There’s a meeting happening next week here in Louisville. It’s not going to be in exact response to the Louisville Bike Summit, but hopefully will address some of the issues that remain in some of our minds from the Summit. Hopefully we’ll be talking about some alternative ideas about bicycle safety and advocacy here in Louisville. Feel free to attend, and throw out some ideas!
While I applaud the sentiment, do we really need /another/ bicycle advocacy group in Louisville? Rather than have so many struggling groups, like Bicycling for Louisville, Safe Streets Louisville, CART, Brickhouse, and the Louisville Bicycle Club’s advocacy committee, why don’t people just break out of their shells and work with other advocates? All of these would welcome some new blood. And there are advantages to building on the work of others, for example, getting a 501-c3 not-for-profit designation is non trivial. All of them already have websites. All of them already have a base of membership.
By joining rather than creating anew, you also test your ideas against the critical thinking of others outside your comfort zone. That’s going to happen sooner or later anyway, might as well be sooner.
You’ll also meet people faster that way. There’s just an incredible amount of carp going on here, so much that it’s hard to keep abreast of it all. The more people you know, the better informed you are and the better you can apply your efforts.
My advice on the honking issue: stay cool. Evaluate why they’re honking. If they’ve got a point, fix it. If they’re just being dorks, proceed as if they’re not there, or give them an inquisitive cocked head or smile and wave. For the forseeable future we will be honked at and cursed at, that’s just the culture we live in. We need a greater empathy from the public, and to do that we need more of them to cycle, and to do that we need cycling to be fun. So always have fun, even when there are honkies.
I am all for an additional advocacy group. perhaps one working a bit more outside the system with a direct action bent… hopefully this leads to something more than a bunch of people meeting to discuss what they would like the government to do for them.
We recently had one of these “summits” out here, too. Lots of clapping and patting of backs. There was a group of old-timers in the back (near me) talking about how ridiculous the whole thing was. One guy said, “Wanna promote cycling? Ride your fucking bike in the street!”. Not exactly concise, but passionate and interesting coming from a guy who’s peers seem to wallow in whining and devoid of fire in the belly. I don’t know.
crankedmag 
Michael,
While I applaud the sentiment, do we really need /another/ bicycle advocacy group in Louisville? Rather than have so many struggling groups, like Bicycling for Louisville, Safe Streets Louisville, CART, Brickhouse, and the Louisville Bicycle Club’s advocacy committee, why don’t people just break out of their shells and work with other advocates? All of these would welcome some new blood. And there are advantages to building on the work of others, for example, getting a 501-c3 not-for-profit designation is non trivial. All of them already have websites. All of them already have a base of membership.
By joining rather than creating anew, you also test your ideas against the critical thinking of others outside your comfort zone. That’s going to happen sooner or later anyway, might as well be sooner.
You’ll also meet people faster that way. There’s just an incredible amount of carp going on here, so much that it’s hard to keep abreast of it all. The more people you know, the better informed you are and the better you can apply your efforts.
My advice on the honking issue: stay cool. Evaluate why they’re honking. If they’ve got a point, fix it. If they’re just being dorks, proceed as if they’re not there, or give them an inquisitive cocked head or smile and wave. For the forseeable future we will be honked at and cursed at, that’s just the culture we live in. We need a greater empathy from the public, and to do that we need more of them to cycle, and to do that we need cycling to be fun. So always have fun, even when there are honkies.
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I am all for an additional advocacy group. perhaps one working a bit more outside the system with a direct action bent… hopefully this leads to something more than a bunch of people meeting to discuss what they would like the government to do for them.
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You just can’t get much more “outside the system” than some of these groups.
Safe Streets Louisville is a prime example of this.
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We recently had one of these “summits” out here, too. Lots of clapping and patting of backs. There was a group of old-timers in the back (near me) talking about how ridiculous the whole thing was. One guy said, “Wanna promote cycling? Ride your fucking bike in the street!”. Not exactly concise, but passionate and interesting coming from a guy who’s peers seem to wallow in whining and devoid of fire in the belly. I don’t know.
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