In the last few years, cycling has been flourishing in our city. The combination of gas price volatility, a vibrant social cycling scene, and more and better bike infrastructure has yielded a growing number of people choosing two wheels to get places. Unfortunately, the road to progress is rarely straight and sometimes bends back on itself before moving forward again.

Take these recent stories:

Cyclist convicted of reckless driving for riding in the road

Ellis County police seemed to have had it out for cyclist Reed Bates, aka ChipSeal, when they ticketed him for reckless driving for having the audacity to ride his bicycle on a public road. Bates wanted his day in court to explain that while there was a shoulder on the road in question, he is not required to ride in it if conditions are unsafe. It was reported the judge admitted that Bates had the legal right to be there but somehow it did not apply in this situation. On August 18, the judge found Bates guilty of the crime of riding his only form of transportation on public roads. Bates is planning an appeal the decision and is asking for financial help in this effort.

Bartonville passes measure to make cycling groups obtain permit to ride

Apparently cyclists are akin to the Red scare in Bartonville, Texas where in June the City Council changed their ordinance to require groups of 10 or more cyclists to obtain a permit from the City of Bartonville under city race and rally permit requirements. Image you and eight of your friends are riding to Barton Springs for a swim or downtown for some music and you run into another friend on the way. Your little social trip (potentially taking 10 cars off the road by the way) would quickly turn into an act of civil disobedience in Bartonville. I’m all for non-violent protest, but a Saturday morning training ride or a ride to the swimming whole shouldn’t be a crime. I realize most people think of speech when they think of the 1st Amendment, but free assembly is part of these rights as well. The Founders said nothing about the right to free assembly being limited to the drivers of automobiles.

BikeTexas has jumped into action to prevent further ordinances such as this one by putting together an online petition against bike bans.

Developers to cyclists: Go away until we need you for a photo op

With all the movement towards New Urbanism in development circles these days, you would expect a new golden age of cycling to be occurring. When the rubber meets the road however, we see a different story. During the debate over the Nueces Bike Boulevard, we hear from several land owners who wanted high rise density on the street but only if it meant as much capacity for cars as possible. Does anyone see a problem with quadrupling the number of people living in northwest Downtown without moving a substantial number of people away from single occupancy automobiles?

A couple weeks ago, local land developer club the Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA) came out against this fall’s transportation bonds which include funding for vital bike/ped projects because it does not include enough “vehicular traffic relief”, i.e. roads for cars. Never mind that moving more people to bikes is vehicular traffic relief. Luckily, the voters of Austin will be the deciders on this and usually RECA’s endorsement is a guide for the rest of us to vote in the opposite.

The final insult was pointed out this week by Nick Barbaro in a rare op-ed from the Austin Chronicle publisher on the development at The Domain. I’ve often thought The Domain was more theme park than real city center, and I guess not enough of us are taking the ride. In what is becoming the norm with Wall Street banks, the developers and owners of The Domain are seeking to re-negotiate the already sweet heart deal that the taxpayers of Austin are footing and abandon civic duty for profit maximization. Parkland is being dumped, impervious cover and Big Box restrictions are being waived, and the bike lanes now required as part of the Council adopted Master Bike Plan have been taken off the table. It seems the facilities that actually make urban living worthwhile don’t bring in the revenue that space for the next Tiffany’s and Norstrom’s does. When ballot initiative to dump this boondoggle narrowly failed in 2008, defenders of The Domain agreement said “a deal is a deal.” Yes, the taxpayers are expected to live up to their side of all deals but the private entities that profit from these deals can change it at will if their profit margins don’t stay so fat. Wall Street greed comes to Austin indeed.

By the way, please note the City Council members who have signed off on this “new and improved” deal: Leffingwell, Martinez, Cole, Shade. This same voting block pushed for the watered down compromise on the Nueces Bike Boulevard that took the bike out of bike boulevard. Remember these names next election when they all say how much they love the cycling community or how much they want to get people out of cars and into alternatives. When development interests run contrary to cyclists and pedestrian needs, we all know where they will stand.

Forward or back?

My wife gives me trouble when I bring up these news stories. It gets her down thinking there is nothing we can do to overcome the powers that be. These stories are not meant to cause despair but to elicit rage and action. We are part of a movement that is changing the way we live and the way get from place to place. The great upshot is not only will it make our community healthier, more resilient, and wealthier, but cycling is also an order of magnitude more enjoyable than sitting in a car. It’s a great package but a radical departure from the last 70 years of American life. No great movement ever reached it’s goal in a straight path just as they never got there without millions of people taking small individual actions. We have a sustainable way forward and a joy in doing it.

I leave you this quote brilliantly visualized in this photograph about bikes and cars that gives me hope about the simplicity of our message: Bikes run on fat and save you money. Cars run on money and make you fat.

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