I don’t live in Queens, the focus of this *New York Times* article (part of a [weekly series](https://www.nytimes.com/series/street-wars)), but after reading it I clicked through to the “No Bike Lanes” petition over at change.org.
There, I found that one of the claims of #StopTheBikeLanes is that the “introduction [of bike lanes] could inadvertently lure car vandals and thieves, jeopardizing the peace we’ve long enjoyed.”
Makes me wonder if there’s more to that claim than some carbrain fearmongering?
CyclingThruChicago on
Driving is so default in America’s culture that so many people have developed an expectation that they can store, drive and temporarily park their private property essentially anywhere across the entire continental United States. And any hurdle to that expectation is viewed like a personal attack.
ponte95ma on
My favorite part of this NYT piece was actually the “Cycling cycles back, again and again” retrospective bit — and not just because the most recent “journalism” linked in that last section makes Adult Me feel better about some of the cringe that I wrote as Teen Me.
In particular, one of their reporters concluded her 1970 article “Bicycling: The Individualist’s Mode of Transport” with this delicious skewering:
>Stewart Mott, the 32-year-old millionaire who lists himself in the Manhattan telephone directory as a “philanthropist,” often peddles up Fifth Avenue to social engagements in a dinner jacket….
>
>”I get a great sense of civic responsibility to know that when I ride down a street, I’m not polluting.”
>
>Mr. Mott’s momey comes from stock in General motors.
3 Comments
I don’t live in Queens, the focus of this *New York Times* article (part of a [weekly series](https://www.nytimes.com/series/street-wars)), but after reading it I clicked through to the “No Bike Lanes” petition over at change.org.
There, I found that one of the claims of #StopTheBikeLanes is that the “introduction [of bike lanes] could inadvertently lure car vandals and thieves, jeopardizing the peace we’ve long enjoyed.”
Makes me wonder if there’s more to that claim than some carbrain fearmongering?
Driving is so default in America’s culture that so many people have developed an expectation that they can store, drive and temporarily park their private property essentially anywhere across the entire continental United States. And any hurdle to that expectation is viewed like a personal attack.
My favorite part of this NYT piece was actually the “Cycling cycles back, again and again” retrospective bit — and not just because the most recent “journalism” linked in that last section makes Adult Me feel better about some of the cringe that I wrote as Teen Me.
In particular, one of their reporters concluded her 1970 article “Bicycling: The Individualist’s Mode of Transport” with this delicious skewering:
>Stewart Mott, the 32-year-old millionaire who lists himself in the Manhattan telephone directory as a “philanthropist,” often peddles up Fifth Avenue to social engagements in a dinner jacket….
>
>”I get a great sense of civic responsibility to know that when I ride down a street, I’m not polluting.”
>
>Mr. Mott’s momey comes from stock in General motors.
Gray Lady, afflicting the comfortable …