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Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 21st 08, 01:21 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Stephen Harding
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Posts: 386
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

The title of a WSJ article about a gadfly type in San Francisco
who had put SF aggressive bicycle infrastructure plans on hold
until an environmental impact statement on the plans can be
completed.

Rob Anderson's theory is that cars will always outnumber bikes,
so taking road space to accommodate bicycles merely adds to
traffic congestion, slower commutes and more engine idling and
thus...more pollution!

An interesting take on the issue.

Many here will decry the emphasis on bike lanes as part of community
attempts to make non-motorized commuting more attractive, but
it seems this one fellow has single-handedly halted the effort
in SF all by himself! Quite impressive actually.

He definitely has some pretty negative views of bicyclists and
bike commuting on the roads, even though I believe he doesn't
operate a car himself.

Check out the WSJ article at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1219...sub_pag e_one

and an interesting reaction to this guy at

http://sfist.com/2008/08/20/wall_st_..._on_san_fr.php

Bicycle pollution! Hah! There's a good one.


SMH
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  #2  
Old August 21st 08, 02:58 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Barry Harmon
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Posts: 162
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

Stephen Harding wrote in news:X4drk.350$w51.10
@trnddc01:

http://sfist.com/2008/08/20/wall_st_..._on_san_fr.php


And on the other hand, there is a growing feeling in NYC that possibly the
thing to do is not to allow on-street parking for cars.

Stay tuned, this is getting interesting.

Barry Harmon
  #3  
Old August 21st 08, 04:39 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Jorg Lueke
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Posts: 145
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

The guy makes a lot of assumptions

Stephen Harding wrote:
The title of a WSJ article about a gadfly type in San Francisco
who had put SF aggressive bicycle infrastructure plans on hold
until an environmental impact statement on the plans can be
completed.

Rob Anderson's theory is that cars will always outnumber bikes,
so taking road space to accommodate bicycles merely adds to
traffic congestion, slower commutes and more engine idling and
thus...more pollution!

An interesting take on the issue.

Many here will decry the emphasis on bike lanes as part of community
attempts to make non-motorized commuting more attractive, but
it seems this one fellow has single-handedly halted the effort
in SF all by himself! Quite impressive actually.

He definitely has some pretty negative views of bicyclists and
bike commuting on the roads, even though I believe he doesn't
operate a car himself.

Check out the WSJ article at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1219...sub_pag e_one

and an interesting reaction to this guy at

http://sfist.com/2008/08/20/wall_st_..._on_san_fr.php

Bicycle pollution! Hah! There's a good one.


SMH

  #4  
Old August 21st 08, 06:03 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Jeremy Parker
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Posts: 522
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

Many here will decry the emphasis on bike lanes as part of
community
attempts to make non-motorized commuting more attractive, but
it seems this one fellow has single-handedly halted the effort
in SF all by himself! Quite impressive actually.


Heh heh. it sounds as if, like me, he's old enough to remember the
Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education, in which blacks got
rid of school segregation by demonstrating that "separate but equal"
never is equal. Confining us to a ghetto in the gutter demonstrates
the same thing.

I don't want to be confined to margins for the marginalized

And we need to get rid of those "as far right as practicable" laws
too.

Jeremy Parker
in London UK, where there's no requirement to stick to lanes or
paths,,and no "as far left as practicable" law.


  #5  
Old August 21st 08, 10:26 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
DennisTheBald
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Posts: 341
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

cars out number bikes?!?!
What planet does this guy live on?
  #6  
Old August 21st 08, 10:32 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
sally
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Posts: 158
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

Stephen Harding wrote in
news:X4drk.350$w51.10@trnddc01:
The title of a WSJ article about a gadfly type in San Francisco
who had put SF aggressive bicycle infrastructure plans on hold
until an environmental impact statement on the plans can be
completed.


The whole article is a joke. Look at the name of the author.
  #7  
Old August 21st 08, 11:18 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
DennisTheBald
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Posts: 341
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

On Aug 21, 4:32 pm, sally wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote innews:X4drk.350$w51.10@trnddc01:

The title of a WSJ article about a gadfly type in San Francisco
who had put SF aggressive bicycle infrastructure plans on hold
until an environmental impact statement on the plans can be
completed.


The whole article is a joke. Look at the name of the author.


--Ms. Dvorak is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's San
Francisco bureau.
Write to Phred Dvorak at

It may very well be a pseudonym, but it's a well used one.
  #8  
Old August 22nd 08, 04:53 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Jym Dyer
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Posts: 999
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

San Francisco Ponders: Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?
http://online.wsj.com/public/article...756955249.html

An interesting take on the issue.


=v= Meh, not really. This headline is misleading: there's
really no pondering, just paperwork. The injunction against
San Francisco's bike plan was imposed by a retiring right-wing
judge as his parting gift to the people of that city.

=v= The law cited in the ruling is the California Environmental
Quality Act of 1970. In those days they thought they could
end traffic jams (and the pollution from idling cars) by making
more and wider highways. California went on a road-building
spree only to learn a painful lesson in induced traffic -- and
even *worse* pollution, of course.

=v= The law has been amended many times since 1970, of course,
and more recent changes actually recognize the installation
of bike facilities as something that's *good* for air quality.
(In fact, throwing in a token recreational multi-use path here
and there has become the typical "mitigation" for road projects
that will increase air pollution.) Overall, though, this law
has ended up looking like swiss cheese, with gaps here and there
for pain-in-the-ass lawyers to exploit and right-wing judges to
base bad rulings on.

=v= But overall, while this pretext has been bandied about, the
ruling and injunction doesn't hinge on it. It hinges on a lack
of paperwork.
_Jym_
  #9  
Old August 24th 08, 01:18 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Stephen Harding
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Posts: 386
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

Jym Dyer wrote:
San Francisco Ponders: Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?
http://online.wsj.com/public/article...756955249.html


An interesting take on the issue.



=v= Meh, not really. This headline is misleading: there's
really no pondering, just paperwork. The injunction against
San Francisco's bike plan was imposed by a retiring right-wing
judge as his parting gift to the people of that city.

=v= The law cited in the ruling is the California Environmental
Quality Act of 1970. In those days they thought they could
end traffic jams (and the pollution from idling cars) by making
more and wider highways. California went on a road-building
spree only to learn a painful lesson in induced traffic -- and
even *worse* pollution, of course.

=v= The law has been amended many times since 1970, of course,
and more recent changes actually recognize the installation
of bike facilities as something that's *good* for air quality.
(In fact, throwing in a token recreational multi-use path here
and there has become the typical "mitigation" for road projects
that will increase air pollution.) Overall, though, this law
has ended up looking like swiss cheese, with gaps here and there
for pain-in-the-ass lawyers to exploit and right-wing judges to
base bad rulings on.

=v= But overall, while this pretext has been bandied about, the
ruling and injunction doesn't hinge on it. It hinges on a lack
of paperwork.


Right wing paranoia at work.

The issue is of course paperwork. The city didn't do the
required environmental impact statement on the effects of
the plan. (Strange a "right winger" would be using
environmental impact as a tool to subvert the city).

It's always about "paperwork". That's the mechanism for
those interests to stop whatever doesn't interest them!

This Anderson guy doesn't fit the model of a "right winger"
at all; in fact, he sounds a bit like a left wing kook.

He's the reason the plan is on hold for a year while the
environmental impact statement gets done. The court was
the mechanism and if the particular Judge was indeed a
right wing ideolog, I can easily see a left wing ideolog
making the same decision; perhaps more so.


SMH

  #10  
Old August 24th 08, 09:35 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Jym Dyer
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Posts: 999
Default Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?

This Anderson guy doesn't fit the model of a "right winger"
at all; in fact, he sounds a bit like a left wing kook.


=v= I realize that I'm the one who employed the right/left wing
terminology here, but I have to admit has severe limitations.
How, exactly, to classify someone who states that people ride
bikes for the same "political" motivations as Islamic suicide
bombers? Anderson has elements of both "wings" evident, but
he's definitely a mixed bag. His motivation for this lawsuit,
as expressed in his own words, stems from personality clashes
and his own bizarre imaginings of the motivations of others.

=v= Judge James Warren, on the other hand, has a consistent
and well-documented track record of rulings that favor the
rich powerful and oppose the less-advantaged. That's pretty
much the classic definition of being right-wing, and that's
why I used the term for him.
_Jym_

 




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