Wednesday, August 20, 2008

You're taking this guy seriously?

San Francisco, with it's staunch progressive attitudes and generally left of the fence politics has decided that literally everyone's opinion should be considered... Literally EVERYONE apparently. So instead of doing what is the right thing to do and implementing a broad reaching bicycle integration plan the city of San Francisco has tabled the project because This Guy seems to think that building better bike access will somehow induce MORE pollution....

You heard that right, more bikes and less cars equal more pollution... according to Rob Anderson it does and you should listen to him because he's an expert, with, uh credentials and... wait what does he do right now? Oh, the The Wall Street Journal looked into it:

"Mr. Anderson, who mostly lives off a small government stipend he receives for caring for his 92-year-old mother, also started a blog, digging into local politics with gusto"

OK, so he's a blogger like me, who lives off the government, not like me. Well obviously he has a great deal of past experience rendering him an expert? Ok, from his own website:
"I first lived in SF in 1961 as a 19-year-old barely a year out of high school...I’ve lived in San Francisco a number of times since then, but I spent most of the 1980’s and 1990’s elsewhere-- Mendocino County, Marin County, Portland, San Diego."

And again from The Wall Street Journal
"He later penned pieces for the Anderson Valley Advertiser, a muckraking Northern California weekly owned by his brother that's known for its savage prose and pranks."

And
"In 1995, Mr. Anderson moved to San Francisco. Working odd jobs, he twice ran for a seat on the city's Board of Supervisors".


Ok, So, This guy who has no education in Environmental Sciences, or experience in any jobs or careers that would give him any exposure to Environmental Impact studies or the like simply says: "Wiz Bang! Bikes lanes are bad for the environment" and San Francisco perks up and says: " Oh, you know, we better look into that"

Are you F*&%ing kidding me?

Since when did curmudgeony bloggers who've only held freelance writing jobs given to them by their brothers become industry experts? And why then haven't my "No Car Friday" e-mails to city hall been replied to?
I decided to do a little more reading in the Wall Street Journal article to see if they could have gleaned any insight as to what might be the motivation of this obviously underrated and probably marginalized white male.
"Having not owned a car in 20 years, he says he has had several near misses with bikers roaring through crosswalks and red lights, and sees bicycles as dangerous and impractical for car-centric American cities. Mr. Anderson was also bugged by what he describes as the holier-than-thou attitude typified by Critical Mass, a monthly gathering of bikers who coast through the city, snarling traffic for hours. "The behavior of the bike people on city streets is always annoying," he says. "This 'Get out of my way, I'm not burning fossil fuels.' "

Ah. So Mr. Anderson has had several near misses with cyclists, and he doesn't like what Critical Mass does.
Well I hate to tell you this Mr. Anderson, but the only people who like what Critical Mass does is Critical Mass and even I've had brushes with cyclists. I know it's easier to stereotype women, blacks, gays and cyclists into single groups like you seem do so much on your blog and I totally understand your white libertarian view that lacks any sort of historical reference but again, not all cyclists are the few who you had a brush with, or the ones who you saw run some red lights. Nay; just like all your white male friends, women, blacks, gays and even cyclists are individuals with the God given ability to make decisions on their own.

I wonder if Mr. Anderson has had any brushes with Cars. I have, and I think because of that we should halt the development of all new roadways throughout California since this means that all cars and their drivers are dangerous and thoughtless. Get on it L.A. Work up study and halt all progress!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I vote all major cities adopt what portland did, and limit the number of parking spaces that are allowed to be built. This immediately solves the problem of too many cars because not everyone can drive in. Public transportation is a must.