At the Dane County level, County Executive Parisi convened a meeting to discuss bicycle routes and transportation just a few weeks ago, on March 27. This followed up on a meeting held last summer by invitation from County Executive Falk. I missed this meeting but I hear that it was well attended and generated good discussion, in addition to great presentations from staff.
There is a handout that has a lot of really good maps and information about what the County hopes to accomplish. Some of the routes may be of the wish list variety. However, our counterparts who advocate for roadway construction have demonstrated that getting a line on a map is the first step to getting a corridor built. I'll try to find a link to the handout rather than attach it to send to the list, since it is a rather large file. Al Matano > I think you have to look at this as a great competition. Polls consistently show that people say they would like to cut back on driving, but when asked to redirect resources from driving to support other modes, there is fierce resistance. The fact is we cannot make people change how they decide what mode to use. But we can work to change the built and social environment to put alternatives into the realm of possibility for a larger number of people. > > I agree that Dave-bashing (or anyone else) is not the solution. I have > always thought that if we can make sure alternatives always get a level > playing field when solutions to city problems are being considered, we can > develop enough momentum to make positive change. What I am afraid of > right > now is that we are losing momentum. We are stuck at 2 ride the drives, > funding looks like it will be flat, and I see no progress on Soglin's plan > to re-re-re-re-re-visit the role of bicycling in the city, while at the > same > time Mayor Dave's platinum report is all but forgotten. > > > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Hans Noeldner > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 1:16 PM > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: [Bikies] Whipping boy Dave > > > > It is a lot easier to gripe about ex-Mayor Pave (i.e. Dave Cieslewicz) > than > to get out there and disrupt several hundred thousand Dane County > residents > who believe they have a God-given right to take their own armored > personnel > carrier with themselves everywhere they go. And far easier to blame an > ex-Mayor for higher fares than to convince several hundred thousand Dane > County motorists that subsidies for transit should trump subsidies for > drivers. > > > > > When I walk and ride my bike in the Village of Oregon and the surrounding > environs I don't see ex-Mayor Pave holding a gun to the head of any of the > motorists whose behaviors, in the aggregate, make our communities unsafe, > impractical, and unpleasant for people to walk, roll wheelchairs, push > baby > strollers, ride bicycles, and share transit. I don't see ex-Mayor Pave > forcing several hundred parents in the Village of Oregon to drive their > precious children to elementary school. > > > > I don't see ANY elected officials forcing us to do all this driving. For > that matter I don't see car companies or oil companies or highway builders > forcing people to drive everywhere. I see a LOT of ordinary people who > WANT > to do it - and right now most don't give a s**t about the externalities of > their driving. > > > > It is going to take a lot more than Dave-bashing to change this. Many, > many > more of us need to confront the status quo - not only in council chambers, > but at gas stations, grocery stores, in our neighborhoods, on our streets, > at our school drop-off zones, etc. Hans Noeldner standing all by himself > protesting gas consumption at the Oregon Kwik Trip ain't cutting it. > > > > Courage! Vision! > > > > Hans Noeldner > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
