The Bike Lobby is too powerful in DC...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If there is such a thing as a "bike lobby", it must be one of the most unsuccessful lobbies in the history of lobbying.

Even in DC and in spite of recent initiatives, the amount of road space and transportation budgets that are allowed to bike-specific infrastructure are miniscule compared to the proportion of people who commute by bike or bike recreationally. The inequality is even more stark considering that bikes create none of the negative externalities - e.g., pollution, injuries and fatalities, obesity, human productivity lost in traffic jams - that vehicular traffic does.

So, yes, a rather useless lobby if indeed one exists beyond the minds of those who seem to harbor an irrational hatred of bikes and infrastructure that protects the lives of people young, middle-aged, and old who ride bikes.

+1000

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The bike lobby is awful in Alexandria: rude, aggressive, bullying, and they lie (they bring in people who live and work somewhere else to meetings, sign petitions etc to get things changed in Alexandria). The head of BPAC had his blind cyclist friends contact the city to request the crosswalk on Seminary that goes in front of the BPAC member’s house, claiming they needed the crosswalk to cross safely.

Talk about the ultimate special interest.

Oh, how terrible, a crosswalk.

It was part of the $1,000,000 plus for bike lane improvements for about 5 blocks. It included. Person crosswalk, that no one uses, in front of BPAC’s head house. IYKYK. It was ridiculous.

Question: did anyone know how much of the cost of bike lane improvements is silly meetings with NIMBYs that address no real concerns?

Objective answers only please.

$0

All those government officials are salaried.

Although, I guess the $2.5m paid to WABA for "outreach" counts.

That is awesome. I had no idea that government employee salaries don't cost us anything. Thank you Car Fumes for your great point.

The BPAC velo lobbyist Wilson worshiper has entered the chat. The obnoxious guy who is uber aggressive and insulting and cannot have a civilized conversation. You’ve outed yourself, again. Sad.

I have no idea what BPAC or Wilson mean, but give me a break, what you'd written was pretty silly. Government employees time is free?

You don't know what Wilson is and you're on this site? Aggressively promoting bike lanes on upper Connecticut Avenue?

Goverment employees get paid the same regardless. It does not cost a single extra cent. In fact, it's part of their core job description.

OK, I googled BPAC. TF is a BPAC velo lobbyist, though? TF is a Wilson Worshipper? You mean a worshipper of the High School formerly known as Wilson? Who worships that HS? TF??

[Anonymous]

Yes, there is a bike lobby. Yes, they shove their agenda down the throats of others. Yes, they are sociopaths who have no sense of community other than to shove their agenda down the community's throats. Do you really not know them IRL? I do. They suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bike lobby is awful in Alexandria: rude, aggressive, bullying, and they lie (they bring in people who live and work somewhere else to meetings, sign petitions etc to get things changed in Alexandria). The head of BPAC had his blind cyclist friends contact the city to request the crosswalk on Seminary that goes in front of the BPAC member’s house, claiming they needed the crosswalk to cross safely.

Talk about the ultimate special interest.

Oh, how terrible, a crosswalk.

It was part of the $1,000,000 plus for bike lane improvements for about 5 blocks. It included. Person crosswalk, that no one uses, in front of BPAC’s head house. IYKYK. It was ridiculous.

Question: did anyone know how much of the cost of bike lane improvements is silly meetings with NIMBYs that address no real concerns?

Objective answers only please.

$0

All those government officials are salaried.

Although, I guess the $2.5m paid to WABA for "outreach" counts.

That is awesome. I had no idea that government employee salaries don't cost us anything. Thank you Car Fumes for your great point.

The BPAC velo lobbyist Wilson worshiper has entered the chat. The obnoxious guy who is uber aggressive and insulting and cannot have a civilized conversation. You’ve outed yourself, again. Sad.

I have no idea what BPAC or Wilson mean, but give me a break, what you'd written was pretty silly. Government employees time is free?

You don't know what Wilson is and you're on this site? Aggressively promoting bike lanes on upper Connecticut Avenue?

Goverment employees get paid the same regardless. It does not cost a single extra cent. In fact, it's part of their core job description.

If we do more work then we need more government employees to manage it. You seem to be divorced from reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a bike lobby. Yes, they shove their agenda down the throats of others. Yes, they are sociopaths who have no sense of community other than to shove their agenda down the community's throats. Do you really not know them IRL? I do. They suck.

So what have you done to make your voice heard? Have you attended any meetings? Filled in any interest forms? Voted? Anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a bike lobby. Yes, they shove their agenda down the throats of others. Yes, they are sociopaths who have no sense of community other than to shove their agenda down the community's throats. Do you really not know them IRL? I do. They suck.

So what have you done to make your voice heard? Have you attended any meetings? Filled in any interest forms? Voted? Anything?

Ugh, posting on DCUM isn't enough!?! Gosh, democracy is so hard. Like whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a bike lobby. Yes, they shove their agenda down the throats of others. Yes, they are sociopaths who have no sense of community other than to shove their agenda down the community's throats. Do you really not know them IRL? I do. They suck.

So what have you done to make your voice heard? Have you attended any meetings? Filled in any interest forms? Voted? Anything?

Why would you make those assumptions? How crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a bike lobby. Yes, they shove their agenda down the throats of others. Yes, they are sociopaths who have no sense of community other than to shove their agenda down the community's throats. Do you really not know them IRL? I do. They suck.

Well, then maybe those who bicycle should hire new lobbyists. In the real world, this "lobby" appears to be completely ineffective at securing public resources that even begin to correspond to bicyclists' share of transportation users. About the only thing they seem to be doing well is driving you to flood this dear forum with nonsensical ramblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a bike lobby. Yes, they shove their agenda down the throats of others. Yes, they are sociopaths who have no sense of community other than to shove their agenda down the community's throats. Do you really not know them IRL? I do. They suck.

Well, then maybe those who bicycle should hire new lobbyists. In the real world, this "lobby" appears to be completely ineffective at securing public resources that even begin to correspond to bicyclists' share of transportation users. About the only thing they seem to be doing well is driving you to flood this dear forum with nonsensical ramblings.

That was my only post on this thread. I rarely post on bike threads. I live in a community that is being adversely affected by the bike lobby. I know people in the bike lobby and they are terrible people. That is all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a bike lobby. Yes, they shove their agenda down the throats of others. Yes, they are sociopaths who have no sense of community other than to shove their agenda down the community's throats. Do you really not know them IRL? I do. They suck.

Well, then maybe those who bicycle should hire new lobbyists. In the real world, this "lobby" appears to be completely ineffective at securing public resources that even begin to correspond to bicyclists' share of transportation users. About the only thing they seem to be doing well is driving you to flood this dear forum with nonsensical ramblings.

That was my only post on this thread. I rarely post on bike threads. I live in a community that is being adversely affected by the bike lobby. I know people in the bike lobby and they are terrible people. That is all.

lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wanna REALLY see them get upset? Have police start ticketing riders who exceed the new 20mph speed limits on neighborhood streets and not stopping at all for red lights (this is post-Idaho stop law, where stop signs are yields and red lights are stops).

It’ll be funny hearing them complaining about laws THEY wanted.

Want to see even more people get even more upset? Have police start doing the same for drivers exceeding the speed limits or failing to come to complete stops at stop signs (and honestly, you'd be surprised at the number of drivers who just don't stop at red lights, either -- it's not that common, but it's a lot more than the 0 percent share it should be).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanna REALLY see them get upset? Have police start ticketing riders who exceed the new 20mph speed limits on neighborhood streets and not stopping at all for red lights (this is post-Idaho stop law, where stop signs are yields and red lights are stops).

It’ll be funny hearing them complaining about laws THEY wanted.

Want to see even more people get even more upset? Have police start doing the same for drivers exceeding the speed limits or failing to come to complete stops at stop signs (and honestly, you'd be surprised at the number of drivers who just don't stop at red lights, either -- it's not that common, but it's a lot more than the 0 percent share it should be).

Why does the prospect of traffic enforcement against bicycles bother you so much? I thought your goal was traffic safety and Vision Zero?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanna REALLY see them get upset? Have police start ticketing riders who exceed the new 20mph speed limits on neighborhood streets and not stopping at all for red lights (this is post-Idaho stop law, where stop signs are yields and red lights are stops).

It’ll be funny hearing them complaining about laws THEY wanted.

Want to see even more people get even more upset? Have police start doing the same for drivers exceeding the speed limits or failing to come to complete stops at stop signs (and honestly, you'd be surprised at the number of drivers who just don't stop at red lights, either -- it's not that common, but it's a lot more than the 0 percent share it should be).

It is really funny watching email list traffic on a stop sign camera. These people are all up in arms about how the camera is *unfairly* ticketing them and they post their videos, which show them either slowing but not stopping (e.g, "you can see my brake lights, so how is that not a stop!?!") or stopping after the clearly painted stop bar - sometimes halfway into the crosswalk. I'll be they are the same people who post here all up in arms about bicyclists breaking the law (about half the time talking about things that are legal that they just don't like).

I'm getting some popcorn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanna REALLY see them get upset? Have police start ticketing riders who exceed the new 20mph speed limits on neighborhood streets and not stopping at all for red lights (this is post-Idaho stop law, where stop signs are yields and red lights are stops).

It’ll be funny hearing them complaining about laws THEY wanted.

Want to see even more people get even more upset? Have police start doing the same for drivers exceeding the speed limits or failing to come to complete stops at stop signs (and honestly, you'd be surprised at the number of drivers who just don't stop at red lights, either -- it's not that common, but it's a lot more than the 0 percent share it should be).

Why does the prospect of traffic enforcement against bicycles bother you so much? I thought your goal was traffic safety and Vision Zero?

I'm all on board for ticketing bicyclists who exceed the speed limits and fail to stop at red lights. Personally, I can't imagine I get over 20 mph much on a bike, and I can't recall the last time I blew through a red light unless it was very obvious that there were no cars coming for several blocks in any direction, which doesn't ever really happen around here, so I'm as likely to get a ticket for these things as someone who never rides a bike is.

But if you want to make a difference for safety, as opposed to just to own the bike dorks or whatever you think you're doing, ticketing drivers is going to get a lot more bang for MPD's buck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanna REALLY see them get upset? Have police start ticketing riders who exceed the new 20mph speed limits on neighborhood streets and not stopping at all for red lights (this is post-Idaho stop law, where stop signs are yields and red lights are stops).

It’ll be funny hearing them complaining about laws THEY wanted.

Want to see even more people get even more upset? Have police start doing the same for drivers exceeding the speed limits or failing to come to complete stops at stop signs (and honestly, you'd be surprised at the number of drivers who just don't stop at red lights, either -- it's not that common, but it's a lot more than the 0 percent share it should be).

Why does the prospect of traffic enforcement against bicycles bother you so much? I thought your goal was traffic safety and Vision Zero?

I'm all on board for ticketing bicyclists who exceed the speed limits and fail to stop at red lights. Personally, I can't imagine I get over 20 mph much on a bike, and I can't recall the last time I blew through a red light unless it was very obvious that there were no cars coming for several blocks in any direction, which doesn't ever really happen around here, so I'm as likely to get a ticket for these things as someone who never rides a bike is.

But if you want to make a difference for safety, as opposed to just to own the bike dorks or whatever you think you're doing, ticketing drivers is going to get a lot more bang for MPD's buck.

+1 I love that someone thought this was a gotcha.