Please send a letter to the Chicago Tribune today!

Following John McCarron’s recent column in the Chicago Tribune criticizing initiatives to make Chicago better for bicycling and transit (as discussed on Chainlink here), we need you to speak up to make sure our voice is heard loud and clear. We can't stand by and let the media influence public opinion with misinformation. If you haven't already, please email a letter to the editor today (send it to ctc-tribletter@tribune.com) to show the Tribune that there’s broad support for making our streets safer and better for biking, walking and transit. Active Trans is also sending a response, but many letters from regular citizens can have more impact than one letter from an organization. Tell your personal story. And let the Tribune know that you’re not going to war -- you’re just trying to get to work safely, conveniently and affordably! And feel free to post your letters here as well to share with others.

 

- Lee Crandell, Active Trans

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on November 28, 2011 at 8:00am

doing it now

Permalink Reply by Ace Mann on November 28, 2011 at 12:18pm
Just Did it.Good to see Activetrans is going to reply to this
Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on November 28, 2011 at 12:19pm

Will you two post your letters here to advise us on how to craft such a response?

(All or part is fine.)

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on November 28, 2011 at 1:26pm

If you want, you can use my post from the other thread and send it to them, but I'm going to let that oped writer and the buffoon's who follow their good honest reporting fester in their own willful ignorance, as well as their complicity in many of Chicago's ills.  These ancient trolls wont go away unless people start speaking with their pocketbooks and mouse-clicks.         

Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on November 29, 2011 at 7:57am

Here's a copy of the letter to the editor we sent to the Tribune. Feel free to use this as a template, but keep in mind that letters to the editor are more effective if you use your own words.

 

With 4,000 miles of streets and most of Chicago paved over to accommodate cars, it's hard to fathom how adding protected bike lanes and bus lanes to a tiny percentage of streets will force people out of their cars, as John McCarron insinuates in “Chicago’s war on Cars,” published on Sunday, Nov. 27.

This is no “war on cars,” but the city providing what most Chicagoans want--good alternatives to buying pricey gasoline to drive on congested roads, and safer streets that are walkable and vibrant.

Biking may not work for everyone--including McCarron--but it is an option for more and more people. Cycling has roughly doubled in Chicago over the past 10 years.

People cycle even more when you add protected bike lanes. Bike ridership increased 55 percent during morning rush hour on Kinzie Street after installation of a protected bike lane. A CDOT traffic count found that during the morning rush hour bikes accounted for 53 percent of eastbound traffic on Kinzie. Protected bike lanes also reduce crashes of all types.

McCarron scoffs at new bus lanes, but you cannot compare the poorly designed State Street busway from the 1980s to modern bus facilities. Chicago needs to move people faster and more dependably by bus, and modern bus lanes all over the U.S. and the world prove that it can be done. And in many cases, cars move faster as well because the streets are less congested.

 

--Ron Burke, executive director of the Active Transportation Alliance

Permalink Reply by John Wirtz on November 29, 2011 at 10:03am

I just got back from a City Club luncheon where Gabe Klein was speaking and he specifically said, "There is no war on cars."

Permalink Reply by Lizzy M. on November 29, 2011 at 11:14am

My response to these sorts of editorials is to write my alderman and the mayor's office and once again thank them for supporting improvements to bicycling infrastructure and to work harder to reduce traffic, protect pedestrians and maintain public transportation.

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on November 29, 2011 at 1:08pm

That's a really good idea. Who's your alderman? Maybe others in your ward can thank them, too. 

 

I didn't write a letter, but I combated the misinformation and inaccuracies on Grid Chicago: Breaking down the battle John McCarron wants to start.

Lizzy M. said:

My response to these sorts of editorials is to write my alderman and the mayor's office and once again thank them for supporting improvements to bicycling infrastructure and to work harder to reduce traffic, protect pedestrians and maintain public transportation.

Permalink Reply by Lizzy M. on November 29, 2011 at 1:58pm

I'm in the 44th Ward, which could dearly use some traffic calming. The city installed leading pedestrian intervals at some intersections (Broadway and Belmont, for instance) but as soon as the drivers caught on, they began treating them as left turn signals and extended yellows.

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on November 29, 2011 at 3:49pm

:::Thumbs Up:::

 

I think Waguespack puts cycling and public trans as a pretty high priority.  

Lizzy M. said:

My response to these sorts of editorials is to write my alderman and the mayor's office and once again thank them for supporting improvements to bicycling infrastructure and to work harder to reduce traffic, protect pedestrians and maintain public transportation.

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on November 30, 2011 at 11:02am
Permalink Reply by April on November 30, 2011 at 12:58pm

In the comment section after the article someone mentioned this video: http://www.chicagobikes.org/video/index.php?loadVideo=police_traini...

It is a training video for police about  how to enforce laws for motorists and cyclists but I think all drivers and cyclists could use some of the information on there. 

Did you know, for example,  that is illegal for a car to make a right or left turn in in front of a cyclist--kind of like CTA buses? I sure didn't!  Check it out! 

 

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