Say it with me, friends:
It's not actually the process that you think is wrong, it's the outcome.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/06/09/opinion/bike-bus-lanes-transparency-parking/
excellent, someone has posted the article to local nextdoor. Strap yourselves in, kids.
I'm old enough to remember when MassDCR ignored a public process and even a city vote in favor of keeping pandemic full-weekend closures, and reverted without a word to Sunday only.
Somehow, that process withstood the authors' affinity for transparency and consultation! What was the critical difference? Hmm.
@bikepedantic It's funny* how for the delivery of most public infrastructure, housing, schools, roads etc people want more streamlined and more efficient processes, but when it comes to cycling infrastructure they want more deliberation, more consultation, longer delivery times. 🤔
*it's not funny
@bikepedantic so nice of the Globe to print a pile of straight up lies as an "opinion".
@vathpela it's trash. tho, i give the globe a bit more leeway than my old local, WaPo, because they have published some stunningly positive opinions and features too. WaPo is irredeemable.
@bikepedantic WaPo as a legit paper died with print.
@bikepedantic They'll never accept that *not* doing something should also, then, require public debate. Keeping things the way they are, in spite of all evidence that it's not working, is a deliberate decision.
@DrTCombs status quo bias, thy name is transportation
@bikepedantic you're a damn sage
@bikepedantic I wonder if installing car lanes requires the same public debate?
@benfulton in a prior home, i was proud to rant my way into forcing my State DOT into a more transparent process to widen a couple of roads near me. And they absolutely had some cursory slide decks and asphalt warming up, ready to just pave baby pave
@bikepedantic glad to see I’m not the only one still thinking about this piece
@bikepedantic There have been like 3 elections where the CSO was a notable part of it. Each one became a bigger deal in the election, and each one supporters increased.
That's before we talk about the many attempts to amend it and each project getting 3-4 public meetings plus a ton of other outreach.
Maybe the process is robust but the desire for better biking is also robust?
@bikepedantic I like the part where they're trying to blame Boston's traffic problems on recent changes to bus and bike lanes
Traffic in Boston: a famously new problem
@bikepedantic Did they just copy and paste the same rhetoric from every anti bike lane screed ever written?
Coincidentally enough, these same arguments are being used against the Duke Street bus project in Alexandria.
@bikepedantic This spin is giving me vertigo
They even have the chutzpah to cite Cambridge's Cycling Safety Ordinance (CSO) as a failure of process and public debate.
Besides the YEARS of public meetings, outreach, and debate, the 2021 City Council election was to some degree a referendum on the CSO. And CSO supporters hold 6-7 seats today.
Are Mr. Hurst and Ms. Anthony election deniers?