Slog
News & ArtsFriday, September 16, 2011
Mailbag In Condemnation of The Stranger and "City Council Car Fucks"
Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 10:23 AM
Dear Editors,
I trust The Stranger to get it right when it comes to issues in the city. In your series on bikes this week you mostly do so….mentioning the true cost of the auto infrastructure and calling for more space for people and bikes.
My problem is that you just can’t resist calling it a “war between cyclists and cars.” I realize that you have a lot of framing, clothing and tickets to sell and like any commercial rag must therefore sensationalize stories to do so. But in this case you may tip the scales towards violence with your rhetoric. Many borderline narcissists, losers with no life and a big SUV to make them feel some power, even for a moment, may tip into full blown sociopathic behavior.Can you describe it any other way? A person willing to kill or maim an innocent person because they are delayed for a few seconds is way beyond mere narcissism, and should be treated accordingly.
I have been riding Seattle streets for 100 plus miles/week since 1978. Here are a few things I have observed:
1. The motorists are becoming much more kind and gracious to me and my bike. It used to be that some fuck would TRY to hurt me about once a month with a car.
2. Courtesy is the lubricant of any road system, and will be returned in kind.
3. The police are biased towards cars. If you have any incident get a witness right away, a license plate, and a physical description of the driver. And, if you are knocked off your bike come up with a cell phone camera, not your fists. Document..document…document….
Cars and cities are natural enemies. The best way to break this monopoly is to allocate space to bikes and pedestrians. If a car is required to get around in a city…have you thought about how horribly elitist that is? Much has been written about the pollution, implied violence, road rage scums, etc.. But it is also very much an isolating factor, inhibiting cultural and artistic mixing by people that cannot afford to operate a car.
The best way forward right now is to get city council car fucks out in the next election. Here is a story idea to accomplish this perhaps. Why did Seattle tear out all the existing light rail in the early 20th century? What I have heard is that the people filed an initiative to keep them and the city council ignored the will of the people in favor of cars and rubber tire buses. That is a story I would love to know more about.
Sincerely,
David Schomer
I feel unfairly bullied when I do things like drive 20 mph when amber lights flash or when I see children in the school zone, or stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, and someone behind me honks. I don't understand the "honk first, then survey the area you're driving through" behavior and it makes me feel much better to know at least one other person labels that behavior as irrational and sociopathic. Why would a driver behind a vehicle stopped to let pedestrians or cyclists with right-of-way assume the vehicle in front has stopped for no legal reason and therefore must be honked at?
3
By the mid-1930s, Seattle was desperate for an escape route. The city retained the John C. Beeler Organization to devise a solution, but rejected the organization's first proposal for a mixed system of streetcars and buses. The City Council liked a new Beeler plan for electric "trackless trolleys" and motor buses. Mayor John Dore, organized labor, and many civic and neighborhood groups disagreed, and in 1937 voters soundly rejected the "Beeler Plan."http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?Dis…
This "victory" did not pay the bills, and Mayor Dore died amid the worsening financial crisis. His successor and future governor Arthur Langlie (1900-1966) appealed to the Federal Government for emergency aid. In May 1939, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation loaned Seattle $10 million to pay off the streetcar debt and to implement a revised version of the Beeler Plan.
Blame the messenger: check
Persecution complex: check
Strident assertions based on hearsay/legend: check
My god, we've got a True Believer on our hands.
5
6
I agree with Dave Schomer - the "war" rhetoric is complete bullshit and only makes the problem worse.
8
This is the most fantastic quote! Yes, you've sown the seeds of your own destruction turning America's formerly most middle class and liveable "city" into a densified, over priced hellhole, with obnoxious haves and decrepit have nots trying to make each other extinct on a daily basis.
I'm pretty sure that SUV ownership* is sociopathic behavior in and of itself.
*barring people who actually need to haul around hundreds of pounds of gear and goods off-road on a regular basis.
11
Sidewalks and gutters were so the deep muck from the horses would not splatter the pedestrians on the sidewalk.
Cars were not part of the design.
12
Welch is absolutely right that we should “respect people’s preferences more than trying to change their behavior.” But I don’t think this would mean making government policies even more pro-driving. The sky-high rents in the densest areas of New York, DC, San Francisco, and other large cities suggest that there’s demand for even higher-density development in these areas that the law won’t let the market serve. And it’s reasonable to think there are people in cities like St. Louis or Minneapolis who would choose to live in that kind of neighborhood if the law allowed it to exist. It’s impossible to know what the typical American city would look like without six decades of pro-driving social engineering, but my guess is that it would involve more use of trains.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2…
15
16
@14 What the fuck does that even mean?
Lots of self righteous indignation up in here.
You're right. They should live in the suburbs and continue to kill the planet.
@15,
If you have more than two kids, and at least one of the kids is under the age of five, you have to have an SUV or station wagon. Car seats are fucking huge these days, and all kids up to preteens have to sit in the backseat.
18
That's a good slogan: It'll get you 5 percent of the citywide vote.
21
23
27
Ironically, the CAFE fuel economy regulations are partly to blame for SUVs. Big station wagons are cars, SUVs are light trucks, and the latter have more lax fuel economy standards. Automakers dropped large station wagons because they were hurting their car fleet average.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
All You Motherfuckers Complaining That aPodments Are Too Small at 200 Square Feet by Dominic Holden
-
Portland Voters Are Stoopid by Goldy
-
SL Letter of the Day: Did You Think I Was Going To Tell You Not To Come Out? (PLUS: Help Free Kate!) by Dan Savage
-
Rightwing Anti-Gay French Activist Commits Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral by Dan Savage
-
Spoiled Rotten: Star Trek Into Darkness by Paul Constant
-
There Are No Atheists In Foxholes by Dan Savage
-
Tornado Truthers by Dan Savage
-
America's Epidemic of Toddler-on-Toddler Gun Violence Continues by Goldy
-
Saint Genet Re-Creates "Shoot" by Brendan Kiley
-
Why They Break Windows by Unpaid Intern
Stranger Personals
The Stranger
RSSSeattle Art & Performance Quarterly
A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (28) RSS