Message from another know-nothing "progressive"

Isabel Wade contributes her ignorance and incomprehension to the dialogue (below). Thanks for sharing, Isabel.

The notion that I single-handedly convinced Judge Warren, who I've never spoken with, "to shut down city bike development" is ludicrous, though a flattering estimate of my powers of persuasion. In fact, Judge Warren was persuaded by the facts and the law to issue an injunction until the hearing in September. The Bicycle Plan was just as poorly thought out as Wade's letter. 

Even worse, the city was implementing the Plan, street by street, as the case was being litigated, which, without the injunction, would have rendered our case more or less moot by the time the actual hearing takes place. 

Note, however, Wade's complete acceptance of BikeThink with the assumption that people who ride bikes in SF aren't just choosing a rather risky means of transportation, they are also fighting cancer and global warming! 

Note too Wade's total failure to come to grips with any specifics of either the city's obligations under CEQA or the Bicycle Plan itself, which I bet she hasn't read. This obsession with bikes is really more like a religious faith than about a reality-based transportation "mode."

WHERE'S THE EIR ON CARS? (Letter to SF Bay Guardian, July 19):

It's a shame that Rob Anderson has managed to persuade Judge Warren to shut down city bike development ["Good News and Bad News for Bicyclists," 6/28/06]. One man's antibike crusade is endangering well-thought-out plans to encourage bicycling in our city—plans that are increasingly relevant given the dangers that driving presents to us all. 

Burning gasoline may be convenient for the motorist, but it has inconvenient consequences: rising ocean levels; massive hurricanes and drought; the damage auto-related sprawl has done to our communities; and pollution-linked asthma, cancer and other health threats. Who did the environmental impact report on the automobile?

I hope that the court will see through the claims that the bike plan is in violation of environmental laws. Let the city get on with the Blue Greenway and other vital projects for putting people on our streets instead of cars. Biking is good for the heart—and the heart of our city.

Isabel Wade
Executive director
San Francisco Neighborhood Parks Council