City Hall bikes and why it's on their agenda Last Wed evening we went to the Arlington, TX , City Hall where the Council was going to vote on accepting the $250,000 bike plan. It was large auditorium capable of seating a couple hundred. There were a dozen seats lined up on a stage that reached wall-to-wall. Comfortable visitor seating and 2 giant TV screens so everyone way in the back wouldn’t miss anything. The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance and some awards earned by Arlington 5 police officers for getting qualified in some training course. They were given a big hand by the audience in appreciation. After the house keeping was done, Mayor Cluck (yes, that's his real name) said there would be 40 minutes to discuss the bike plan. Each side would have 20 mins. 2 mins per speaker. There were only a half dozen professional speakers so they didn't need all their time. To their credit, they included some of the negatives, such narrower streets mean more congestion, elimination of street parking, and a negative impact on the city economy. Their $250K report (that's the cost of the report only) predicted an increase of 70,000 (down from 90,000) in Arlington population. The difference may be implementation was reduced from 40 years to 30. Then it was the citizens turn. Each one started by identifying themselves by name and address. Many included how long they were residents. All were opposed to the plan for a myriad of reasons, including the ones mentioned earlier. One speaker said he had spent a lot of time driving around today and could find only 3 bicyclists. Another questioned the wisdom of placing bikes in the vicinity of auto traffic. The citizens in the Hall liked what they heard and applauded each speaker when their 2 minutes were up. During one of these applauses, Cluck said "you can clap if you want but you're using up your own time." Everyone was surprised when Cluck cut off the speakers. Our 20 minutes granted had expired. A citizen stood up in the audience and spoke loud enough for all to hear "you work for us." Before long a half dozen people were yelling loud enough to be heard. The mayor threatened to have one citizen thrown out and many citizens stood up in support. But the smug Mayor Cluck just smirked. Police were stirring in the back of the hall. It was obvious the arrogant S.O.B. was not interested in hearing the views of the city's residents. Peggy said, "that's not what you expected, was it?" We were very disappointed. All this time, the dozen elected City council men and woman, never said a word. They were spectators. "This sucks" I said as I made our way past a cop. We weren't alone. When we got home I was still baffled to what I saw. The info was: 1. Arlington population was expected to grow 70-90,000. 2. Streets would have one lane converted into bike lanes. 3. Property values would be depreciated. 4. Current bike riders were few. To be honest, one of the streets I drive on, Baird Farm has a bike lane on each side of the road. I have never seen a single bike rider using it. Like so many things in politics these days, it just didn't make sense. There must be something I don't know. Rich Martin I recd this from the Lone Star TEA Party I too left the room which was a mistake, I should not let emotions rule in a case like that. There is a deeper agenda other than bike lanes and to achieve their goal by 2040 they have to move massive parts of the populations to reduce urban sprawl which is really what this is all about. If you saw the last mass email we sent out you saw an ICLEI article about our mayor and Arlington. The mayor says we are no longer members of ICLEI, let me find out this is a lie. What's worse about the whole thing is they are using our own tax dollars to implement a plan we never signed off on. It's our job now to take them on and the best way to do that is to change the faces down at city hall. We're going to discuss this in our next meeting. Mel Moss Lone Star Tea Party For background on the bike "paths" movement, read this http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2734537/posts For more stories like this, Google: bike paths soros Barack Obama (D) Top Contributors http://images.opensecrets.org/obama_top_contribs.htm?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638 Contact Your Govt http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ For more info about Obama’s Private Army, google Healthcare legislation & Obama's Private Army And US Public Health Service Ready Reserve Corpse Patriot Freedom http://www.patriotfreedom.org/battlefield.php If a link above does not work, cut-and-paste to your browser. Please be aware that Barack Hussein Obama’s grandfather was a highly respected witch doctor with the Luo tribe. His white grandmother was VP at the Bank of Hawaii and she worked with and for Peter Geithner on other projects, Peter is the father of Timothy Geithner, Obama's choice of Treasurer of the US. We the People http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVAhr4hZDJE . -- To join RichsRants, send email to: [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/richsrants?hl=en
