Dear Group, <quote: Mitchell Nussbaum, "It's socially acceptable to ride a bike in Madison, and all kinds of people do it -- old people, young people, students, office workers, bartenders, musicians, dishwashers and
janitors and totally nondescript people."> Of course Mitchell Nussbaum is correct in that every effort should be made to improve "amenities" for the bike culture of Madison. With the pervasive use and enjoyment described by Mitchell Nussbaum that is only the way matters should work. Strangely, though, he seems to cut off efforts at his own self described "modest" horizon. But aren't most of us with "personal" perspectives. Evidently in the Madison friendly--everybody does it--bike culture, there are not motorists intentionally sideswiping bikes. I must admit that I don't know the full details about the Ripon factory worker and his encounter, but I do know that last year I was intentionally sideswiped by a pickup truck and that that sort of thing happened back when I was just out of college as well. There are bike friendly areas in Wisconsin and "bike intolerant" areas in Wisconsin. And evidently with Mitchel's settled life of many bikes, house and family, he doesn't need pick up and drop off bikes to ease the automotive load in Madison's lake squeezed urban areas. <Mitchel Nussbaum--"I don't think Madison needs to "distribute" bikes. People buy their own bikes; if they don't have money to buy one, they can borrow a red bike or build a bike from spare parts at Freewheel. It would be nice to be be able to rent a bike from a street corner kiosk, but it would take a lot of resources to set up a system like that, and I think there are better uses for public resources."> Another story from my childhood might shed light on those comments. In Ripon back then there was a well run "Youth Center". It was for the young people who were virtually "homeless" with their parents spending nights on bar stools. There were never crowds in the Youth Center located in the most central location in town. But with store windows everybody would drive past to see if the endeavor served great numbers. The Youth Center intended to buy a used television set and came to the City Council for the purchase. But the doctor's wife made a point to appear and describe "her own little youth center in her basement" for her children and their friends. She emphatically said Ripon did not need to support a municipal project. And so it was. It was not enough for the central Ripon Youth Center to serve the purpose for which it was intended--for children with virtually "no home." Maybe most in Madison do have forty dollars for a red bike or a workshop to maintain a rusty throw away like Mitchell describes, but if everything is "Jake," why are we writing in this forum? Eric Westhagen _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
