"This week, we found out just how much of a change we are in for, and although cycling advocates were braced for some bad news, the new Transportation bill—its official title is “The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act”—is far worse than what anybody had expected. Here are some details:
• Completely reverses 20 years of bicycle and pedestrian-friendly federal transportation policy.
• Completely eliminates the dedicated funding for the Transportation Enhancements program that funds the cycling and walking projects.
• Allows states to build bridges without safe access for cyclists and pedestrians, as previously required.
• Completely eliminates Bicycle and Pedestrian and Safe Routes to Schools coordinators in state DOTs.
• Repeals the Safe Routes to Schools program.
• Eliminates language that ensures that rumble strips “do not adversely affect the safety or mobility of bicyclists, pedestrians or the disabled.”"
"The bill links funding for transportation infrastructure to oil production. Here are the details.
• Permanently removes environmental regulatory barriers to American oil production and infrastructure development, and links infrastructure to oil production by funding motor vehicle transportation infrastructure with oil production revenues.
• Lifts current offshore drilling bans and requires leasing of new offshore areas.
• Promotes shale oil extraction research and development.
• Approves the Keystone XL pipeline rejected by President Obama in January.
• Opens the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration."
Well, look at this. The U.S. is now a country looking to be so socially and economically backwards that we're making China look like a progressive and liberal country.
Really? Repealing Safe Routes to School, a program that helps communities improve pedestrian and bicycle safety around public schools? One of the very few bits of taxpayer spending from which I've seen a direct quality of life benefit?
I'm ready to stop paying taxes. How long can I get away with that?
Donna, you're being lied to by the liberal media. How about you get the truth from the actual people who wrote this masterpiece?
"American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act would also put an estimated one million people to work by removing barriers to domestic energy production. It would do so by removing the existing drilling ban on new offshore areas, laying out clear cut rules for oil shale resources and technology, and by opening a small portion--less than three percent--of land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
"It targets critical infrastructure needs to make sure our limited resources are spent wisely and efficiently where they’re really needed. At this moment, only 75 cents of every dollar in the Highway Trust Fund actually goes to basic infrastructure projects that are essential to our economy, such as the nation’s 160,000 miles of highways. The other 25 cents are lost on administrative overhead and government mandates that require states to spend your limited tax dollars on “extras” like bike paths and beautification."
OMG, why do politicians always, always , ALWAYS equate infrastructure with roads?! Isn't a job building a sidewalk right similar to a job building a street?!?
To repeat a point I've made here before: we live in a democracy, and car ownership is not a requirement. Building roads without sidewalks is denying use of the means of movement in our cities to any citizen who does not have a car. It's not democratic, it's not fair. Sidewalks are not "extras".
Donna, "tyranny of the majority" is essence of any democracy. In the US, the Senate is supposed to augment some of that tyranny, but it does that by protecting smaller, rural states, and the expense of interests of city dwellers (typ.) Your vote may be worth 1/5th of an Iowa cowboy. And cowboys want tractors. Tractors that run V12 nuclear engines that guzzle blood of our enemies' children. And this is Americah, land of toughness, and everyone here's a cowboy, and we ride our tractors from the kitchen to the couch because that's what supply-side Jesus would have wanted, and any variation from the form is clearly subversive domestic sabotage. Bicycles and sidewalks are counterrevolutionary measures intended to undermine The Constitution, championed by "alternative lifestyle" children of northeastern elites, some who are probably Jewish, like Al Gore.
Short version: Get outta my frigging way! I'm driving here.
I noticed last fall that the places I run into people I know - neighbors, parents at my son's school, clients - are mostly taxpayer-supported: the walking/biking trail along the historic canal, the public school (especially on the sidewalks at pick up/drop off time), the historic non-profit swim club, the local farmer's market, and the fancy sidewalks of my local commercial village that have been urban-resdesigned recently (Broad Ripple).
How many people have meaningful, community-building interactions with others on freeways?
With the number of increasing diabetics and otherwise obese people in the U.S., forcing diabetics to walk or scooter in sticker-filled grass will probably lead to an increase in lower extremity infections that will more than likely end with amputations.
I have no problem with bikes on sidewalks, as long as the sidewalks are 35' ft wide and offer landscaping between cyclists and pedestrians and still have just enough room for our friends eating at the outdoor restaurants!
all we need is photograph of chuck norris on a fixy and everything will change.
OMG, why do politicians always, always , ALWAYS equate infrastructure with roads?
Donna, because they know nothing about urban design and don't care about quality of life issues, also for some strange reason people accept road spending whereas spending on schools or bike lanes is considered socialism and wasteful...Stupid world we live in. By me, they are turning one of the last stretch's of productive urban farm land into a giant auto-mall. The road that runs through it from the city to an outer suburban area is just fine for commuting (never any traffic, and a pretty nice rare scenic drive for Phoenix metro area) but, it is not suitable to support large developments like the automalls and horrible shopping centers they are building, so we the people have to pay taxes to extend this 2 lane highway to a 6 lane highway that only has the purpose of serving these corporations...and they complain about higher tax rates and act is if the 99% are the only ones that benefit from spending when 9 times out of 10 it is the opposite.
Oh I should add that the schools in this same city are some of the worst in the nation and are so under funded it's sad, and they keep cutting the budget to pay for these fucking roads. No one seems to notice, no one seems to care....
Bicycling Under Attack in Congress
http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadrights/2012/02/01/bicycling-under-attack-in-congress/
"This week, we found out just how much of a change we are in for, and although cycling advocates were braced for some bad news, the new Transportation bill—its official title is “The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act”—is far worse than what anybody had expected. Here are some details:
• Completely reverses 20 years of bicycle and pedestrian-friendly federal transportation policy.
• Completely eliminates the dedicated funding for the Transportation Enhancements program that funds the cycling and walking projects.
• Allows states to build bridges without safe access for cyclists and pedestrians, as previously required.
• Completely eliminates Bicycle and Pedestrian and Safe Routes to Schools coordinators in state DOTs.
• Repeals the Safe Routes to Schools program.
• Eliminates language that ensures that rumble strips “do not adversely affect the safety or mobility of bicyclists, pedestrians or the disabled.”"
"The bill links funding for transportation infrastructure to oil production. Here are the details.
• Permanently removes environmental regulatory barriers to American oil production and infrastructure development, and links infrastructure to oil production by funding motor vehicle transportation infrastructure with oil production revenues.
• Lifts current offshore drilling bans and requires leasing of new offshore areas.
• Promotes shale oil extraction research and development.
• Approves the Keystone XL pipeline rejected by President Obama in January.
• Opens the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration."
Well, look at this. The U.S. is now a country looking to be so socially and economically backwards that we're making China look like a progressive and liberal country.
Say hello to our new found Third World status.
Bicycles belong on sidewalks!
Discuss.
Bicycles on roads or sidewalks, which ever the choice, this bill is defunding both options.
Bicycles are fine - the people who ride them are usually "hipster" ass-hats.
I'm surprised both they and the cyclers aren't in cahoots.
Can bicycle riding lead directly to indefinite detention under the NDAA?
Yup. Bicycling sounds very unamerican to me. Lock 'em up just to be sure.
Really? Repealing Safe Routes to School, a program that helps communities improve pedestrian and bicycle safety around public schools? One of the very few bits of taxpayer spending from which I've seen a direct quality of life benefit?
I'm ready to stop paying taxes. How long can I get away with that?
Donna, you're being lied to by the liberal media. How about you get the truth from the actual people who wrote this masterpiece?
"American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act would also put an estimated one million people to work by removing barriers to domestic energy production. It would do so by removing the existing drilling ban on new offshore areas, laying out clear cut rules for oil shale resources and technology, and by opening a small portion--less than three percent--of land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
"It targets critical infrastructure needs to make sure our limited resources are spent wisely and efficiently where they’re really needed. At this moment, only 75 cents of every dollar in the Highway Trust Fund actually goes to basic infrastructure projects that are essential to our economy, such as the nation’s 160,000 miles of highways. The other 25 cents are lost on administrative overhead and government mandates that require states to spend your limited tax dollars on “extras” like bike paths and beautification."
The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act: Good for America - By Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.)
The "liberal" media ... 2/3 of which is owned by a handful of mega-corporations. Go figure ...
OMG, why do politicians always, always , ALWAYS equate infrastructure with roads?! Isn't a job building a sidewalk right similar to a job building a street?!?
To repeat a point I've made here before: we live in a democracy, and car ownership is not a requirement. Building roads without sidewalks is denying use of the means of movement in our cities to any citizen who does not have a car. It's not democratic, it's not fair. Sidewalks are not "extras".
Fair????
Donna, "tyranny of the majority" is essence of any democracy. In the US, the Senate is supposed to augment some of that tyranny, but it does that by protecting smaller, rural states, and the expense of interests of city dwellers (typ.) Your vote may be worth 1/5th of an Iowa cowboy. And cowboys want tractors. Tractors that run V12 nuclear engines that guzzle blood of our enemies' children. And this is Americah, land of toughness, and everyone here's a cowboy, and we ride our tractors from the kitchen to the couch because that's what supply-side Jesus would have wanted, and any variation from the form is clearly subversive domestic sabotage. Bicycles and sidewalks are counterrevolutionary measures intended to undermine The Constitution, championed by "alternative lifestyle" children of northeastern elites, some who are probably Jewish, like Al Gore.
Short version: Get outta my frigging way! I'm driving here.
I noticed last fall that the places I run into people I know - neighbors, parents at my son's school, clients - are mostly taxpayer-supported: the walking/biking trail along the historic canal, the public school (especially on the sidewalks at pick up/drop off time), the historic non-profit swim club, the local farmer's market, and the fancy sidewalks of my local commercial village that have been urban-resdesigned recently (Broad Ripple).
How many people have meaningful, community-building interactions with others on freeways?
Perfectly legitimate reasoning for sidewalks?
With the number of increasing diabetics and otherwise obese people in the U.S., forcing diabetics to walk or scooter in sticker-filled grass will probably lead to an increase in lower extremity infections that will more than likely end with amputations.
I have no problem with bikes on sidewalks, as long as the sidewalks are 35' ft wide and offer landscaping between cyclists and pedestrians and still have just enough room for our friends eating at the outdoor restaurants!
all we need is photograph of chuck norris on a fixy and everything will change.
OMG, why do politicians always, always , ALWAYS equate infrastructure with roads?
Donna, because they know nothing about urban design and don't care about quality of life issues, also for some strange reason people accept road spending whereas spending on schools or bike lanes is considered socialism and wasteful...Stupid world we live in. By me, they are turning one of the last stretch's of productive urban farm land into a giant auto-mall. The road that runs through it from the city to an outer suburban area is just fine for commuting (never any traffic, and a pretty nice rare scenic drive for Phoenix metro area) but, it is not suitable to support large developments like the automalls and horrible shopping centers they are building, so we the people have to pay taxes to extend this 2 lane highway to a 6 lane highway that only has the purpose of serving these corporations...and they complain about higher tax rates and act is if the 99% are the only ones that benefit from spending when 9 times out of 10 it is the opposite.
Oh I should add that the schools in this same city are some of the worst in the nation and are so under funded it's sad, and they keep cutting the budget to pay for these fucking roads. No one seems to notice, no one seems to care....
Bike lanes are part of a larger UN plot to install Sharia law in the US.
this thread is hilarious
too bad the joke is on us (americuh)
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