Two Wheels And Half A Mind All It Takes To Cause Trouble
If you’re an avid bicyclist, you may be interested in your personal health, recreation or economy. Or you may be committed to broader environmental goals, such as ridding the streets of motor vehicles and the exhaust they emit.
If you’re a confirmed motorist, you may be reluctant to share the pavement your taxes pay for with bicycles in any event - especially with bicycles that deliberately make driving difficult.
If you’re a pedestrian, you may just wish that bicycle riders would stay off the sidewalk.
Enter Critical Mass, an international movement of cyclists staging monthly mass rides that conflict with rush-hour traffic. It happened Friday in Spokane, where one participant said the purpose was to be “just somewhat obnoxious.”
A web page writer in San Francisco calls Critical Mass “a fun, radical, spontaneous and spirited demonstration of bicyclists uniting to challenge the autocentric world ….”
Another, in New Orleans, says: “We need to let motorists know what a hassle they are to share the road with.”
A Critical Mass ride in Seattle on Jan. 31 caused a disturbance in which four people were arrested and five police officers injured.
Spokane, a city with perennial air quality problems, could gain something by reducing the amount of vehicle exhaust downtown. But isn’t there a better way to promote bicycle riding than the confrontational tactics represented by Critical Mass.
And if cyclists are truly concerned about public health and safety issues, what are they doing about bicyclists who zip up and down sidewalks and endanger pedestrians?
We welcome your suggestions for a sane and constructive public policy solution to this dilemma.
Just passing through
The Rev. Bernard Coughlin lasted 22 years as president of Gonzaga University. His successor, the Rev. Edward Glynn, less than one.
The Spokane community, including many GU faculty members, were caught by surprise last week to learn of troubles between Glynn and the Jesuit university’s board of trustees. By week’s end, his resignation was official.
Regardless of one’s feelings about Glynn, such decisive action is in contrast with the many boards of trustees or directors who hire an executive, then become rubber stamps.
What does this incident say about Gonzaga University’s leadership?
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