More Non-Existent Bicyclists

Here we go again, another week another weak diatribe in the Claremont Courier by the one and only Douglas Lyon. If you are not in on the weekly joke, let me fill you in; there seems to be a resident of this fair city, one and only one as far as I can tell, who seems to believe that bike lanes, especially protected ones are a colossal waste of money, foisted upon the long suffering everyone else by some vague group of people he calls "bike lane fanatics." For some reason, the desire to be able to get around town safely turns us into fanatics. Mr. Lyon seems to like oversimplifications like that, for instance he believes that bike lanes are only used by "non-existent bicyclists." Whatever the hell those are. In his most recent letter to the Courier Mr. Lyon has expanded his non-existent bicyclist argument beyond the Foothill protected bike lanes to the Class II bike lanes on Mills Avenue. I know, I know, I laughed about that one too, ha, ha, ha. Honestly, there is not a day that I am traveling (by bike, foot, or motor vehicle) on Mills that I don't see multiple cyclists riding up and down the street. His argument is the type of falsehood that seems to have inundated certain sectors of society these days.

All that nonsense, and make no mistake about it, "bike lane fanatics" and "non-existent bicyclists" are just so much nonsense. We have all ridden, Foothill, Mills, Mountain, Baseline, Bonita, and very likely one or more of them every day, to know that childish descriptions like those terms that Mr. Lyon is so fond of are b.s.

But lets get to the real issue here, or the real issue as I see it - accessibility. What I take from Mr. Lyon's letters to the paper is that he believes that roads are for motor vehicles and nothing else. The non-existent bicyclists out there be damned, they don't deserve the space that has been given, and the 50% of road space (his number, not mine) that has been painstakingly advocated for, and granted to bicyclists should be given back to drivers of cars.

That is not how we do things. Our public spaces, and that includes streets and roads are not designed, or should not be designed, for a majority use. We design our public spaces so that everyone has equal and safe access, so that everyone can get around in a safe and equal manner, no matter their method of mobility. These are intrinsic components of the Americans with Disabilities Act, indeed I would say they are at the heart of it, and I have long wondered why the "fanatics" have not used the same principles to guide transportation strategy. I wonder if Mr. Lyon labeled the people who fought for wheelchair ramps, pool lifts, dedicated parking spots , accessible drinking fountains, etc, as "fanatics" too, or considers all those access elements they fought for to be "colossal wastes of money."