[BALUG-Talk] Free Parking Re: Carpool from Berkeley TuesJune24 to BALUG

[bosoxsux]

--- ruben at mrbrklyn.com wrote:
From: Ruben Safir <ruben at mrbrklyn.com>
To: David Fetter <david at fetter.org>
Cc: San Francisco Linux Users' Group <balug-talk-balug.org at lists.balug.org>
Subject: Re: [BALUG-Talk] Free Parking Re: Carpool from Berkeley	TuesJune24	to BALUG
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:32:31 -0400

> > Though, that will seriously decrease the impace of that last friday
> > of the month biker group that rides their bikes across the bridge,
> > blocking traffic.  ;)

"Ruben Safir" <ruben at mrbrklyn.com> wrote:
> What was the reason he nixed the bike lane?

Not certain who this person is myself.
One thing for certain is that the primary non-car means of getting a bicycle from the East SF Bay to San Francisco is by using BART.  Without the necessary section of bike lane to be created, there is no other way of crossing the SF Bay by bike other than by using BART or via automobile :-< 

In a nearly identical fashion to the SF Bay, the only non-car way of getting a bicycle from Brooklyn or Manhattan to Staten Island across NY Harbor, is to take the Staten island Ferry.  Without ANY plans to build a bike lane over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, there is no other non-auto way of crossing NY Harbor by bike other than by using the S.I. Ferry.

> The three major Brooklyn to Manhattan bridges have bike lanes.

Having had to frequently cycle over the Brooklyn Bridge in years past, I know that the Brooklyn Bridge's "bike lane" is actually a large and shared two-way elevated "Pedestrian Path" strip that runs in the middle of auto traffic running in each direction.  It's similar in concept, if not actual design, to the Golden Gate Bridge's shared Pedestrian Walkway.
The key point in this is that both bridges' paths/walkways are shared rather than dedicated solely for cyclists.

> > 
> > Hey, Critical Mass would be *delighted* to have a bike lane all the
> > way across :)

> Critical Mass is nuts so don't expect [that] recruiting 
> them to the cause for a bike lane would be productive.

Perhaps Critical Mass is not so nuts.
Two of the best ways to draw attention to particular causes or concerns are a) increased publicity via the local printed and online media, and b) prodding local governments (City, County, State) to act upon constituent members' expressed concerns.
It seems to me that Critical Mass is actually VERY successful in using the first way.

Ruben


-- 
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software

So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world  - RI Safir 1998

http://fairuse.nylxs.com  DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002

"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"

"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own society."

"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be damned.<
You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and technology have been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in Ancient Egypt.  I guess you missed that one."


--
bosoxsux's Universal Recursion Postulate:
"There exists at least one subatomic particle in our Universe which CONTAINS at least one non-self subatomic particle."



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