[*BCM*] Scattered Thoughts on Massbike, Police, and Class

[Tom Revay]

On 9/30/2005 at 3:34 PM Pete Stidman wrote:

>Mass bike is doing
>great work at the state level (if it's true that they
>are out to enforce a helmet law, however,  I condemn
>them forever, I don't want to get busted for not
>having my helmet when I ride five blocks to go to the
>beach, they should be going after drivers, not
>bikers).  

Glad you like MassBike's work with the state.  

To set aside your worry, we've never been in favor of requiring adults to wear helmets.  We have worked to promote helmet use by adults and children, but not through legislation.  If you go into a bike shop and see a poster from the Governor's Highway Safety Bureau showing an adult putting a helmet on a child -- well, that poster's ours.  But the law that requires 16-and-younger cyclists wasn't invented by us, nor did we promote it.  Nobody at MassBike wants you to get busted.

>But they look down on critical mass and
>others who ride every day.

Who's "they"?  I ride every day -- every day when it's not actively snowing or raining when it's time to leave the house, and in that case I take public transportation.  I rode when it was -4 degrees outside last January, though I admit wimping out on a -6 day when there was a 25 degree headwind.  

I don't feel the least "looked down" upon by anybody in MassBike.  Outside of MassBike, some of my friends think I'm crazy for riding as much as I do, but they're not card-carrying members. 8-)

I don't think CM accomplishes much, that's true.  But that's not me speaking for MassBike, that's me speaking for me and me alone, and other members will disagree with me.  

In fact, we have people on this list who're part of MassBike and who ride CM.  In fact, one of our recent Board members was famous as the guy who pulled the couch in many CMs.  We also have SKUL folks who're part of the organization, and I recruited our first messenger to our Board .. what, five years ago?

Woody Allen is right:  80% of life is just showing up.  If you don't want to show up and participate, that's fine, but you should now consider yourself invited to do so.  If you still don't, well, that's up to you.

>I don't feel that they are building many connections
>to the rather large, younger, and ahem.. much hipper
>community that includes bikes as part of their
>culture.  I'm talking about everyday commuters inside
>Boston, not in the wealthier suburbs. 

Have you ever attended a Boston chapter meeting and found out who else attends and what they're doing?  Are you even aware there is a Boston chapter?  (It was discussed on the CM list this past January and February.)   

All of the chapters are linked from the front page of the website (http://www.massbike.org), and the Boston chapter has its own domain (http://www.massbikeboston.org).

The local chapter's been very active at identifying routes into and through the City of Boston and surrounding inner suburbs.  They've also taken to doing field surveys at trouble points, places where our meetings' participants have identified as problem locations along these routes.  The next step will be to work for improvements in these locations.

We meet on the fourth wednesday of each month.  We've met several times in Harvard Square, twice at the Central Transportation Planning Office at the State Transportation building in Park Square, and once at Boston University.  Our most recent meeting was held jointly with the MBTA Bicycle Committee, which MassBike is trying to bring some new life into (the T hasn't used it particularly effectively).  The meetings are publicized on the website and the mailing list, as are the chapter leaders' email addresses.  You can also call 617 542-2453 (542-BIKE) to find out when is the next meeting.

While I agree that I think we could use more outreach, to college students and to the urban poor who might depend upon bicycling, or who might take it up because of its economy and efficiency in the City, it's quite wrong to characterize this organization as weekend warrior suburbanites.  In fact, one complaint that we also get from more exurban and rural areas of the state is that we're too Boston-centered, and too transportationally-focused.

>If groups like MassBike aren't testing their ideas on
>this community, if they aren't including this
>community, then they are creating divisions that don't
>need to exist at a time when we should be building
>connections in all directions.  

We're a volunteer organization that depends upon its membership.  The Boston chapter is exactly where these issues should be addressed, and God knows, they want people who'll come and participate and help the chapter better meet the needs of cyclists.  If you're aware of what we're doing, and you believe this isn't addressing particular needs of the local cycling community, why not attend a chapter meeting or get in touch with the Boston chapter leaders and tell them so?

Tom Revay
... whose opinions are his own, and don't necessarily reflect the opinion of MassBike, its chapters or its members.