Re: America's Top 50 Bike Friendly Cities --damned lies!
TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit
> "http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/home.html"
“There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” -Mark Twain
Well, this map must be based on statistics, not someone marking a
point at random in the map... HOW THE HELL CAN MIAMI BE AMONG THE BEST
CITIES TO RIDE A BIKE?
And I may grant you that YES! There's quite a few bike lanes and bike
paths out there, but they are never connected. Choose any point in
Miami, say downtown Miami, and try going East or West, North or
South.
My closest path is a mixed path that goes for some mile and a half,
and it makes it quite challenging to avoid hitting dogs and kids
darting into your path. But this same path must have cost over a
million bucks and counting! It has some glaring flaws in design as
well, where the lights (some juicy contract there) blind you at night,
too many, too bright, aiming at your head.
I've been blocked from the local forums where I was addressing those
issues.* They simply don't want to hear about it. So now I'M THROWING
THE SHIT OUT TO THE WORLD...
* A couple of issues were solved, one halfway, possibly due to my
MAKING NOISE. The lights, on the other hand, were being changed the
other day for the same design because they were peeling, not because
they were blinding. Over 1,200 people have read that and still they
couldn't address the issue that affects them! But if go out to walk
your fancy dog for it to do poo-poo, what do you care about cyclists
or skaters!?
So here's the strategy: MAKE NOISE AND THROW THE SHIT!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE WISE TIBETAN MONKEY SAYS
"You got nothing to lose but your cage!"
http://webspawner.com/users/BANANAREVOLUTION
TibetanMonkey, Originator of the Banana Kung-Fu
> On 08/04/10 7:51 AM, Kristian M Zoerhoff wrote:
>
> > On 2010-04-08, SMS<scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote:
> >> "http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/home.html"
>
> > yeah, I used to ride a lot, but there was no real riding scene that I was
> > ever aware of, and the terrain isn't exactly flat, especially getting in
> > and out of downtown.
>
> > The coverage was pretty thin, though. I would have liked to see more links
> > to local advocacy groups and bike maps, not just peoples'"favorite rides".
>
> > [*] Pleasantly so
>
> They even admit that they tried for geographic diversity in the list
> rather than listing the actual top 50 cities. San Jose didn't make the
> list, even though it's very bicycle friendly. Silicon Valley is composed
> of a bunch of small cities under 100K population, many of which are very
> bicycle friendly (Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara) and
> some of which are bicycle unfriendly (Cupertino, Milpitas).
If these are the best 50, I don't want to see the worst. Key West is
pretty good, but it's such a small location. They don't mean a thing
until all the bike paths in America lead somewhere.
SMS
> On Apr 8, 3:54 am, SMS<scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> "http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/home.html"
>
>
> Well, this map must be based on statistics, not someone marking a
> point at random in the map... HOW THE HELL CAN MIAMI BE AMONG THE BEST
> CITIES TO RIDE A BIKE?
Having grown up in south Florida, I was amazed to see Miami as well.
Hollywood, where I lived was great though with lots of wide roads and of
course the Boardwalk where it was always a fight for bicycle access,
which they finally solved in a pretty good way by separating bicycles
and pedestrians.
> And I may grant you that YES! There's quite a few bike lanes and bike
> paths out there, but they are never connected. Choose any point in
> Miami, say downtown Miami, and try going East or West, North or
> South.
Well in Miami you also have to be very careful where you go.
> My closest path is a mixed path that goes for some mile and a half,
> and it makes it quite challenging to avoid hitting dogs and kids
> darting into your path. But this same path must have cost over a
> million bucks and counting! It has some glaring flaws in design as
> well, where the lights (some juicy contract there) blind you at night,
> too many, too bright, aiming at your head.
Yes, and the problem with those multi-use paths is that they're used as
an excuse to not make roads that go to the same places safe for
bicycles, or in some cases they are used as alternatives to roads. We
had to fight like crazy to get bicycles allowed on expressways (not
freeways), which are about the safest place to ride. The opposition was
just insane, they got the PTA to come out against it.
TibetanMonkey, Originator of the Banana Kung-Fu
> On 08/04/10 9:12 AM, TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit wrote:
>
> > On Apr 8, 3:54 am, SMS<scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote:
>
> >> "http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/home.html"
>
>
> > Well, this map must be based on statistics, not someone marking a
> > point at random in the map... HOW THE HELL CAN MIAMI BE AMONG THE BEST
> > CITIES TO RIDE A BIKE?
>
> Having grown up in south Florida, I was amazed to see Miami as well.
> Hollywood, where I lived was great though with lots of wide roads and of
> course the Boardwalk where it was always a fight for bicycle access,
> which they finally solved in a pretty good way by separating bicycles
> and pedestrians.
Boardwalk, great but crowded. Pedestrians still wander into the path.
But this new one has wavy lines making it impossible to separate
anyone. They even act as a catch for skate wheels. That's one of the
flaws. Besides they allow dogs on it.
>
> > And I may grant you that YES! There's quite a few bike lanes and bike
> > paths out there, but they are never connected. Choose any point in
> > Miami, say downtown Miami, and try going East or West, North or
> > South.
>
> Well in Miami you also have to be very careful where you go.
If you go into Overtown just 2 blocks away... the jungle, huh?
>
> > My closest path is a mixed path that goes for some mile and a half,
> > and it makes it quite challenging to avoid hitting dogs and kids
> > darting into your path. But this same path must have cost over a
> > million bucks and counting! It has some glaring flaws in design as
> > well, where the lights (some juicy contract there) blind you at night,
> > too many, too bright, aiming at your head.
>
> Yes, and the problem with those multi-use paths is that they're used as
> an excuse to not make roads that go to the same places safe for
> bicycles, or in some cases they are used as alternatives to roads. We
> had to fight like crazy to get bicycles allowed on expressways (not
> freeways), which are about the safest place to ride. The opposition was
> just insane, they got the PTA to come out against it.
The people who don't ride bikes, simply don't care. And those who do
just follow the path assigned to them.
But perhaps it was all a prank about Miami. ;)
TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit
> "TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit"<comandante.ban...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:a33fd82a-2d20-4943...@y14g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...> Bicycles are targets
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmDvUtxrJQVOLUTION
They seem to be doing better than many sheep who have a "license to
kill"...
bullshitsurveys
<nolionn...@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:b4254156-887b-4717-ae01-18e587ac18f9
@z6g2000yqz.googlegroups.com:
Yeah, it's total bullshit. Tucson ranked high and it has one
of the highest death rates from senile, druggie, drunk and
maniac drivers riding over bicyclists than any city in the
Kuntry. Very dangerous place to ride and the streets are
terrible, potholes everywhere, cracks. They recently passed a
bond supposedly to finance roads and that money I am sure
must have gone into someone's pocket. Corrupt, bullshit, low
class town and certainly no haven for bicyclists. You take
your life in you hands everytime you ride here.
TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit
> "SMS" <scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:4bbe012e$0$1649$742e...@news.sonic.net...
>
>
>
> > On 08/04/10 7:51 AM, Kristian M Zoerhoff wrote:
> >>> "http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/home.html"
>
> >> yeah, I used to ride a lot, but there was no real riding scene that I was
> >> ever aware of, and the terrain isn't exactly flat, especially getting in
> >> and out of downtown.
>
> >> The coverage was pretty thin, though. I would have liked to see more
> >> links
> >> to local advocacy groups and bike maps, not just peoples'"favorite
> >> rides".
>
> >> [*] Pleasantly so
>
> > They even admit that they tried for geographic diversity in the list
> > rather than listing the actual top 50 cities. San Jose didn't make the
> > list, even though it's very bicycle friendly. Silicon Valley is composed
> > of a bunch of small cities under 100K population, many of which are very
> > bicycle friendly (Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara) and
> > some of which are bicycle unfriendly (Cupertino, Milpitas).
>
> --------------------
> There are many important things a city can do to gain our consideration for
> this list: segregated bike lanes, municipal bike racks and bike boulevards,
> to name a few. If you have those things in your town, cyclists probably have
> the ear of the local government-another key factor. To make our Top 50, a
> city must also support a vibrant and diverse bike culture, and it must have
> smart, savvy bike shops. If your town isn't named below, use this as an
> opportunity to do something about it. Already on the list? Go out and enjoy
> a ride. (Note: We considered only cities with populations of 100,000 or
> more, and we strove for geographical diversity to avoid having a list
> dominated by California's many bike-oriented cities.)
> --------------------
>
> If you asked the very casual recreational couple-time-month-at-most cyclist
> if San Jose was a "bicycle friendly" city, do you really think they'd say
> yes? I doubt it. You and I and most everyone we deal with in the cycling
> community know the ropes and can deal with densely-populated areas and still
> consider them "friendly." Dick & Jane probably feel subjectively "safer" in
> an environment that could actually be less friendly and accomodating towards
> cyclists but feel less threatening.
>
> Let's look locally. Woodside isn't "Bicycle Friendly" and in fact are pretty
> darned hostile towards cyclists, in terms of community support. Yet most
> would feel a lot safer riding in Woodside than Sunnyvale or Palo Alto.
>
> In any event, it was clearly stated that the selection process was designed
> deliberately minimize the number of California entries into the list.
>
Signs of danger:
a) No one else riding out there,
b) Riders on sidewalk,
c) Lots of road rage.
If you ignore those warnings, you are stupid. They all happen together
around here.
Dan O
I'll ignore what I want. You call me stupid if you want. (See if I
care.)
Actually, quite a few people out riding this morning. Things are
looking up., Still the city I ride to has got to be one of the 50
worst.
TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit
Well, you ain't alone you ain't stupid.
The roads around my place, Miami Beach, Florida, Collins Ave, to be
specific, all the way up to Ft. Lauderdale, and peripheral roads are
not that way. Driving itself is barbaric.
There's a whole lot of money going into a particular section of mixed
path though. You know what I'm considering? Ignoring the fucking bike
and ride a kayak. You must be able to change in order to survive,
right?
But it's not only about survival. I could survive by riding on
sidewalks, maybe. I guess it's just about pride. I want a whole
fucking lane to myself or they can shove it in, including the mixed
path where the beautiful people walk their fancy dogs.
And yet we have a vague promise that things will change in the near
future. Actually they said --I read it myself-- that they would launch
a rental program similar to Paris'... right in middle of the Miami
jungle. Not Monkey Jungle, which is nearby, also impassable for a
bike, but the mean streets where the big jungle vehicles rule.
I'll keep reporting, but I know my situation is not unique, which is
why I love to make this much noise.
Dan O
Brother.
TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit
> On Apr 9, 10:53 pm, "TibetanMonkey, the-Monkey-with-the-Bag-of-Shit"
> > I'll keep reporting, but I know my situation is not unique, which is
> > why I love to make this much noise.
>
> Brother.
I may be poor and proud of it but I don't want to be crippled by a
reckless driver, which is part of the norm. Worse, the more angry I
get the more shit I will throw at this Banana Republic, and we all
know EVERYTHING IS FAKE, right?
"The major problem with representative democracies is that voter
apathy is more common than political interest."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracy
Luckily I have more than one path out of the jungle, and so WALKING
and CANOEING would be the way. My bag of shit will probably be spared
for other areas of interest.