Jack Kass-ery (was Gabe Klein, John Kass & Jake Hartford on the Radio)

As John Greenfield tipped us last week, Gabe Klein was interviewed/tormented by John Kass & Jake Hartford on WLS yesterday.  The Active Transportation Alliance did the hard work of finding the podcast of the event (I tried to find it myself yesterday, and failed).  Thank you, Active Trans!  It's a pretty reasonable interview, albeit one which has Kass yelling at Klein to make "the little bicycle people" pay, pay, pay for tickets and licenses (jeez, get over yourself Kass!).

Gabe did a deft sidestep when, after saying that removing lanes that motorists could use didn't necessarily reduce "throughput" efficiency of movement, and that many Chicago roads could handle more cars, Kass jumped in and said "Oh, so we need MORE cars?"  Gabe then deflected that to "more VEHICLES of different types, like BUSES and BIKES."  Nice work!

 

http://www.wlsam.com/FlashPlayer/default.asp?SPID=0&ID=2589403

Start at 16:50 if you want to avoid the first nearly seventeen minutes of blather about dead whales in Malibu and pigeons eating sidewalk vomit on Lake Street (I wish I had skipped over this myself).

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 13, 2012 at 4:11am

Kass rhymes with ass.  More of his typical jackassery.  I agree that there should be some enforcement, especially to level the playing field between peds and cyclists.

On the whole "cyclists don't pay" issue - well, we've had that discussion.  We pay plenty in various taxes.  We put less wear and tear on pavement, so we're saving the city money on that one.  No need to rehash all the details of that tired argument again.

I'll add my thanks to Thunder Snow for pasting the copy above so we don't boost the Trib's hit counter by reading Kass' drivel on their site.

Permalink Reply by Brendan Kevenides on December 13, 2012 at 4:13am

The more interesting question is why do we sometimes roll stop lights & signs and should the law change to permit it.  Here's my take in the current issue of Urban Velo Magazine: http://www.mybikeadvocate.com/2012/11/stop-and-yield.html

Permalink Reply by Kara B on December 13, 2012 at 4:31am

Gabe Klein did kind of an amazing job of responding through the snickering. Actually, the other guy seemed sort of decent and asked about whether more cars would be ticketed for double parking (!). 

Permalink Reply by dan brown on December 13, 2012 at 4:34am

I had to count for myself - (K)ass uses the term 'little' no less than SEVEN times.

Not sure why he continued to make this reference (he is a big guy btw); funny - I used

to get angry at his columns, now I kind of feel sorry for him. In fact, I sensed a bit

of jealousy in his article. Agreeing with Duppie and others here - IMHO he is just an

old washed up H.L. Mencken wannabe; who must constantly worry about declining readership

and come up with outrageous columns to keep his readership above water.

Poor little Johnny...

 

DB

 



Duppie said:

Good luck with trying turn this into a debate between two adults. Mr. Kass is clearly not interested in that. Otherwise he would not use the term "Little Bike People". It is like anti-car people using the term 'cagers' and then wondering why no one takes them serious.

I used to think he was funny back during the Daley administration. Now he is just like Rush Limbaugh or Lawrence O'Donnell: Another angry middle aged white guy, who uses the soapbox provided by the Tribune to preach to his converts. The only way he can continue to do that is by making ever more outrageous statements every day.


Tim S said:

I sat at Gannon's Pub on wing night about a month ago and watched EVERY car, save for a small number who only stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalk, roll through the stop sign on Lincoln. I am getting rather tired of the us vs. them mentality when there are bad drivers on both sides of the equation difference being that a bike causes far less damage then a car when accidents happen. 

Lets Invite Kass out for a ride and a beer at Gannon's so he can count with us how many cars roll the stop sign, talk on their cell phones and not stop for pedestrians vs bikes rolling a stop sign. It is an exceptionally lopsided number, exponentially more dangerous, and far more lucrative to the city to ticket the drivers.

edit... Thanks Thunder Snow for the copy so I didn't have give the Trib a click. 

 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 13, 2012 at 4:45am

I'd love to see a push in more states to follow the example of Idaho and Virginia.  This, and a broad educational outreach to accompany the change, would be helpful in promoting transportation cycling.

Brendan Kevenides said:

The more interesting question is why do we sometimes roll stop lights & signs and should the law change to permit it.  Here's my take in the current issue of Urban Velo Magazine: http://www.mybikeadvocate.com/2012/11/stop-and-yield.html

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 13, 2012 at 4:48am

Points well made.  I agree that Kass isn't interested in an adult dialogue on this issue.  I give Gabe Klein an A for keeping that radio interview as adult and rational as it could be under the circumstances.

He seems to have a split personality as a columnist these days, veering from Royko wannabe to Limbaugh wannabe to Mencken wannabe.  So many wannabes, and he can't get any of them right.  ;)  Yep, he was funny back in the day, but that day has passed.

Duppie said:

Good luck with trying turn this into a debate between two adults. Mr. Kass is clearly not interested in that. Otherwise he would not use the term "Little Bike People". It is like anti-car people using the term 'cagers' and then wondering why no one takes them serious.

I used to think he was funny back during the Daley administration. Now he is just like Rush Limbaugh or Lawrence O'Donnell: Another angry middle aged white guy, who uses the soapbox provided by the Tribune to preach to his converts. The only way he can continue to do that is by making ever more outrageous statements every day.

Permalink Reply by Kara B on December 13, 2012 at 4:52am

I totally agree - bikes are different than cars, and the traffic laws are intended to protect people from cars, which kill, as opposed to bikes, which really don't.

And - if we took the '"bikes are the same as cars an should follow the same rules" argument to its logical next step, bikes should really be driving in the middle of the lane, instead of sandwiched between parked cars and passing trucks/cars/etc: and I doubt most drivers would fight for that...


Anne Alt said:

I'd love to see a push in more states to follow the example of Idaho and Virginia.  This, and a broad educational outreach to accompany the change, would be helpful in promoting transportation cycling.

Brendan Kevenides said:

The more interesting question is why do we sometimes roll stop lights & signs and should the law change to permit it.  Here's my take in the current issue of Urban Velo Magazine: http://www.mybikeadvocate.com/2012/11/stop-and-yield.html

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on December 13, 2012 at 5:12am

This is it exactly.  John Kass is not interested in any of this being a dialogue or working to solve the issue.  He is interested in pot stirring, name calling and whipping up the public so they pay attention to him.  When Daley was still around he had a foil but is no without one and has turned to something he thinks he can get some traction with.

Duppie said:

Good luck with trying turn this into a debate between two adults. Mr. Kass is clearly not interested in that. Otherwise he would not use the term "Little Bike People". It is like anti-car people using the term 'cagers' and then wondering why no one takes them serious.

I used to think he was funny back during the Daley administration. Now he is just like Rush Limbaugh or Lawrence O'Donnell: Another angry middle aged white guy, who uses the soapbox provided by the Tribune to preach to his converts. The only way he can continue to do that is by making ever more outrageous statements every day.


Tim S said:

I sat at Gannon's Pub on wing night about a month ago and watched EVERY car, save for a small number who only stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalk, roll through the stop sign on Lincoln. I am getting rather tired of the us vs. them mentality when there are bad drivers on both sides of the equation difference being that a bike causes far less damage then a car when accidents happen. 

Lets Invite Kass out for a ride and a beer at Gannon's so he can count with us how many cars roll the stop sign, talk on their cell phones and not stop for pedestrians vs bikes rolling a stop sign. It is an exceptionally lopsided number, exponentially more dangerous, and far more lucrative to the city to ticket the drivers.

edit... Thanks Thunder Snow for the copy so I didn't have give the Trib a click. 

 

Permalink Reply by Jim Freeman on December 13, 2012 at 5:12am

I sat at a residential intersection in Wicker Park a few years ago and filmed cars negotiating a stop sign for five full minutes.  I edited it and cut out the dead space, and it made for a pretty funny short. There were two cars out of maybe 20 that came to a complete stop.  Some cars appeared to actually accelerate through the intersection.

I have never taken the view that becuase drivers do it we should do it.  It seems to me that it serves our interests to promote the bicycle as a civilized form of transportation- a sharp contrast to the comparatively uncivilized automobile. 

Kara B said:

I totally agree - bikes are different than cars, and the traffic laws are intended to protect people from cars, which kill, as opposed to bikes, which really don't.

And - if we took the '"bikes are the same as cars an should follow the same rules" argument to its logical next step, bikes should really be driving in the middle of the lane, instead of sandwiched between parked cars and passing trucks/cars/etc: and I doubt most drivers would fight for that...


Anne Alt said:

I'd love to see a push in more states to follow the example of Idaho and Virginia.  This, and a broad educational outreach to accompany the change, would be helpful in promoting transportation cycling.

Brendan Kevenides said:

The more interesting question is why do we sometimes roll stop lights & signs and should the law change to permit it.  Here's my take in the current issue of Urban Velo Magazine: http://www.mybikeadvocate.com/2012/11/stop-and-yield.html

Permalink Reply by Tim S on December 13, 2012 at 5:15am

Post the Vid Jim, post the Vid!

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 13, 2012 at 5:17am

In order to make a change like Idaho stop politically acceptable, we would need some even-handed enforcement of traffic laws, as Jim Freeman suggests in his quote to Kass.  Without that leveling of the enforcement playing field, it's likely to be a cold day in hell before we could gain enough traction to get Idaho stop passed here.  The level of pushback from drivers would probably be a lot more than we're seeing now for protected bike lanes.

Permalink Reply by Jamais716 on December 13, 2012 at 6:55am

Biking scofflaws, driving scofflaws, what about pedestrians?  A wave of them started crossing at Jackson and Wacker against the light like I wasn't heading right for them with the right of way.  There's regularly a bunch of people who seem to wait for the light to change against them before cross at Canal and Monroe.  If the city wanted to make some money and reduce traffic snarls downtown, they could just as easily go after people jaywalking. (I'm assuming there's laws against jaywalking in Chicago that are never enforced?)

Nobody's perfect and all of us break the law sometimes.  I just wish more people would be aware and exercise good judgement and courtesy to others when they do it.  Don't ticket all violators unless you want to make an example.  Just ticket the ones whose actions clearly violate the purpose of the laws to keep everyone safe.



Tim S said:

I sat at Gannon's Pub on wing night about a month ago and watched EVERY car, save for a small number who only stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalk, roll through the stop sign on Lincoln. I am getting rather tired of the us vs. them mentality when there are bad drivers on both sides of the equation difference being that a bike causes far less damage then a car when accidents happen. 

Lets Invite Kass out for a ride and a beer at Gannon's so he can count with us how many cars roll the stop sign, talk on their cell phones and not stop for pedestrians vs bikes rolling a stop sign. It is an exceptionally lopsided number, exponentially more dangerous, and far more lucrative to the city to ticket the drivers.

edit... Thanks Thunder Snow for the copy so I didn't have give the Trib a click. 

 

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