So I was just reading over at ATXBS that bicycles are on the list of ”items determined to be a potential safety hazard” and are banned by the Secret Service for the Obama inauguration. WTF? Airlines are starting to charge for bikes even if the fold into normal sized luggage, the Dallas bike coordinator is anti-bike lane of any kind, and now this! Never mind that cars are the real safety hazard in this country.
So if you are going to the inauguration, leave your bike at home. Oh, and you’ll need to leave your pets as well. I’d hate to see your toy poodle, Buffy, get confiscated because “Items surrendered to security officials will not be returned.”
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on Jan 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
You know, don’t you think it is time you get off the Dallas Bike Coordinator? He is pro bike but anti bike lane. Bikes have a right to use the road, there are many places that bike lanes do not go. It is a good Idea that riders know how to ride with traffic, and traffic learns to flow with bikes.
You guys down in Austin want and have bike lanes, while we in Dallas don’t what is your problem? I don’t see him always complaining that you disagree with him, why do you feel you need to complain about him? There are two schools of thought on bike lanes, Austin follows one, Dallas another, that is freedom of choice. Isn’t it? That is what America is all about.
It is nice to see that we are so important to you in Austin.
on Jan 13th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Dero will be provided the WABA with loaner event bike racks.
See more information on Dero’s website:
http://www.dero.com/blog/
on Jan 13th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Black Pearl,
The problem is that the cyclists of Dallas don’t have this position, just the person in charge of determining how cycling resources are spent. When the citizens of Oak Cliff asked the city for bicycle infrastructure, they were blocked because of this person. It is not the job of city staff to promote an ideology or even policy in general. Their job is to serve the citizens and leave the policy decisions to the city council.
on Jan 14th, 2009 at 5:47 am
It is not the job of city staff to promote an ideology or even policy in general.
Actually it is the job of the city staff to promote an Ideology for the general good, and to have a “big Picture” for the whole city not just one small part, and if the sum of the small parts is greater than a majority then the sum should ban together to remove the city staffer. This has not happened here in Dallas so it is not for outsiders to join with the minority to tell us how to run our city. Please address things in Austin and leave Dallas alone, unless you, being from Austin are speaking for the state DOT.
Isn’t there enough going on in Austin that you don’t have to wage a vendetta against one person in Dallas? I don’t see any blogs in Dallas except the one you mention that complain about the position of the Coordinator.
By the way if it is not obvious I DO live in Dallas, and mostly I enjoy your blog.
on Jan 14th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Elliott and I have both lived in the Dallas metro in the past, even if we don’t live there now. It is absolutely ridiculous for the Dallas coordinator to think the way he does when all evidence says the opposite – see Portland’s data of having zero cycling fatalities five out of the last ten years, for example. Dallas is completely cyclist-hostile in comparison, and the lack of infrastructure is not giving drivers any cue to behave otherwise.
If Mr. Summer actually wants more people to bike for transportation in Dallas, clearly his strategy is wrong. With all the advances in urban design and transportation that Dallas has made in the last 15 years or so, it’s sad to see them held back in this key area.
on Jan 14th, 2009 at 9:20 am
But again he is the BIKE COORDINATOR not the bike Czar.
The Dallas policy is no bike lanes, while the Bishop Arts district wants bike lanes, does their neighbor Kessler Park? How about Bent Tree Community? How about Lakeview? How about the M sttreets? Lower Greenviell? The Village? It is the policy of Dallas, granted is was suggested by the Coordinator, but if he does not have the support of the majority of the city THEY should call to do something about it. I read most of the bike blogs in Texas and for some reason you bring up this more even than the Oak Cliff Blog. It just causes me to wounder.
Additionally, the gentleman in question and I rode together back when he got the job almost 19 years ago so all the advances that the city has made, that you reference, have been under his watch.
Again I say, unlike you, the policy that Dallas follows is not “wrong” just different than the one that you choose to follow. There are many more cities with out bike lanes than there are with them.
I can point to a number of Bike/ car fatalities in Portland in just the last year so there might be someone wrong here but it is not necessarily in Dallas.
on Jan 14th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Black Pearl,
I appreciated your spirited comments. This thread is getting a little long, but I wanted to comment on a few things you’ve said.
1. I would hardly call what we are doing a vendetta. We’ve written one article and linked to it a few time.
2. The Dallas bike coordinator made public statements about city policy. He is a public official, and I think this is a totally legitimate issue to discuss in this forum. We are not calling his momma names or getting personal. We are just having a discussion of ideas.
3. Your assumptions about what staff’s duties are incorrect for a City Manager style government such as Dallas. City Manager style government was a response by the progressive populist movement of the early 20th century to the excesses of the strong mayor system including patronage appointments of city staff. In Dallas as most Texas cities, the City Manager who is appointed, not elected, serves as the chief executive executing the policies adopted by the city council, the elected body of the citizens. City staff serve under the City Manager to implement these policies. The Mayor is a vote on the city council, its presiding office, and the titular head of the city but does not directly tell staff what to do. The key point here is that the City Council as the only elected representative of the public set city policy, not staff.
As far as I can tell, the Dallas City Council has never adopted a policy that there should be no bike lanes. If this is the case, by making the provocative, public statements about bike facilities the Dallas bike coordinator is setting policy for the city, which is outside his authority. Either he made these comments without consulting the City’s public affairs department or made them with the approval of the department which would reinforce the idea that it is city policy. If either is the case, I think the Dallas city legal department might want to have him issue statement of clarification on the policy at the least. Similar instances of staff attempting to make policy have been the subject of lawsuits against the city of Austin.
My issue here is not just of policy difference but of good government. Unless there is a policy of the Dallas City Council that bike facilities not be built, citizens requesting such infrastructure deserve a clear, transparent process that involves staff listening to their requests, analyzing each request on its merits, and justifying any decisions with empirical data. Making a blanket statement that no facilities will be built is a policy statement, not a case by case process. It was inappropriate for the bike coordinator to make such statements and is not his job. That power resides with the duly elected representatives of the citizens of Dallas. If he wants to set policy, he should run for city council.
on Jan 17th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
[...] this week, we reported on how the Secret Service has banned bikes from the Obama Inauguration festivities as ”items determined to be a potential safety hazard.” [...]
on Jan 18th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I know PM, and his contention is with the local populous being as intelligent as they are a cyclist outside a cycle lane would be subject to summary execution by motor vehicle for invading the car lane.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
[...] other infrastructure. I’m taking about people like the Dallas Bicycle Coordinator, whom some people think we have a vendetta against. Yes, bikes can occupy the same spaces as cars safely but not in streets built only to move cars as [...]
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
First of all, kudos for helping with our community’s advocacy for bike lanes! The reason why it’s completely fair for you to go after people like PM, is because he is publicly ridiculing you and your city’s infrastructure on his own blog. He regularly posts items with pictures of your lanes along with statements like “you won’t believe what the crazies in Austin are doing now!”, or something of that ilk. He’s demeaning, uppity, elitist, and frankly, dated.
I’ve lived in Dallas for 12 years and can tell you first hand that the majority of cyclists I ride with want bicycle lanes. We talk about it regularly now. I’ve just learned of the people in Oak Cliff who are fighting this, but they are just one of many leading the charge. Cyclicsts in Uptown, and the Greenville area are also becoming more vocal.
I just wanted you to know that it does help having you and others throughout the state point out the failings of the current city staff. If you’re not doing it, I guarantee they’re happy to pick apart your systems in presentations, on blogs, and through email campaigns. Also it’s obvious that those objecting to you just happen to be personal friends of PM.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I still can not figure out why the Bike lane people have to be right and the “bikes are vehicles” have to be wrong, Can’t we just be two different approaches to a common problem?
I had quit commenting, but you not only brought it up again but referenced it.
I am glad there are so few problems in Austin that you have the desire to “help us out” in Dallas.
TAKE THE LANE
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
In today’s article on the developments in Parisian bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, I made the point that bikes can behave as vehicles and bike lanes aren’t necessarily needed just not in the way we build streets in America just to move cars as fast as possible. See, I’m not being an ideologue, just suggesting appropriate solutions to appropriate situations.
on Jan 24th, 2009 at 11:52 am
[...] What is more shocking is that as city staff, Summer appeared to be setting city policy on this. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but under a city manager style government like Dallas has this is highly inappropriate. Under this [...]