Mayor Billy Kenoi (L) with Hilo Bike Hub Owner Chris Seymour
Mayor Billy Kenoi kicked off National Bike To Work Week with an aloha-shirt-and-slack-wearing ride through Hilo Town today. (See hawconews.com and Hawaii Tribune-Herald for more details.)
People’s Advocacy for Trails (PATH), a 23-year-old non-profit organization here, blazes forward leading the national event here, in spite of Hawaii’s daunting rating nationwide on bike friendliness.
According to the League of American Bicyclists, there are “no cities in Hawaii that have been designated as bicycle friendly communities.”
That rating sounds pretty pathetic here in paradise, until you read a critical piece on the League’s ”Bicycle Friendly Community Program.“
The Bicycle Friendly Community Program, said Fred Oswald at labreform.org, ”rewards things that are visible and easy to count (miles of bike lanes and paths) with a shameful disregard for whether they are safe for cyclists (i.e. sidewalk-type bike paths, doorzone bikelanes, or bikelanes with other safety defects are uncritically counted as ‘good’ things.”
“The name of this program, ‘Bicycle Friendly’ is symptomatic of the problem. It’s not bicycles that need friends; it’s cyclists. Here’s a discussion of a better way: Imagine … a different kind of friendliness.”
Fred Oswald leads us to a blog with the posting of a short film entitled, “A Bicycle Story.”
“Imagine it’s a lovely afternoon,” the films starts. “You bike to a cafe. You’re pleasantly surprised. It’s easy and Convenient. You don’t think twice about hopping on your bike,” lalalalalala 
“And here’s why: Bike Paths through Greenbelts. Bike Tunnels. Bike Bridges. Designated Bike Lanes. Bike Counter! Signage. Stair Rails. Safe Parking. You have arrived. People will hop on their bikes if biking is made easy, efficient, safe and convenient; a fit city is a bike friendly city. Promotes physical health. No pollution. Low cost. Fun.” — A Bicycle Story
In discovering “A Bicycle Story,” I also discovered the “CommuteOrlando Blog; Encouragement, Education & Advocacy for Bicycling in the Real World.”
Dedicated Bike Lane in Boulder, Colo. The Rocky Mountain city is "platinum" level Bicycle Friendly Community award winner
The blog’s administrator, Keri Caffrey, a League of American Bicyclists cycling instructor, writes of “A Bicycle Story:”
“It’s a cute little feel-good video. Their cultural goal and sense of community are very appealing. Their solution is both a fantasy and a failure of imagination.”
Did you catch that? Fred Oswald, the critic of the League’s Bike Friendly Community program, is referencing “a new kind of friendliness” posted by the cycling instructor for the very League that Fred Oswald criticizes.
“The BFC program is NOT about being friendly (or even fair) to cyclists,” Fred Oswald said. “It’s about spending money, ribbon cutting and symbolic projects to glorify “The Bicycle”. Never mind safety, rights to the road, education or improving the status of cyclists…”
Okay, all you Freds of the world, and of the island for that matter, let’s stop criticizing for criticizing’s sake and get busy creating that “new kind of friendliness.” Here, our island villages have so much potential for being bike friendly. With a shift in attitude, from no-can to can-do, all it takes is some creative thinking and a smart use of limited resources.
Be that new kind of friendliness you want to see in the world and on the island! Share the road with aloha. Personally, I’m in the market for a baby bicycle trailer. Know anybody who has one for sale?
Resources:
Pearl Street Mall, Boulder, Colo.
Pearl Street Mall is comprised of four city blocks closed to vehicular traffic. The roads have been filled in with landscaping and bike and walk ways.
For more information regarding PATH and walking and bicycling issues in Hawaii County visitwww.pathhawaii.org, or call Laura at (808) 936-4653.
For more information about Bike To Work 2009 in Hawaii, visit Hawaii Pedal Power.
Commute Orlando Blog; Encouragement, Education & Advocacy for Bicycling in the Real World
May 12th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Tiffany, thanks for the link! You’re on the right track, attitude is everything! The best thing we can do as cyclists is make friends and join forces with all citizens to make our communities safer and more civil in the public space we call roads.
Here’s another post that might interest you:
Strategy for a Cyclist-Friendly Community
Don’t take the BFC ratings to heart. I just spent a week in Dallas, TX — a city the League staff says is the worst city for cycling in America. It has no bike lanes. But it was very easy to ride in, with an abundance of quiet, pleasant bike routes. The motorists were uniformly courteous and respectful. I had more exceptionally courteous encounters than I have in any city and I had zero negative encounters.
I know that reform website comes off quite grumpy, but in Fred’s defense, he has created a good alternative program in Ohio called “Cyclist Friendly Community.” He has also worked tirelessly to reform laws in Ohio to release cyclists from many discriminatory mandates. He’s a league instructor, too.
Tailwinds!
May 12th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Tiffany, thank you for some first-class journalism. One additional point: The League’s “Bicycle Friendly Communities” program keeps its scoring system a secret. But one thing that is no secret is that Andy Clarke, who runs the program as his personal pet project, loves Big Government and anti-car measures. Clark favors communities that spend a lot of money on bicycle bureaucrats. He praises expensive construction projects that inconvenience motorists to set aside special space (whether safe or not) for bicyclists.
I favor public policy that is win-win. Even in “success story” communities like Portland, 90 percent of the public isn’t on a bike. Being too greedy in public policy matters is a great way to suffer political backlash.
I was once vice president of the League, and I am deeply ashamed by its current cavalier attitude towards safety and we-win-you-lose posture in public policy.
John Schubert
Limeport.org