What American Cities are Missing: Bikes by the Thousands

On May 17, 1:34 pm, donquijote1954
wrote:
On May 16, 11:46 pm, "Bill Sornson" wrote:

donquijote1954 wrote:

Didn't you say you were leaving Usenet? (Or at least the cycling
newsgroups?)

I said "stop biking" as a way of getting around, but I guess I'm not
alone in screaming that we are discriminated against. Things good
though are happening in Paris that I doubt wil ever happen in this
country. I guess our politicians are looking for the wrong issues,
which regrettably mobilize the sheep...

--How about a Congress and President with guts enough to push for
small, economical cars, and penalizing the whoppers?--

It makes sense but I don't see even the most liberal candidates
talking about real solutions for the real world. The issues are at
hand turn me off...

Hillary: gender

Obama: race

and the rest are for those who don't have real solutions either but
are against gays, abortion, etc. Anyone for bikes and small cars?

Why is it a president's responsibility to push bikes and small cars?
How about state and local government? And what about freedom of
choice? Not a big fan, eh?

On May 17, 10:19 pm, wrote:
On May 16, 10:17 pm, (Tom Keats) wrote:





In article ,
"Bill Sornson" writes:

donquijote1954 wrote:

Didn't you say you were leaving Usenet? (Or at least the cycling
newsgroups?)

That was Bill B. I picture him tearfully hugging
the hood of his 440 Charger[*] and proclaiming: "I'll
never leave you! 'Til the end of time! You 'n me!"

DonQui just said he was quitting riding his
bike 'cuz he couldn't hack it. But apparently
he still fancies himself as some sort of lyric,
all-talk/no-walk revolutionary/****-disturber
who wants other people to do his "revolution"
for him.

Heeyargg!!!!

If I had a Charger I would probably hug it though.

The Revolution will in fact be televised. So Mr. Donk
can watch it from the comfort of his living room.-

You calling me a couch potato? No, I want to be in the Bicycle Victory
Parade to end at the Unknown Fallen Cyclist, a monument to all those
who have fallen for the cause of the environment and fun
transportation. Do you agree with it?

In rec.bicycles.misc rotten wrote:
On May 17, 2:03 am, oilfreeandhappy
wrote:
Don't hold your breath for America. With our obesity rates, lack of
adequate cycling facilities, along with our worship of the automobile,
there may not be much happening in the near future. I think what
America needs is a totally CAR-FREE city. If an investor decided to
take this on, he would have instant advertising, merely from the
publicity.

The closest they could come to at this point is Portland, Oregan and
from what I've heard even people there don't want to ban cars. The
reason there are no car-free cities is that people... believe it or
not... would rather drive cars than use other forms of transportation.

Point of fact: While there are not (yet) car free cities. There are
car free neighborhoods. In fact, they're rather a trend over in Germany
at the moment.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1220/p01s03-woeu.html

http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/...php?ideaId=378

http://www.autofrei-wohnen.de/panke0summary.html

--
Dane Buson -
"No job too big; no fee too big!"
-- Dr. Peter Venkman, "Ghost-busters"

"Pat" wrote in message
ups.com...
On May 18, 10:53 am, "Amy Blankenship"
wrote:
"Pat" wrote in message
....
George: you are a dick by nature.

And of course my own spell checker missed that I meant "hone your wit",
rather than "hone your with."

You are forgiven. Only George would care. Within reason, I think
spelling, grammatical errors, and typo are acceptable. But as I said,
within reason.

Last time I wrote columns for the local paper, the editor gave he huge
leaway for grammer once he realized that I write in the style that I
speak, so it is much less formal, less accurate, and less
grammatical. It is interesting how much differently we speak from how
we write.

With me, it depends. With my mother or my sister and often with my husband,
I speak as I write. With anyone else, I tend to drop into how they speak as
much as is possible, as it makes for easier communication. Being raised by
an English teacher means that my natural speech is probably more "correct"
than many.

-Amy

On May 17, 10:33 pm, Bob wrote:
On May 17, 12:34 pm, donquijote1954
wrote:

On May 16, 11:46 pm, "Bill Sornson" wrote:

donquijote1954 wrote:

Didn't you say you were leaving Usenet? (Or at least the cycling
newsgroups?)

I said "stop biking" as a way of getting around, but I guess I'm not
alone in screaming that we are discriminated against.

"We" are discriminated against? You said you were quitting riding so
you are no longer part of the "we" here- unless your "we" is
restricted to spammers in which case you *are* discriminated against
and rightly so.

Well, I've effectively been intimidated by the reckless drivers out
there. You want me to be a martyr of the revolution?

I think I rather follow my own advice of "the big fish eats the little
fish, unless the little fish get organized." So, I'll do it in a
group.

On May 18, 2:09 am, ) wrote:
In article .net,

"George Conklin" wrote:
"donquijote1954" wrote in message
roups.com...
Will we ever see the day when American cities have thousands of
cyclists going up and down the street without unnecessary risks?

Go to India to fulfill your dream. They do that now. You can even lock
your bicycle up at the train station and let it sit in the rain all day for
a few cents.

http://media.wweek.com/attach/2007/0..._LedeChart.pdf
While not a huge percentage, the number of people who commute by bike in
Portland and Seattle (compiled from census data) are large enough to show
up in the data.

And considering what I know of the way people drive in India, I'm not sure
that his request for "unnecessary risks" are met there either.

Cars running stop signs and running over bicyclists seems to be a
particular problem in Portland these days. There was a time not too long
ago when people actually paid attention to their driving here. That isn't
the case any more.

At least here you can put your bike in a covered bike locker (for
considerably more than a few cents a day).

I guess then I'm going to have to go to Holland or something. Or
simply load my bike on a car or bus and go some place where neither I
run unnecessary risks nor I do something practical with it. Forget
Global Warming, survival takes priority, right?

On May 18, 12:16 pm, rotten wrote:


I have absolutely no problem with bikes. Hell, paint lines on the road
for them, that's what they did here in Cambridge. What I dislike is
paying for transit that nobody uses or is so inefficiently run that it
has to be subsidized by the taxpayers. And no, we shouldn't subsidize
cars either.-

It makes so much sense that the experts in the field should study it.
Remember though this classic quote...

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary
depends upon his not understanding it."
-Upton Sinclair in The Jungle

On May 18, 12:19 pm, rotten wrote:
On May 17, 2:03 am, oilfreeandhappy
wrote:

Don't hold your breath for America. With our obesity rates, lack of
adequate cycling facilities, along with our worship of the automobile,
there may not be much happening in the near future. I think what
America needs is a totally CAR-FREE city. If an investor decided to
take this on, he would have instant advertising, merely from the
publicity.

The closest they could come to at this point is Portland, Oregan and
from what I've heard even people there don't want to ban cars. The
reason there are no car-free cities is that people... believe it or
not... would rather drive cars than use other forms of transportation.

True, but not ALL people. The smarter ones don't. They want to ride
bikes, or a combination of the two.

Most people would rather have both.

On May 18, 12:21 pm, rotten wrote:
On May 17, 1:34 pm, donquijote1954
wrote:





On May 16, 11:46 pm, "Bill Sornson" wrote:

donquijote1954 wrote:

Didn't you say you were leaving Usenet? (Or at least the cycling
newsgroups?)

I said "stop biking" as a way of getting around, but I guess I'm not
alone in screaming that we are discriminated against. Things good
though are happening in Paris that I doubt wil ever happen in this
country. I guess our politicians are looking for the wrong issues,
which regrettably mobilize the sheep...

--How about a Congress and President with guts enough to push for
small, economical cars, and penalizing the whoppers?--

It makes sense but I don't see even the most liberal candidates
talking about real solutions for the real world. The issues are at
hand turn me off...

Hillary: gender

Obama: race

and the rest are for those who don't have real solutions either but
are against gays, abortion, etc. Anyone for bikes and small cars?

Why is it a president's responsibility to push bikes and small cars?
How about state and local government? And what about freedom of
choice? Not a big fan, eh?-

What "freedom of choice" when you got to put your life on the line to
go to the market? Our president though took us to a war to keep the
status quo. Can we only get leadership to lead us into war? Now big
money is going into tanks and planes, not EVs and bike lanes.

On May 18, 1:02 pm, Dane Buson wrote:
In rec.bicycles.misc rotten wrote:

On May 17, 2:03 am, oilfreeandhappy
wrote:
Don't hold your breath for America. With our obesity rates, lack of
adequate cycling facilities, along with our worship of the automobile,
there may not be much happening in the near future. I think what
America needs is a totally CAR-FREE city. If an investor decided to
take this on, he would have instant advertising, merely from the
publicity.

The closest they could come to at this point is Portland, Oregan and
from what I've heard even people there don't want to ban cars. The
reason there are no car-free cities is that people... believe it or
not... would rather drive cars than use other forms of transportation.

Point of fact: While there are not (yet) car free cities. There are
car free neighborhoods. In fact, they're rather a trend over in Germany
at the moment.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1220/p01s03-woeu.html

http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/...php?ideaId=378

http://www.autofrei-wohnen.de/panke0summary.html

"FREIBURG, GERMANY - It's pickup time at the Vauban kindergarten here
at the edge of the Black Forest, but there's not a single minivan
waiting for the kids. Instead, a convoy of helmet-donning moms -
bicycle trailers in tow - pedal up to the entrance."

If you do that here the SUV-driving soccer moms will scream and shout.
They want their babies to be safe while they drive erratically, you
know.