Re:Sharrows, the bicycle infrastructure that doesn’t work an...
by 0xB31B1B on Monday December 14, 2020 @01:39AM
(#25414221)
The problem is right now in SF we have a strong bike lobby and we vote and it still isn’t enough. The idea that voting with a block is a way to forward policy goals in 2020 is quaint TBH. As far as I can tell pretty much all successful political movements in the US (NRA/guns rights, marriage equality etc) have made the most material progress with both direct action (protests) and lawsuits despite both movements being electorally unpopular and having no electoral success at the time of their greatest achievements. Voting is a necessary but insufficient ingredient in policy change and has never been the silver bullet centrist democrats claim it to be. We need to add some legal adventureism to the mix to push the ball forward here both through expanding common law in friendly ways against car centric policies as well as just making it more costly to not have bike lanes than to construct them for the city and its residents.
Re:Sharrows, the bicycle infrastructure that doesn’t work an...
by alisonkisk on Sunday December 13, 2020 @06:40PM
(#25411635)
Biker isn't an inherent attribute. I'm not going to abandon my family and job just for better bike paths.
Re:Sharrows, the bicycle infrastructure that doesn’t work an...
by iaabtpbtpnn on Sunday December 13, 2020 @06:44PM
(#25411673)
Road cycling as a hobby starts in the middle class and goes all the way up. A lot of rich people ride bikes themselves.
Do you want ANTI-bike laws that ban bikes from everywhere not permitted? To someone rich, the "solution" to having to deal with bike liability is to ban bikes.
The only solution is separate bicycle and car infrastructure. Period.
Yes, it sucks that San Francisco has backed off separate infrastructure due to budget. However, the solution is to go lobby SF and to make pro-bike infrastructure a single vote issue to make them put it back.
One thing I do not understand: why hasn't some rich millionaire/billionaire taken some second/third tier city and funded bike infrastructure into it? It seems like it would be a lot easier to get bikers to move to a city that has infrastructure rather than trying to jam infrastructure into city that is basically land-locked/water-locked.