What American Cities are Missing: Bikes by the Thousands

On May 18, 1:54 pm, donquijote1954
wrote:
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.

Which is the problem with creating a car-free city. How do you get
40,000 happily car-free individuals together and make it work somehow?

BTW, how would goods get delivered in a car free city?

Outhouses are the latest environmental craze buddy. Just read the
newspapers. They are still legal in NC, but new ones are not. There are a
whole lot of them still around. Great when the power goes off.


Yes because we all know that Tolits are powered by electricty.

On May 18, 2:09 pm, rotten wrote:

Most people would rather have both.

Which is the problem with creating a car-free city. How do you get
40,000 happily car-free individuals together and make it work somehow?

BTW, how would goods get delivered in a car free city?-

Are you reading? I said most people would have cars and bikes, not one
or the other. Most trips under 5 miles could be done by bike, and the
rest by car, comprende?

On May 18, 6:49 pm, donquijote1954
wrote:
On May 18, 2:09 pm, rotten wrote:

Most people would rather have both.

Which is the problem with creating a car-free city. How do you get
40,000 happily car-free individuals together and make it work somehow?

BTW, how would goods get delivered in a car free city?-

Are you reading? I said most people would have cars and bikes, not one
or the other. Most trips under 5 miles could be done by bike, and the
rest by car, comprende?

Especially when they're doing their week's shopping, no doubt.

On May 18, 8:09 pm, "
wrote:

Are you reading? I said most people would have cars and bikes, not one
or the other. Most trips under 5 miles could be done by bike, and the
rest by car, comprende?

Especially when they're doing their week's shopping, no doubt.

Get a trailer. A basic Google search will give you many brands and
models.

"donquijote1954" wrote in message
ups.com...
On May 18, 8:09 pm, "
wrote:

Are you reading? I said most people would have cars and bikes, not one
or the other. Most trips under 5 miles could be done by bike, and the
rest by car, comprende?

Especially when they're doing their week's shopping, no doubt.

Get a trailer. A basic Google search will give you many brands and
models.



As Calcutta outlaws pedicabs, they are now fashionable with the New
Urbanist crowd. You can take home some stuff on one, if you agree to walk
next to it. That ought to please those who want to go back in time.

"george conklin" wrote in message
ink.net...

"donquijote1954" wrote in message
ups.com...
On May 18, 8:09 pm, "
wrote:

Are you reading? I said most people would have cars and bikes, not one
or the other. Most trips under 5 miles could be done by bike, and the
rest by car, comprende?

Especially when they're doing their week's shopping, no doubt.

Get a trailer. A basic Google search will give you many brands and
models.



As Calcutta outlaws pedicabs, they are now fashionable with the New
Urbanist crowd. You can take home some stuff on one, if you agree to walk
next to it. That ought to please those who want to go back in time.

Ack. Not walking, anything but walking. We're melting, melting I say!

And what's up with all the winged monkeys???

-Amy

george conklin wrote:


As Calcutta outlaws pedicabs, they are now fashionable with the New
Urbanist crowd. You can take home some stuff on one, if you agree to walk
next to it. That ought to please those who want to go back in time.



Pedicabs are popular enough in New York that the city council has
enacted regulations for them.

http://www.newsday.com/search/sns-ap...,2759553.story

--
John Mara

On May 19, 7:23 am, "george conklin" wrote:

Get a trailer. A basic Google search will give you many brands and
models.

As Calcutta outlaws pedicabs, they are now fashionable with the New
Urbanist crowd. You can take home some stuff on one, if you agree to walk
next to it. That ought to please those who want to go back in time.

Well, you seem to rejoice in going back in time, because as far as me
goes SUVs are dinosaurs. Unwilling to evolve, unwilling to listen (due
to their pea-sized brain) and causing a lot of trouble, like the war
over oil we are currently fighting --and losing.

And the American government and any other government who doesn't
guarantee a minimun safety for individuals who want NOT to contribute
to Global Warming, are accountable for the environmental disaster
looming upon us...

"I personally believe that the planet would be a better place if
everybody rode a bike instead of drive a car. However, until then I am
a happier, healthier person simply because I choose to ride instead of
fire up the car."
Thanks again.
michael

http://commutebybike.com/2006/11/15/...-a-difference/

Now some ecologists, who probably out of desperation for this sad
state of affairs, seeing no peaceful solution to it, took up violence
are being branded as "terrorists." SUVs drivers though are our best
patriots, particularly judging by the bumper stickers they proudly
parade: "We support our troops" etc.

George Orwell spoke about it with prophetic words...

'Newspeak is closely based on English but has a greatly reduced and
simplified vocabulary and grammar. This suited the totalitarian regime
of the Party, whose aim was to make any alternative thinking
("thoughtcrime") or speech impossible by removing any words or
possible constructs which describe the ideas of freedom, rebellion and
so on.

The Newspeak term for the English language is Oldspeak. Oldspeak was
intended to have been completely eclipsed by Newspeak before 2050.

The genesis of Orwell's Newspeak can be seen in his earlier essay,
"Politics and the English Language," in which he laments the quality
of the English of his day, citing examples of dying metaphors,
pretentious diction or rhetoric, and meaningless words - all of which
contribute to fuzzy ideas and a lack of logical thinking. Towards the
end of this essay, having argued his case, Orwell muses:

" I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably
curable. Those who deny this would argue, if they produced an argument
at all, that language merely reflects existing social conditions, and
that we cannot influence its development by any direct tinkering with
words or constructions. "

Thus forcing the use of Newspeak, according to Orwell, describes a
deliberate intent to exploit this degeneration with the aim of
oppressing its speakers.'

wrote in message
ups.com...

I said most people would have cars and bikes, not one
or the other. Most trips under 5 miles could be done by bike, and the
rest by car,

Especially when they're doing their week's shopping, no doubt.


When folks are not being so absolutist about everything...

Here's how I work it: if I have a big load (like the week's grocery
shopping), I'm in the car with other people, or the distance is too far, I
drive. If it's just me, I walk, bike, take the bus, or carpool.

So, next week I'm going to Olympia for work, that's 50 miles, and there' s
no decent public transport from here to there, so I'll be driving down the
5. But as it has been pointed out repeatedly, most people aren't going 50
miles, they're going 5. "Too far" is defined as a half mile, not five. The
five mile or less trips: - to the park and ride when I was too lazy to ride
my bike the whole way in to work, to the post office, to the drug store, to
religious services - I did these by bike or on foot.

This works pretty well for me. It could work well for a lot of people, if
they were just willing to try it.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky