Unbridled Hostility

Blessings to you and your strength. Blessings to cyclists everywhere that face those same selfish
claims to the road replete with hostility and life threatening behavior on almost every ride.
Blessings to all those people who don't cycle because of their experience with that mentality. Most
of all blessings to those all over the world who have the "I me mine get out of my way" mentality so
prevalent these days.

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dear friends,

I'm going to lay it all out here -- skip the next few paragraphs if you don't want all the
background information, and realize this is going to be a long post.

Recently I attended a barbecue and picnic that our city hosted to float out its proposed
improvements to West Lake Sammamish Parkway (aka, the lake
road)(ci.bellevue.wa.uspress.aspOpen ↗). The lake road is a relatively flat road
that connects the end of the Sammamish River Trail, a popular multi-use trail, with the I-90
Trail, another multi-use trail that is primarily used by cyclists and is one of the primary bike
commuter corridors of the region. The lake road is shady, has lots of trees, and peak-a-boo views
of Lake Sammamish and the Cascade mountains.

When I was a kid, Lake Sammamish was a location for little summer cabins. Now, there are
multi-million dollar chateaux on the lake. Lakeside slopes on the other side of the Parkway,
originally thought too steep to build on, now have fancy homes with views of the lake.

The existing roadway was installed about 50 years ago. Since this time, the road bed has been
patched here and there. About 20 or 25 years ago, a bike lane was added on the west side of the
street, and the idea has been ever since that this lane was to accommodate bike traffic going both
north and south. The east side of the roadway is a mess for cyclists -- deterioriating and patched
concrete; uneven and cracked pavement, especially near the fog line; illegally parked cars, boats,
and trailers on the public right-of-way; shoulders that suddenly disappear with no warning; a
roadway that crumbles at the fog line at times, with an immediate gutter and grass (and therefore
no bail-out room).

Traffic volumes on the road have skyrocketed over the years, as the road helps connect suburban
homes with the Microsoft Corporate Campus. Speeding is endemic. If you are headed north and choose
the road over wrong-way cycling on the bike lane, you will have people passing you on a narrow
roadway at 40+ mph. The high motor traffic volumes and speeds are potentially deadly to
pedestrians. One of my child's classmates, an 8 year old boy named Billy, was struck by an SUV
this last school year while attempting to cross the road to catch a school bus. He survived, but
still struggles with brain injury-related disabilities.

The north end of the lake road runs through the City of Redmond, and I assisted in the successful
political effort to repave the roadway, and create a pedestrian and bicycle facility on the east
side of the road. These improvements will stop dead now at the City line.

From my perspective, West Lake Sammamish improvements are a no-brainer. Right now it looks like
the side road to Bubba's Moonshine Shack, not a proud boulevard running by multi-million dollar
homes. Of course the roadway needs to be resurfaced. Of course we need a safer environment for
cyclists and pedestrians. More traffic means more we need to improve the road, not keep it in a
deteriorated condition, hoping that all those cars, bikes, and pedestrians will just go away.

The bbq was not widely publicized -- it was mainly aimed at people who live along the Lake Road,
as opposed to spandex-clad activists. I found out about it surreptiously. Respecting the City's
wishes not to rile up the residents attending, generally I did not reveal myself to be the chair
of the city's Bike-Ped Advisory Group. Instead, I came up to people and said things like, "Oh --
do you live on the lake road? What are your concerns?"

I was stunned by the unbridled hostility from the lake side residents. They hate bicycles.
Cyclists don't care about property values. Cyclists don't have to ride bikes. They certainly could
choose to ride somewhere else. Who cares about safety. Safety is not important. No children are
ever going to want to walk on West Lake Sammamish anyway. (Since Billy was struck, that might be
true -- how many parents are going to have their child catch the school bus on that road these
days? Hm? They're going to drive that kid in the SUV to school instead, doncha think?) Repaving
the road will just encourage more speeders. Adding a shoulder or bike lane will just encourage
more speeders. We will hire lawyers. We will fight these improvements tooth and nail, and we have
the money to be able to do that. The City had better watch out.

In sum: we hate bicyclists. We hate pedestrians. We hate anyone using the road for any other
purpose other than to drive to their lakeside or lake view home. And the operative word here is
*hate* -- the level of emotional venom was bracing.

After the bbq, I felt I needed a decontamination room from absorbing so much bad feeling. And this
without saying, "hi, I'm a cyclist who was an activist regarding the Redmond effort", or "I chair
the city's bicycle/pedestrian advisory group". This was without stirring up their hornets' nest of
hostility. When people voiced their feelings, I did not do any defense of the proposed
improvements, the needs of non-motorized transportation, etc. I just listened.

The day and lord knows, the hour will come, when I will not be just sitting there politely
listening. I will be actively organizing, testifying, writing, facilitating. There may have been
only a few bicycling and pedestrian activists at the bbq, and we kept our profile pretty low.
There will be scores of them at other fora, just like we had in Redmond, and we will speak out.

The prospect of this level of negative emotional energy that I am going to provoke is scary for
me. I will need to draw on my meditation training to keep myself logical, focused, and at the same
time, compassionate and open-hearted.

Pray for me, friends, pray for me.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky ([email hidden]) Home of the meditative cyclist:
home.earthlink.netWelcome.htmOpen ↗ Singing with you at: tiferet.nettiferet.netOpen ↗
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at: bookcrossing.comCpeterskyOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

I'm going to lay it all out here --

<snip>

OK, how was the food?

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>[email hidden]__________

Fri, 25 Jul 2003 23:59:20 -0400, <[email hidden]>, "Eric S. Sande"

Quoted message said:

OK, how was the food?

Unfoutunately, it wasn't laced with LSD.
--
zk

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Claire Petersky) said:

Adding a shoulder or bike lane will just encourage more speeders. We will hire lawyers. We will
fight these improvements tooth and nail, and we have the money to be able to do that. The City had
better watch out.

If they can afford lawyers for all that, they surely could afford to put up for some traffic calming
measures, which can be quite decorative (double-duty as planters, etc). Such beautifications can
actually enhance property values. Better than a shabby, decrepit old road, anyways.

Quoted message said:

In sum: we hate bicyclists. We hate pedestrians. We hate anyone using the road for any other
purpose other than to drive to their lakeside or lake view home. And the operative word here is
*hate* -- the level of emotional venom was bracing.

Sounds like the old gated community/seige mentality thing, and hate springing from fear of the
"different" people (viz: cyclists and pedestrians).

The City of Vancouver has addressed such fears as increased speeds, increased crime and decreased
property values along our bike routes, with an online FAQ for residents along such bike routes.
Here's an excerpt:

(city.vancouver.bc.cafaqresidents.htmOpen ↗
---
"4.How will a bicycle route affect my street or neighbourhood? Will crime increase? Will property
values decrease?

You likely will not notice much change on your street. For example, we have observed over 60
cyclists per hour during rush hour on many existing routes in Vancouver. In comparison, a typical
local street may have 100 automobiles during that same time. Traffic calming measures (such as
medians, diverters and traffic circles) are proposed to reduce non-local car traffic on the bikeway
and are often viewed by residents as positive additions to a neighbourhood.

Previous studies indicate that property values and crime rates are not affected by bike routes.
Cyclists on bike routes, like commuters in cars, are generally headed to a specific destination and
are not interested in lingering in neighbourhoods. Unlike automobile commuters, cyclists travel at
slower speeds and may provide an 'eyes on the street' presence in the neighbourhood."
---

So, maybe these Lake Road residents can be sold on the idea of the road improvements, with a little,
gentle, marketing approach. Gotta be gentle with scaredy-cats.

cheers, Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn
[point] bc [point] ca

The resistance of the mansion-dwellers to bikes near their homes is due to simple, primitive
thinking. They feel that if people on lowly, cheap vehicles can pass nearby, then their most
substantial display of conspicuous consumption will be degraded. In their minds, their million
dollar plus houses are there to put them at a status level untouchable by common folk. They're
mostly Nouveau Riche-----lots of newly-acquired money and few of the redeeming qualities of the
better types of humanity.

Don't bother confronting or trying to reason with them, but find ways to ignore or bypass them.
They contribute little to bettering society outside of their own elitist interests. Figure out
how to avoid pulling their chains too hard and you won't likely hear much from them.

However, if the current bill in Congress to abolish bikepath funding and rail-conversions
passes into law, this type of fat-cat will score a big one over us and much of what I've said
will be moot. There must be a few hardcore right-wingers out there who are also serious
bicyclists. Can you imagine how confused and frustrated their thinking processes must be
these days?

Steve McDonald

On 2003-07-25 at 17:23:04 PST Claire Petersky () said:

The prospect of this level of negative emotional energy that I am going to provoke is
scary for me.

the answer is easy: seek strength in numbers. organize NOW to turn out riders from all over the
seattle area at the hearing(s). get the cascade bike clubs advocacy folks working with you to turn
out as many riders as possible.

recruit other cyclists who ride the route to carry flyers with them and hand them out to all the
other cyclists.

finally, do some advance legwork to find out how the city council and county council members
involved stand on the issue. if necessary, find cyclists close to them (in business, as
acquaintances, or politically) to speak to them personally.

if you can determine the undecided council members, make sure they get a LOT of mail on the topic
(in my past organizing efforts around community planning issues, i've found that check-the-box
pre-addressed postcards work VERY well, and they are easy to hand out).

now that you've heard all the bogus arguments, prepare logical statements to counter the emotional
arguments. talk about fairness. talk about the fact that there's no way to eliminate the road, so it
should be fixed to be safe.

Quoted message said:

In sum: we hate bicyclists. We hate pedestrians. We hate anyone using the road for any other
purpose other than to drive to their lakeside or lake view home.

=v= The word "impede" derives from putting shackles on feet. Similarly, the word "expedite" derives
from freeing the feet. Those driving that road are shackled to their polluting beasts and all that
entails, and are insane with rage over those who are free. <_Jym_

I think what Claire has run into is your typical people who think, now that they're wealthy (or
maybe because they've always been wealthy), they can throw money at anything they personally don't
like, for whatever reason, and make it go away.

Sounds like the spoiled brats need to learn a lesson.
--
Trudi "And, with that cryptic comment, I'm going to bed." --Mike, Mystery Science Theater 3000
____
Say NO to secret judging and corruption in skating -- support SkateFAIR! skatefair.orgskatefair.orgOpen ↗

"Eric S. Sande" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm going to lay it all out here --

<snip>

OK, how was the food?

Grilled weinies, buns, condiments and the usual collection of what our family terms "hot dog
vegetables" (sauerkraut, relish, pickles, onions); chips; sodas and water. I think watermelon would
have been a nice touch, would have complemented the summertime feel of the event, would not have
significantly added to the expense, and would have balanced out the junk food on offer. But this is
the City paying for all this free food (and for people who could well afford to pay for
it), so you can't demand too much.

I noticed it was the few cyclists there who were trying to get more than their allotted share of
one weinie.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky ([email hidden]) Home of the meditative cyclist:
home.earthlink.netWelcome.htmOpen ↗ Singing with you at: tiferet.nettiferet.netOpen ↗ Books
just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at: bookcrossing.comCpeterskyOpen ↗

[email hidden] (Claire Petersky) wrote

Quoted message said:

In sum: we hate bicyclists. We hate pedestrians. We hate anyone using the road for any other
purpose other than to drive to their lakeside or lake view home. And the operative word here is
*hate* -- the level of emotional venom was bracing.

Ah, the sound of cognitive dissonance.

If those people you were talking to were thinking at all clearly, they would realize that bicycles
are not the cause of the anger and frustration that is boiling up here. But to face the real cause
would require them to question their own choices. This only serves to increase the venom leveled at
the chosen scapegoat. The hostility toward cyclists and peds, the SUV craze, the gated community
thing, all of these are signs of an embattled, terrified society. The more frightened they become,
the more irrational and hostile their denial becomes. Look at that nitwit from California on the
"Share the Road" thread who's convinced that cycling will cause billions of dollars in economic
damage. Or suburban homeowners who band together to angrily protest when the city wants to install
sidewalks on their streets.

It's an unfortunate fact, but every time you throw your leg over a bicycle it's a political act.
Simply by being there, you challenge the structure of illusion by which such people justify
their entire

riding a bicycle is a subversive act.

Quoted message said:

The day and lord knows, the hour will come, when I will not be just sitting there politely
listening. I will be actively organizing, testifying, writing, facilitating.

Give 'em hell.

CC

[email hidden] (Dennis P. Harris) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On 2003-07-25 at 17:23:04 PST Claire Petersky () said:

The prospect of this level of negative emotional energy that I am going to provoke is scary
for me.

the answer is easy: seek strength in numbers.

Actually, we have strength in numbers. We got 500+ people to join Friends of Lake Sammamish
(lakesammfriends.orglakesammfriends.orgOpen ↗) as a part of the Redmond effort. We had dozens of people for every
Redmond City Council meeting ready to testify. The Redmond City Council requested us to please,
please, please *stop* all the damn letters and emails because they were being snowed under by all
the people (primarily bicyclists, some pedestrians) contacting them in support of the project.

One of the things that was very helpful was having *local* residents speak on the behalf of the
project. As a Bellevue resident, I mostly kept my mouth shut publicly, and having a Seattle person
speak would have been at best neutral.

One thing that will help is that out of my forty-ahem years of life, all but ten of them have been
spent as a Bellevue resident. You know about the popsicle index? It's a measure of the quality of
life for a community, and it works like this: it's the percentage of people who would feel
comfortable sending their kid to the local convenience store to buy a popsicle. When I was a kid, my
best friend lived on the lake (when normal people could afford to live on the lake), and we'd walk
from her house to the Little Store to buy popsicles. I can tell that story, and ask, what's the
popsicle index for that road today? Outside agitators, especially spandex clad and from Seattle, are
highly, highly suspicious. If you say you are a local resident, when you come in with your kids,
when you talk about safety for your children, not just yourself -- these are winners.

What would be great would be to find a lakeside resident willing to speak on the behalf of the
project, but peer pressure is very great. On the Redmond project we had lakeside residents tell us
privately that they supported the City's improvements, but didn't dare say anything because they
have to live next door to all these people for the rest of their lives, and don't want to stick
their necks out.

I am fairly confident about having the numbers, but that doesn't mean that I won't be a target for
all this hostility. In fact, the more numbers, the more we'll of course rile them all up.

These improvements were floated about 8 or 10 years ago, and there was a huge firestorm, and the
whole thing was abandoned. The city planner associated with the project quit. The advocates on our
bike-ped group who lived through it back then all say they want nothing to do with it this time.

Quoted message said:

finally, do some advance legwork to find out how the city council and county council members
involved stand on the issue. if necessary, find cyclists close to them (in business, as
acquaintances, or politically) to speak to them personally.

The mayor does a little recreational riding herself, which is more than you could usually hope for.

Quoted message said:

now that you've heard all the bogus arguments, prepare logical statements to counter the emotional
arguments. talk about fairness. talk about the fact that there's no way to eliminate the road, so
it should be fixed to be safe.

They wouldn't want to *eliminate* the road, just put gates on either end of it, and keep the
non-residents out.

As for the arguments, they're pretty clear: enhance property values, increase safety for everyone
(bicycles and peds, sure, but also motorists too), support cycling to *reduce* the numbers of cars
that are commuting (the residents on the road consider car commuters to be close to agents of the
Dark Lord).

Yes, we don't have to ride our bikes past their homes. If rb*'s own Dane didn't ride his bike past
their houses on his way to work, he might be driving his car. If I didn't take my kids on our
tandem on the bike lane on that road on the weekend, maybe I'd be driving past their house,
driving ourselves to a different location to ride bikes. Who makes a smaller impact -- more cars
or our bikes?

The argument I don't have is that widening the roadway for the bike lane will steepen already very
steep driveways. Basically, people have built homes on slopes that are nearly clifflike. If you make
a larger flat area where the road is, some people's driveways will get even steeper. It's physically
the only way it can work. Already, firefighters can't get their trucks up and down these driveways.
They have to connect hoses from the road to be able to reach the homes, either up from the road or
down from the road. They can connect hoses very fast -- that's their job -- but considering how long
these driveways are, it may not be fast enough. One family's fancy house burnt to the ground because
the driveway was too steep for the fire trucks.

My gut feeling is, it's your own damn fault for buying a house on a slope that shouldn't have been
built on in the first place. Erosion and its results have damaged the ecology of the whole area.
Your trade-off for your great view may be an increased risk of having the thing burn to a cinder --
live with it. But I can't say that, now can I? After all, the counter is: you enjoy riding your
bike, you have the increased risk of being whacked by cars -- live with it.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky ([email hidden]) Home of the meditative cyclist:
home.earthlink.netWelcome.htmOpen ↗ Singing with you at: tiferet.nettiferet.netOpen ↗ Books
just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at: bookcrossing.comCpeterskyOpen ↗

Thus said [email hidden] (Tom Keats):

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Claire Petersky) said:

Adding a shoulder or bike lane will just encourage more speeders. We will hire lawyers. We will
fight these improvements tooth and nail, and we have the money to be able to do that. The City
had better watch out.

If they can afford lawyers for all that, they surely could afford to put up for some traffic
calming measures, which can be quite decorative (double-duty as planters, etc).

We're not talking about a residential street here, but a road where traffic calming isn't
appropriate. It was a significant road before they built their houses there.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In sum: we hate bicyclists. We hate pedestrians. We hate anyone using the road for any other
purpose other than to drive to their lakeside or lake view home. And the operative word here is
*hate* -- the level of emotional venom was bracing.

Sounds like the equivalent of people who buy a house near the airport and then start complaining
about the noise. Fortunately, for every 1 rich snob who doesn't want the road he lives in improved,
there are probably 100 other rich snobs who do want it improved so they can drive down it faster on
their way from one sterile-Eastside-location to another.

Also, we can take delight in the fact that, the next time there's a good heavy rain, their lake-view
house will become a lake-floating-in-the house. And they'll sue the city over that too, claiming it
was the city's own fault for letting them build somewhere that the slope is unstable.

Corvus Corvax said:

[email hidden] (Claire Petersky) wrote

Quoted message said:

In sum: we hate bicyclists. We hate pedestrians. We hate anyone using the road for any other
purpose other than to drive to their lakeside or lake view home. And the operative word here is
*hate* -- the level of emotional venom was bracing.

Ah, the sound of cognitive dissonance.

If those people you were talking to were thinking at all clearly, they would realize that bicycles
are not the cause of the anger and frustration that is boiling up here. But to face the real cause
would require them to question their own choices. This only serves to increase the venom leveled
at the chosen scapegoat.

You mean like "SUV craze" and "gated community thing" and "embattled, terrified society"? What's
wrong with *others* having freedoms to drive what they want, live where and how they want, etc.?

Quoted message said:

The hostility toward cyclists and peds, the SUV craze, the gated community thing, all of these are
signs of an embattled, terrified society. The more frightened they become, the more irrational and
hostile their denial becomes. Look at that nitwit from California on the "Share the Road" thread
who's convinced that cycling will cause billions of dollars in economic damage. Or suburban
homeowners who band together to angrily protest when the city wants to install sidewalks on their
streets.

Neighborhoods should be free to determine their own destiny. They have property values to
protect. They live there. Why should they be subjected to intrusions or mandates from others who
don't live there?

Quoted message said:

It's an unfortunate fact, but every time you throw your leg over a bicycle it's a political act.
Simply by being there, you challenge the structure of illusion by which such people justify
their entire

Quoted message said:

riding a bicycle is a subversive act.

That's rank hyperbole.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The day and lord knows, the hour will come, when I will not be just sitting there politely
listening. I will be actively organizing, testifying, writing, facilitating.

Give 'em hell.

All interests are better solved by finding an acceptable middle ground. Giving hell doesn't solve
problems, it only creates more of them.

Quoted message said:

Giving hell doesn't solve problems, it only creates more of them.

This reminds me of the "Klingle Road dispute" (type that into a search engine for details) in the
other Washington.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>[email hidden]__________

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Claire Petersky) said:

But this is the City paying for all this free food (and for people who could well afford
to pay for
it), so you can't demand too much.

Can't argue about free growlies. But I can't help being reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer
is lured into Perdition by the aroma of BBQ, only to be inevitably disappointed:

"Aw, they're out of hot dogs.

And the coleslaw has pineapple in it!

Aghhh!! /German/ potato salad!"

cheers, Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn
[point] bc [point] ca

Thus said cyclist101 <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Neighborhoods should be free to determine their own destiny. They have property values to
protect. They live there. Why should they be subjected to intrusions or mandates from others who
don't live there?

This isn't a neighborhood. It's a parkway, a major through road which was originally built along a
lakeshore. Then, much later, people built a few houses along it. That doesn't suddenly give them
exclusive rights to decide what happens to important public arterials.

Here in Toronto, we've recently had a 'win' in this department. City council was wise enough to
avoid an attempt to overturn a key component of the official bicycle plan - a bike lane on Dundas
Street East.

One unusual sounding part of the debate was that it was the residents and business community along
the street that wanted the bike lane - which will reduce the 4 lane street into two car lanes plus
two bike lanes and parking. I believe the parking will be all day, rather than only available
outside of rush hours, hence the business' support.

The Toronto Star opposed the bike lane, but admits the traffic flow is currently at 70 kph (~45 mph)
despite being posted at 40 kph (25 mph.) They opine the traffic may return to near-legal speeds once
the bike lanes are in place.

The attempted derailing of the plan would have had further reaching implications as well, as it
would have made all such proposals go to the city works committee, rather than the community
councils that may approve them now. This would have stopped all of this years changes, and
saddlebagged all future ones with an extra layer of bureaucracy.

- Brian Huntley

Kevan Smith said:

Quoted message said:

Neighborhoods should be free to determine their own destiny. They have property values to
protect. They live there. Why should they be subjected to intrusions or mandates from others who
don't live there?

Streets are usually public. If they want private roads, they can pay for them on their own. But I
don't think they'll be wanting to buy a highway, even if they were allowed.

Most streets in gated communities, which CC mentioned, *are* private.

Sat, 26 Jul 2003 11:38:55 -0500, <[email hidden]>, Kevan Smith
<[email hidden]/\/\> wrote: \szip

Quoted message said:

I don't even think about eating hot dogs unless I can have at least three. One per person? Sheesh.
That's just teasing.

One tofu veggie dog is sufficient for me, thanks.
--
zk