NYC Bicycle Advocacy Trivia

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8 replies [Last post]
Anonymous's picture
Anonymous

"What past NYC mayoral candidate first proposed ""bicycle lines on major thoroughfares""?"

Anonymous's picture
Peter Storey (not verified)
William F. Buckley, of course . . .

"
After all, what other candidate would use a word like ""thoroughfare"" when addressing the NYC public (which Buckley rarely if ever did).

No Richard, I'm not old enough to remember the 1965 Mayoral campaign (actually I am, but I didn't grow up here). But I did read the article on the way to the Crossword Puzzle . . . ."

Anonymous's picture
John Z (not verified)
Correct

An interesting tidbit...

Anonymous's picture
John Z (not verified)
You Learn Something New...

I never realized William F. Buckley did something substantial; I always thought he was just the right wing's answer to Truman Capote...

Anonymous's picture
Joe Soda (not verified)

Anyone want to hazard a guess on the mainstream right-wing's position on bike lanes on urban thoroughfares today? Any biblical mention? Any established science to contradict? Any way for Halliburton to benefit?

Anonymous's picture
John Z (not verified)
The Fault of the Left, not Right

The more important question is why in a city primarily controlled by the left-wing of American politics, we can’t get more (an more important, functional) bicycle lanes on our thoroughfares?

Anonymous's picture
David Regen (not verified)
Some thanks goes to Bloomberg

Believe it or not, Mike Bloomberg has been on our side--the Hudson River Park project and other projects got going a lot faster when he became mayor. Supposedly, he began commuting by bike during the '82 transit strike and never stopped until he became mayor (when his security detail wouldn't let him).

We don't just need more lanes; we need more places to park. Most of us get by locking our bikes to sign posts, but it can be hard to find them sometimes. I have some hope though, because way more people are actually using bikes (last week I counted 120 riders on the way home on the Hudson River path from 24th st. to 96th.)If we start asking for this loadly enough, I bet we could get it. One example: buildings are dimming their sky-facing lights because it confuses migrating birds!

Anonymous's picture
Joe Soda (not verified)
I have trouble believing this.

"""Supposedly, he began commuting by bike during the '82 transit strike and never stopped until he became mayor (when his security detail wouldn't let him).""

B.S.
If so, why did he have to buy a bike for the threatened '02 transit strike, which was going to happen mere months after he allegedly stopped commuting? There are probably 2 or 3 guys in the world that rich and powerful who are eccentric enough to commute by bike--Bloomberg isn't one of them."

Anonymous's picture
Rich (not verified)
Answers to Joe's Questions

"1. According to a recent Heritage Foundation report (or a summary of it I saw online), ISTEA bike lanes and paths are defined as wasteful pork barrel spending that should be cut. See http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm852.cfm
2. Bike lanes aren't mentioned in the bible, so God obviously doesn't like them. In fact, God also disdains cyclists, since bicycles aren't mentioned there either. If you drive a chariot, however . . .
3. Established research: well, according to Effective Cycling, and to John Allen who wrote ""Street Skills"", research ""proves"" that bike paths and lanes are more dangerous than riding on the street (no kidding--they actually say this!). Yep, most of those 600-700 cyclists being killed each year are dying in specially painted bike lanes! But I'm not sure the disciples of the Effective Cycling Trinity of Johns (Forester, Allen, Schubert) are part of the mainstream right.
4. The ways by which Halliburton could benefit are too numerous to mention, but a few could be summarized here:
-contracts for asphalt, signage, and paint.
-ambulance contracts to haul away all the broken cyclists injured in all the bike lane crashes (see point #3).
Rich"

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