Bloviating on Detroit bike lanes
06-18-18, 04:09 PM
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Bloviating on Detroit bike lanes
Prepare to be amazed. And do read the comments.
Keith Crain: Say goodbye to the Motor City Crain's Detroit Business
Keith Crain: Say goodbye to the Motor City Crain's Detroit Business
06-19-18, 04:30 AM
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bloviating on detroit bike lanes
As a Detroit native, I regularly read the Great Lakes Regional Discussion Forum. I recently posted to an A&S Forum, “Getting Serious about Eco-Cycling”:
And (from my personal memories, and several threads on BF) in response to this recent thread,“Novi MI Routes”:
.
Prepare to be amazed. And do read the comments.
Keith Crain: Say goodbye to the Motor City Crain's Detroit Business
Keith Crain: Say goodbye to the Motor City Crain's Detroit Business
Originally Posted by Keith Crain
I am not sure whose idea it was, but all of a sudden, we are spending a heck of a lot of money to convert Detroit into a bicycle paradise.Where there once were three lanes for motorized travel, now they have cut back to two by adding some poles and turned the third lane into a bicycle lane…
I must admit, I am mystified as to why our city is spending all this money to make these changes. My guess is that we are talking about a 20,000-to-1 ratio of cars to bicycles, and that is only when the weather is perfect in the summer. I have no idea what the plans are when it is raining or worse, snowing; maybe they will turn into snowmobile lanes to promote tourism….
Certainly there must be better uses for our tax dollars than setting up something that costs plenty and serves few people. They must have a powerful lobby.We were the Motor City for a long time. Now it looks like we will have to change our name.
I must admit, I am mystified as to why our city is spending all this money to make these changes. My guess is that we are talking about a 20,000-to-1 ratio of cars to bicycles, and that is only when the weather is perfect in the summer. I have no idea what the plans are when it is raining or worse, snowing; maybe they will turn into snowmobile lanes to promote tourism….
Certainly there must be better uses for our tax dollars than setting up something that costs plenty and serves few people. They must have a powerful lobby.We were the Motor City for a long time. Now it looks like we will have to change our name.
Those proposals sound great, but you need to find the political will to implement them.The global political situation is highly polarized between the right and the left, and this manifests in most aspects of life, including cycling. Cycling is mostly associated with the left. Getting massive city transformations without at least some support from the right is an uphill battle….
God luck convincing the typical conservative that he should spend tax payer money to remove car lanes in order to avoid climate change. Luckily, cycling has much more benefits other than fighting climate change…
What is not to like? Cycling infrastructure should not be a cyclists vs drivers battle, nor a left vs right competition. Most liberals I know already like the idea of building cycling infrastructure. The question is how to get conservatives to support the idea. And it should be possible, because the idea can benefit all. .
God luck convincing the typical conservative that he should spend tax payer money to remove car lanes in order to avoid climate change. Luckily, cycling has much more benefits other than fighting climate change…
What is not to like? Cycling infrastructure should not be a cyclists vs drivers battle, nor a left vs right competition. Most liberals I know already like the idea of building cycling infrastructure. The question is how to get conservatives to support the idea. And it should be possible, because the idea can benefit all. .
From a daily reading of the Politics and Religion Forum, it certainly does seem that the large majority of self-selected subscribers that I recognize from the cycling forums have leftward political views.
Just yesterday, I was listening to a right-leaning popular Boston Talk Show, The Howie Carr Show, who is also a columnist for the right-leaning Boston Herald newspaper. The topic was an article in the Sunday Herald, "Boston has the ‘worst traffic in the country’ ... How would you fix it?." (link)
I could not open the comments section, but according to Howie, many suggestions were to eliminate the bicycle lanes.
https://howiecarrshow.com/2018/06/13...-13-18-hour-4/
Just yesterday, I was listening to a right-leaning popular Boston Talk Show, The Howie Carr Show, who is also a columnist for the right-leaning Boston Herald newspaper. The topic was an article in the Sunday Herald, "Boston has the ‘worst traffic in the country’ ... How would you fix it?." (link)
I could not open the comments section, but according to Howie, many suggestions were to eliminate the bicycle lanes.
https://howiecarrshow.com/2018/06/13...-13-18-hour-4/
Boston…Jim from Boston. D’uh.
Actually, besides the simplicity and utility of that screen name, it has a deeper meaning. I’m an avid radio talk show fan, and when I (rarely) call in, I’m introduced as Jim from Boston (…”and now here’s Jim from Boston. What’s up Jim"?)
Actually, besides the simplicity and utility of that screen name, it has a deeper meaning. I’m an avid radio talk show fan, and when I (rarely) call in, I’m introduced as Jim from Boston (…”and now here’s Jim from Boston. What’s up Jim"?)
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 06-19-18 at 04:51 AM.
06-25-18, 10:38 AM
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funny quotes.
I liked this one:
I'm thinking he doesn't live in Detroit proper. The transformation is amazing, and if the influx of millennial is helped by bike lanes, great. No one of that age wants to pay the insane costs for insurance (and other costs) for a car. The hipsters, millennials, older folks with a dream - everyone has transformed the city core - and that is truely amazing.
Of course none of these people I talk to remember Car Jackings, crack related crimes or the Coleman young era. I guess that is a good thing as they feel so much more comfortable than the people over 40 I talk to who can only remember those things and may never go south of 8 mile because of it.
I liked this one:
Certainly there must be better uses for our tax dollars than setting up something that costs plenty and serves few people. They must have a powerful lobby.We were the Motor City for a long time. Now it looks like we will have to change our name.
Of course none of these people I talk to remember Car Jackings, crack related crimes or the Coleman young era. I guess that is a good thing as they feel so much more comfortable than the people over 40 I talk to who can only remember those things and may never go south of 8 mile because of it.
06-25-18, 10:54 AM
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I enjoyed this quote: "We still do not seem to have dedicated high-occupancy-vehicle lanes for any of our freeways, but I am sure someone is planning that for the future."
(uh, if you knew Detroit you would know that they are plan and under construction for I-75).
I read years ago how many bike lanes (which are often not much more than green or white paint) could be made for the cost of the I-375 project he prefers. I for one am glad we got the bike lanes and that bike useage has skyrocketed. They cost much less than his highway project.
I love biking in Detroit - part of that is because there are 4-6 lane roads that carry the traffic of 2 lanes. Making a bike lane was a no brainer.
Rather a lame editorial with sentances that start out with:
"Now there must be..."
"I assume..."
"I have no idea about..."
" which I am told..."
"We still do not seem to have... but I am sure someone is planning..."
"I have no idea what ..."
Not much fact or knowledge in that article...
(uh, if you knew Detroit you would know that they are plan and under construction for I-75).
I read years ago how many bike lanes (which are often not much more than green or white paint) could be made for the cost of the I-375 project he prefers. I for one am glad we got the bike lanes and that bike useage has skyrocketed. They cost much less than his highway project.
I love biking in Detroit - part of that is because there are 4-6 lane roads that carry the traffic of 2 lanes. Making a bike lane was a no brainer.
Rather a lame editorial with sentances that start out with:
"Now there must be..."
"I assume..."
"I have no idea about..."
" which I am told..."
"We still do not seem to have... but I am sure someone is planning..."
"I have no idea what ..."
Not much fact or knowledge in that article...
06-27-18, 02:50 PM
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I recently started riding into Detroit from the suburbs due to our excellent Randonneuring group. After a couple rides into the city, I went back on my own a few times more. I'm amazed just how many bike lanes there are now.
And to hear some old, angry man whining about unused lanes being converted to bike lanes is saddening. He's probably one of the idiots that scream from inside his car when he comes upon a cyclist, screaming "use the sidewalks!" (though it is illegal in much of Michigan).
And to hear some old, angry man whining about unused lanes being converted to bike lanes is saddening. He's probably one of the idiots that scream from inside his car when he comes upon a cyclist, screaming "use the sidewalks!" (though it is illegal in much of Michigan).
07-02-18, 02:17 PM
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I was running late to work today and took the E. Jefferson bike lane west to downtown.
It saved time even though I slowed at intersections and drives where cars were pulling out because it was obvious motorists weren't looking for bikes.
It saved time even though I slowed at intersections and drives where cars were pulling out because it was obvious motorists weren't looking for bikes.
07-05-18, 07:49 AM
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Still learning
Keith Crain is about as progressive as L. Brooks Patterson.
07-05-18, 09:04 AM
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Wow! Is LBP still around? He already a was well-known controversial figure back before 1977 when I lived in Detroit.
But who can compare with Rob Ford?
In 2015, Rob Ford died in 2016, at the age of 46.
But who can compare with Rob Ford?
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
Two years ago (in 2013) we visited Toronto and when riding on Yonge St. I realized how valuable were those simply painted bike lanes we have in Boston; Toronto had none.
Later on that visit, I met a cyclist and we exchanged tales of riding in our mutual cities. He told me about Rob Ford’s vehement anti-cycling stance. Later that year I started a thread on A&S, since moved to P&R,"Conservative’s New Enemy: Bikes"
Later on that visit, I met a cyclist and we exchanged tales of riding in our mutual cities. He told me about Rob Ford’s vehement anti-cycling stance. Later that year I started a thread on A&S, since moved to P&R,"Conservative’s New Enemy: Bikes"
Originally Posted by Boston Globe
...But Ford reserves special venom for the menace called the bicycle. He is perhaps the most antibike politician in the world. In 2007,he told the Toronto City Council that roads were designed for only buses, cars,and trucks. If cyclists got killed on roads, “it’s their own fault at the end of the day,” he said.
He compared biking on a city street to swimming with sharks—“sooner or later you’re going to get bitten.” He once summarized his views in City Hall succinctly: “Cyclists are a pain in the ass to the motorists."
He compared biking on a city street to swimming with sharks—“sooner or later you’re going to get bitten.” He once summarized his views in City Hall succinctly: “Cyclists are a pain in the ass to the motorists."
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 07-05-18 at 04:08 PM.
07-06-18, 06:59 AM
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We came to Detroit in 2012 when it was just coming up from the bottom and weren't aware of how bad it had been. I was surprised that some of the people who had stuck it out felt that newcomers thought they were, for the lack of a better word, "losers," for not leaving. But I remember when people thought I was a loser for renting instead of owning a home like we do now, so I didn't stereotype them.
07-06-18, 07:03 AM
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