The Chainlink

TCA: Alderman crabbing about bikes not being licensed

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/8435830-418/alderman-asks-whe...

 

And Gabe Klein handling it perfectly.

 

And Ron Burke coming off as calling for a crackdown on cyclists (probably taken out of context, but note that Gabe didn't give them anything to take out of context.)

 

(***TCA= "this crap again")

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Permalink Reply by Gecko on November 4, 2013 at 2:26pm

Wow dude, way to dig up a 2-year-old thread on a subject that had zero chance of becoming a reality.

P.S. there's a monthly mass demonstration near City Hall called Chicago Critical Mass which is attended by around 3,000 cyclists in the summer months.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 4, 2013 at 2:31pm

Does anyone else find it somewhat amusing that David probably did a search for something like "bicycle license" and came up with a two year old thread?  Something like déja vu all over again?

Permalink Reply by Duppie on November 4, 2013 at 3:13pm

I find it more amusing that he picked out this particular thread. There are over a dozen threads to choose from when searching for "bicycle license" on the top left of the Chainlinks home page. This one was 9th from the top.

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

Does anyone else find it somewhat amusing that David probably did a search for something like "bicycle license" and came up with a two year old thread?  Something like déja vu all over again?

Permalink Reply by BruceBikes on November 4, 2013 at 3:17pm

C'mon, this is not a dead horse.  Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd Ward Alderman, proposed bicycle licenses just a couple of weeks ago, and it's likely to come up again when CDOT goes before the City Council this week for Budget Hearings.

This is mostly a failure of Ning to return relevant, sortable search results.

 
Cameron 7.5 mi said:

A two year old discussion about a proposal by an alderman who is no longer in office. Let's beat this dead horse some more.

Permalink Reply by Gecko on November 4, 2013 at 4:01pm

I wouldn't say it's a dead horse either, but clearly the failure is in reading comprehension and chronological awareness because this particular thread is (or was) certainly 6 feet under, even if the subject matter has been summoned from the ashes once again.

The simple solution: read the freakin' dates before commenting, otherwise you look like a flaming troll.

BruceBikes said:

C'mon, this is not a dead horse.  Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd Ward Alderman, proposed bicycle licenses just a couple of weeks ago, and it's likely to come up again when CDOT goes before the City Council this week for Budget Hearings.

This is mostly a failure of Ning to return relevant, sortable search results.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Bedno on November 4, 2013 at 5:33pm

ATA now has an online petition 

Take Action: Oppose Chicago Bike Registration Fee

http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50110/p/dia/action3/common/public/?ac...

Permalink Reply by Gecko on November 4, 2013 at 5:38pm

Psssst.... wrong thread.  This one is from 2013, not 2011.  Let's let 2011 die peacefully.

Andrew Bedno said:

ATA now has an online petition 

Take Action: Oppose Chicago Bike Registration Fee

http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50110/p/dia/action3/common/public/?ac...

Permalink Reply by El Dorado on November 4, 2013 at 6:37pm

The only alderman I have any respect for is Danny Davis. The rest seem to be money grabbing slugs.

Permalink Reply by David Stowell on November 5, 2013 at 12:28am

I could listen to you for hours.  Even though this may be considered a dead horse (nice choice of

phrase) I dont think it such a failure to keep it in peoples awareness zone.  Alderman Pat Dowell

may also be somewhat limited in her infuluence, and I sense that the mayor is not in favor.  But when has the desire to raise a wad of cash by over taxing an already over taxed population ever been  swayed from its course?  All I'm feeling is that we need to resist this or it may suddenly appear out of nowhere.  The parking enforcement situation has already been fatally corrupted.  The new CTA system for fare payment has already been fatally corrupted.  Is the last way to ride from point A to B for free going to suffer the same fate? You live in Chicago.  You know how this goes.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on November 5, 2013 at 4:44pm

Word.

David Stowell said:

  All I'm feeling is that we need to resist this or it may suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on November 5, 2013 at 5:11pm

And it will be just as effective as pet licensing.  Maybe even less.

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on November 6, 2013 at 5:37pm

Taxing two-wheelers? Here's why it's ridiculous

Crain's
By: Bill Savage November 01, 2013

Ald. Pat Dowell's recent proposal to impose a $25 license fee and a mandatory rules-of-the-road education on Chicago cyclists is so patently crazy that it's difficult to know where to begin addressing it.

Two ways to ponder this matter suggest themselves: first, the practical impediments. Second, what I call the Hierarchy of Pain.

PRACTICAL MATTERS

How will the city license bikes? With an attached plate, like a car? What happens when that bike is stolen? Or if someone owns multiple bikes, as many dedicated cyclists do? And what about suburbanites who ride into the city? Will the Chicago Police Department, undermanned and overworked, spend time and resources checking cyclists' home addresses? What will be the legal grounds on which to make such stops (“Suspect looked like someone from Chicago rather than Evanston, your honor . . .”)?

How would someone prove they'd had the vital hour of education about signaling turns and stopping at stop signs? Would these rules apply to little kids on training wheels? Some cyclists, after all, are too young to even read the rules of the road.

Practical issues will derail this misguided idea. The real issue, though, is how Chicagoans think and talk about transportation, which is where the Hierarchy of Pain comes into play.

THE HIERARCHY OF PAIN

The Hierarchy of Pain has two parallel tracks, but it all comes down to pain one can cause others, physically or psychologically.

In a town populated almost entirely with jaywalkers, outraged columnists and letters-to-the-editor writers fulminate against bicyclists who break the law. But no one says we should license pedestrians and arrest anyone who crosses the street outside the crosswalk, and that's because of where pedestrians are positioned in the Hierarchy of Pain.

The Hierarchy of Physical Pain, from the bottom up:
• Pedestrians can really only hurt themselves and other pedestrians.
• Cyclists can hurt themselves or pedestrians.
• Automobile drivers can hurt themselves, other drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

This hierarchy is why the complaints about cyclists blowing through stop signs ring so hollow. Reckless cyclists mostly endanger themselves.

But the way in which cyclists break the law is what makes them the top dogs in the Hierarchy of Psychological Pain. (Full disclosure: On my 5.4-mile ride to work on Oct. 28, I slowed-and-rolled through 47 stop signs).

People who ride their bicycles are obviously having fun, and their fellow citizens hate them for it. People who are stuck in gridlocked traffic or trudging grimly toward public transportation are not having any fun, and the sight of cyclists enjoying life puts cyclists at the top of the Hierarchy of Psychological Pain.

Arguments pitting cyclists against drivers and users of public transportation are sad, really. Every person on a bike is a person not driving and competing for that last parking spot, or one fewer person jammed into the el car or bus. Drivers and pedestrians ought to applaud cyclists for making their own lives easier.

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