An editorial that now falls flat on its face.
With the three-month anniversary of the Burrard Bridge bike lane trial having occurred on Monday, and in consideration of how well it has gone, I thought that I would post this humourous email that was sent out back in July by CKNW’s Jon McComb from The World Today to one of CivicScene’s regular readers:
Hi *********,
The debate over Vancouver Councils decision to set up a bicycle only lane on the Burrard Bridge has now become a battle for the hearts and minds of city residents.
Members of Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party have received an e-mail from the communications staff at vision H.Q encouraging them to phone open line talk shows and write letters to the editor in support of the Burrard bike lane.
While you can’t blame vision for attempting to blunt the so-far negative reaction to the plan…calling open line radio to press the bicycle agenda isn’t going to diminish the disaster that awaits commuters next Monday. I predict this 1.4 million dollar three month trial project is going to evoke howls of outrage so loud and angry…you won’t need a radio to hear them.
This is just another example of the social engineering that irritates the hell out of most people. There is no evidence to suggest a dedicated bike lane is backed by a majority of people. Or that it is somehow going to magically transform Vancouver into a two wheeled nirvana. The social manipulation madness is made all the worse with the mayor’s plan to spend tens of millions on a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle bridge over false creek.
So vision members can stack the phone lines all day if they want…it isn’t going to make a bad idea any more palatable come Monday. When the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the vast majority.
Jon McComb
The World Today
Weekdays 3pm – 7pm
So Jon – what’s happened to “the disaster that awaits commuters” or your prediction that the bike lane trial will “evoke howls of outrage so loud and angry…you won’t need a radio to hear them.”?
It has gone be the wayside, just like the rest of your regular and predictable attacks on the Vision administration.
