stu – Stu Bykofsky – I know you're out there. I don't know if you supplied the language for the recent Daily News poll on bike lanes, but . . . j'accuse!
Ladies and Gentlemen, the following rather unfavorably-worded poll has been posted on the Daily News website. So biased, grouchy, and deeply insecure is the language that I suspect the hand of none other than the Daily News' own Stu Bykofsky, who recently engaged in a maddening online debate with the Bicycle Coalition's Alexy Doty.
 |
Maddening, I say, because – whether he's behind this poll or not – Stu seems to have made himself the journalistic point-man on bicycling simply by virtue of being denser and meaner than anyone else to the city's growing population of people who happen to use bikes to get around.
His latest bout may have been triggered by the city's new bicycle/pedestrian plan, which calls for over 200 miles of new bike lanes. Stu feels that the welfare of drivers is threatened by bike lanes. I disagree: I think the welfare of drivers is threatened by other drivers. Bikes don't cause traffic – cars do.
Look: Do I think the city needs 200 miles of new bike lanes? No. But I think it'll be a better city for them. So I encourage you to vote yes, and, yes, stick it to Stu. So far, the forces of Stu-vil have been kept at bay:
 |
I love it when you beg for support. It is so dignified.
I guess if you've never used a bike as a means of transportation, you can't really appreciate the value of getting across town and beyond on two wheels, and how incredibly freeing it is to have the modicum of safety that bike lanes provide. I spent last weekend in Quebec City. Not only do they have bike lanes on nearly every street, but also along certain pedestrian walkways. We rode all day long, traveled over 10 miles outside the city, and never so much as thought about being run down by a car. Biking in the city provides a level of exhilaration not possible with driving... which is frustrating in the city. This is a quality of life issue. And, you just can't appreciate it until you've tried it.
If more bike lanes everywhere means more bicyclists will use them and get off the sidewalks, please do it. Even though that will still continue given how easy it is to get way with it and the current police attitude on enforcement. I would be against utilizing them on streets which serve as exit arterials to the interstates, especially at rush hour. Giving up a vehicle lane on those streets will make make for extended idling times for cars at the red lights and make life miserable for those living on that stretch of street, such as breathing in the exhaust fumes and putting up with the incessant honking of impatient drivers.
For inspiration why not check out street pictures of a city that really knows how to bike: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/ And if you can hardly believe there are that many bikers who don't even wear helmets seemingly because they have no worries about getting hit by a car, look---they use cargo bikes IN THE SNOW: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/search/label/cargo%20bike%20culture Oh and (almost missed this) they must not be training for the olympics because they also smoke while biking: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/search/label/eating%20drinking%20smoking%20on%20a%20bike
Two intoxicated Fairborn men were severely beaten and robbed in the early morning hours Thursday, May 27, in DaytonÂ’s Oregon District.
If more bike lanes everywhere means more bicyclists will use them and get off the sidewalks, please do it. Even though that will still continue given how easy it is to get way with it and the current police attitude on enforcement. I would be against
[...] [...]
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
