D: great article today!
"A quick look at some of the municipal budgets in this region shows there is no balance to transportation spending. Roads get the overwhelming amount of taxpayer dollars; sustainable transportation -- walking, cycling and transit -- get comparatively little.
This year, Kitchener will spend $17.2 million on roads, $1.6 million on sidewalks and $486,000 on paths and trails.
Cambridge will spend $10.3 million on roads, $225,000 on sidewalks, $204,000 for on-road bike lanes, and $35,000 for off-road trails.
In Waterloo, roads will get $6.9 million, sidewalks $254,000 and bike paths $250,000.
"Let's be honest, the vast majority of money goes into roads," Wellar says.
Waterloo Region is the only municipal government in this region that approaches balanced spending between infrastructure for roads and sustainable transportation -- at least for 2008.
Waterloo Region will spend $92.5 million this year on roads. But it will also spend $81 million on Grand River Transit. It will also spend $1.6 million to build 108 kilometres of sidewalks and bike paths."
D: the car is king, but only cuz cars get the lion-sized share of transit funding.Funny, my bike doesn't wear out roads or cause potholes.
For a caricature of the 'ugly car-driver' cliche, let us study the local representative.
Fred Snider.
http://therecord.metrolandwest.com/article/301210
"What's with the stupid, idiotic people who ride their bicycles on snowy roads?
Roads are made for vehicles, and cyclists are privileged to use them also. The roads are narrower in the winter because of snowbanks, so cars don't have the room they have in the summer. And roads with snow make it easy for cyclists to lose control and fall.
If they fall they deserve what they get for being stupid -- and no helmet is going to save them -- but how about the poor driver who runs over them? The driver is going to feel guilty when they shouldn't -- not to mention being made late for wherever they were going.
Waterloo Region should stop wasting time and money on useless bylaws (like the pesticide issue and bicycle helmet issue), and outlaw riding a bicycle on snowy/icy roads. Get these idiots off our roads now."
D: as much as reading that makes my blood boil, I will refrain from making comments about Fred himself. Others have already done so for me.Rather, I will examine the assumptions behind his argument. His position exemplifies the unspoken assumptions about how things ought to be, which closely resemble the status quo, and why the car is king.
1) somehow, snow removal doesn't apply to bike lanes even though they are considered a feature of roads
2) somehow, buffers for snow between road/lane and the sidewalk is 'wasted space'. Heck, why not just use the bike lane?
3) leading back to his initial argument in a charming case of circular logic.
I think we've all seen that at LEAST a buffer of one yard between road/lane and sidewalks is needed to pile snow. My poor old boss from Club Ab was out there every day cleaning the sidewalk adjacent to King Street. Many local businesses were not so conscientious.
Somehow, car-bigots such as Fred just assume that continued neglect of anything but full-width high-speed vehicle lanes which leaves cyclists (and sometimes pedestrians!) nowhere else to go means everyone ought to drive cars.
My newer boss offered that opinion after I got hit by a car. For the record, the snow was cleared and had nothing to do with that. I tried to stay calm when I pointed out that
a) not everybody can afford a car and
b) not every residence has parking for cars.
I live above an old grandfather-claused biz uptown Waterloo. I cannot park here during business hours, making owning a car both expensive and essentially impossible.
It is likely best that I bit my tongue.
I cannot help but think of my Aunt Marian in California. While driving, we passed a cyclist. She muttered, "damn cyclists." Later while walking down the sidewalk there was a cyclist there instead. And once again, the charming tolerant open-minded woman muttered- you guessed it- "damn cyclists". This can be translated to:
1) I drive
2) I walk
3) I don't happen to bike.
4) So screw cyclists.
Of course, she is quite broadly compassionate. She also believes in building a big ditch to drown as many Mexicans sneaking in as possible, as well as withholding organs from people in need of transplants.
Thanks auntie!
Thank you, Fred, for exemplifying everything that wrong with the system, and being the quintessential ugly car driver.
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