Audi Mocks Transit, Bikes in New Ad
Posted By Thomas Bahde on September 19, 2009
It shouldn’t surprise us that auto manufacturers promote their vehicles at the expense of “alternative” modes of travel, but still somehow it’s always a surprise to be slapped in the face quite this hard.
New to your site and was saw the streetsblog icon. What does “livable streets” mean to this blog? Is the meaning just the same as a good “quality of life” or something more specific? Beware of fuzzy general concepts that everyone likes but that no one can define in the same way. Using fuzzy concepts and language is how George W’s followers kept their momentum going for 8 years.
Steve O., “livable streets” is a catch-phrase, true, but the Streetsblog widget signals our participation in a broad network of interest in making urban environments more people-friendly and not just people-in-autos-friendly. This extends from roads and streets to parks and trails. It is not a mandate for particular kinds of coverage, or a rigid ideological statement, or a statement of political affiliation. The “fuzzy” general concept you warn about is not the same as a politically-mobilized collection of fear-based ideologies, but is rather a flexible model of viewing urban development and redevelopment that allows like-minded individuals to engage in a discussion that is informed by similar concerns. Thank you for your comment, and I hope you enjoy our coverage of bicycle-related issues both in San Diego and within the broader culture.
Thanks.
I’m highly skeptical but open minded. however I am pessimistic that there has been more cheerleading than critical analysis. I do no want our generation to leave future generations in ecological and economic debt that they can’t get out of and if that makes us like minded, I hope you will entertain my probing.
Livable, walkable, sustainable are all terms being tossed around and used “flexibly” these days. As long as people in the discussion understand more specific goals should be outlined, its all good. If people-friendly you mean more like master planned communities in the suburbs, I get it
Or, is the streets movement about wanting our urban streets to be as auto uncongested and utilized as our suburban cul-de-sacs? On the other hand, if we mean roads designed to “induce” a change in commuting mode choices, we should be honest about that.
(I’ve come across all of these usages for “livable”)
Is the streets movement about feeling good or about actually changing things? What would San Diego look like if the goals of the movement are accomplished? Has anyone written this goal down? What needs to be changed in terms of infrastructure? Which streets would be changed? What needs to be added? How many bus routes need to be added? What will it take to truly accomplish the mission, or is this an endless war on cars?
Steve O., You ask “is the streets movement about feeling good or about actually changing things?” The answer, in our opinion, is yes to both.
Our basic goal here is to “change things” by raising issues not typically covered by the media in San Diego, and in the process hopefully try to get more people to think about the prospect of a more bike-friendly city. As much as we are able, we want to bring the efforts of groups like the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition to a broader audience, we want to call out local government and local agencies on missed opportunities or policy failures, and we want to highlight some of the positive efforts that are being made by local groups (such as the City Heights Bike Kitchen) to make San Diego a more bike-friendly city. In the process, I’d like to think we help people feel good about making decisions and taking actions that improve the prospects for traveling outside of cars here in San Diego.
OK, that’s all cool but without an end game and master plan it is tough to know what a bike-friendly San Diego is. There are thousands of recreational bike trips each weekend in San Diego so its friendly enough for that. What does it take to be good enough to call SD bike friendly? Is the lack of such a goal an admission that SD won’t be bike friendly and we can only hope for making tiny bits and pieces of SD slightly more bike friendly than today?
I’ve been involved in lots of grassroots efforts and the worst predictor/risk to failure has been making the movement about “awareness” instead of the actual change. Awareness can be a means, but don’t let it be the ends. The tell-tell sign of heading to the black whole of movements is when awareness becomes about general concepts and is no longer about a specific goal. There is a special problem when there are no goals to begin with.
Steve O., once again, your points are well-taken. I hope we can count on you to provide more comments on future posts. I will say as a wrap-up that, as an independent, grass-roots media organization, the raising of awareness *is* our actual goal, and I think it can also constitute actual change as well; the two are not mutually exclusive.
Stevo: I’d like it if you contacted me off line about your posting here. Personally, I take an affront to your post essentially challenging the purpose of this site. If you’re not helping by submission, you’re not doing much. Also, if you are allready involved in some sort of effective cycling focused grass root effort, as you’ve intimated, why don’t you talk about it here. This site is meant to support AND open up communication amongst cyclist. Shame on you for just complaining or questioning with out ANY action. Please contact me: sdfixed@gmail.com. I’d LOVE to talk to you.
“We have learned that words without action are meaningless.”
- Gudrun Ensslin
Here are a couple other quotes:
“A goal without a plan is just a wish”
UK
There is no plan and more importantly there is no clearly defined goal for San Diego being discussed by people on this site. You might say that people have vision but it is so fuzzy everyone sees only what they want even when looking in the same direction. You can’t see the reality.
Vision without action is a daydream. Action with without vision is a nightmare. ~Japanese Proverb
William, there isn’t a problem with the site especially after BikeSD described the very limited purpose they are trying to serve (unfortunately lots of people work on the “awareness” aspect and few work on the analysis). Coming up with awareness campaigns are way less troubling than writing down a plan that will not be liked by all and will mean that you might have to fight with others in the community once they see the plan.
I am involved and I CAN NOT say any of the organizations or government entities that I am involved in are effective.
This site has served the purpose of opening a line of communication.
Steveo: Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opening a thoughtful line of discussion.
When we originally envisioned bikesd.org, the goal was to create a single news and advocacy site focusing on San Diego’s bicycle culture. We were dismayed that often, the established news outlets focused on the negative aspects of bicycling culture (deaths by bicycles, bicycling accidents, etc) and none of the positive. Kathy Keehan, executive director from the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition already has established a very positive and fruitful line of communication with the city, SANDAG and other relevant organizations. The city does have a bicycle master plan, our goal is not to recreate something that is already in the works.
We want BikeSD.org to serve as a single source of unfiltered news and advocacy when it comes to bicycling in San Diego.
We are open to having new writers write for bikesd.org. If there is something specifically you feel that we are not addressing, I welcome you to submit articles or suggestions on how we can improve.
Finally, I personally, am new to this. I am not a journalist. I simply like riding my bicycle and feel very strongly that everyone in San Diego ought to as well. This site is the platform where we will advocate for bicycling as a mode of transportation to become the norm.
Sam,
Thanks for being open and being involved.
There are three goals that I can find in your last post.
Goal 1: The bike master plan being executed.
Goal 2: everyone should enjoy riding bicycles
Goal 3: biking should become the normal mode of transportation
The bike master plan is not enough to force people to ride bikes on their commute or utility trips.