Thread started by Girl Power at 04.17.10 - 1:38 pm

Peopleforbikes.org just launched. Join them in uniting a million voices to improve the future of biking.

Please read and sign petition, you even get a cute litte icon of the type of bike you ride next to your name. :)

Please pass it on on Facebook and Twitter so others may join.

http://www.peopleforbikes.org/pages/who_we_are

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I like that...;)



alicestrong
04.18.10 - 10:25 am

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The scary thing about "People for Bikes" is that it is an initiative of Bikes Belong -- which is a bike industry lobbying group. Now, I'm not saying that their intentions aren't good nor that good things won't come of it, but it is a bit disturbing that they are borrowing the faux-grassroots-movement techniques of the right.



theroyalacademy
04.18.10 - 11:37 am

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im all for seeking common ground wherever we can find it. ultimately, i don't believe that we'll see any serious shift towards bike infrastructure until local businesses start demanding it. all we as a grassroots organization need to do is bring it to that tipping point.

that said, corporations are people too. (at least according to the supreme court.)



tortuga_veloce
responding to a comment by theroyalacademy
04.18.10 - 10:13 pm

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Their money looks nice and green to me..:)



alicestrong
04.19.10 - 8:49 am

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Dude, this is how it gets done in American politics.

The bike industry is incredibly small, and it doesn't have the money to buy it's way through congress. So, it has to hustle the old fashioned way. Good for them and it's about damn time!



ubrayj02
responding to a comment by theroyalacademy
04.20.10 - 11:33 pm

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I say fight fire with fire.



bentstrider
responding to a comment by theroyalacademy
04.20.10 - 11:50 pm

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"It may perhaps be said as an excuse for bad forms, that they are nothing more than forms; but this is a mistake. Forms grow out of principles, and operate to continue the principles they grow from."

I'd rather live in a world where people stand up and speak for themselves, as themselves, than a world with a few more bike lanes.

Anyway, I have much more faith in the efficacy of the ground-up, legitimately grassroots efforts of you and other people in town and elsewhere than any industry lobbying group.



theroyalacademy
responding to a comment by ubrayj02
04.21.10 - 11:34 am

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We live in a representative democracy. The whole point is that we elect others to speak on our behalf. You have more power working with others than you do standing alone. Solidarity around shared goals is a very effective way for the non-rich to get things done.



ubrayj02
responding to a comment by theroyalacademy
04.21.10 - 1:38 pm

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+10000 ubrayj02



Foldie
responding to a comment by ubrayj02
04.21.10 - 1:51 pm

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Well, I do not elect a faux grassroots group to represent me. It is deceptive and offensive. It is a sad state of affairs when we either can't or willfully don't discriminate between those and the real thing (of which there are already many).



theroyalacademy
responding to a comment by ubrayj02
04.21.10 - 3:01 pm

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Oh, and it occurs to me that you mistook my "for themselves, as themselves" as being against collective action. I simply mean that industry should speak for industry and cyclists should speak for cyclists. Not industry setting up a fake cyclist group: the "teabag" maneuver, if you will.



theroyalacademy
responding to a comment by ubrayj02
04.21.10 - 3:05 pm

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...or at very least it should be presented as "industry and cyclists working together." But, while it is indeed carefully worded not to exclude the industry ("WHO WE ARE: We’re all united by a shared passion: bikes...."), it is called "People for Bikes" and exhorts us to "Join the Movement" -- all of which frames it as a spontaneous uprising of the people or something.

Call me naive but I believe that, if you have right on your side, you should not have to resort to deception.



theroyalacademy
04.21.10 - 3:12 pm

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Sean:

I see your point about the appearance of a industry veiled by the ruse of a peoples movement, but I think the bigger picture is this is one of many allies for the greater good of the cycling community. What Josef, Box and AT et al do is very good but when you have a "collective" of bike manufactures in play with Lance Armstrong supporting them, you have the potential to reach "critical mass" at a national level.

I think they should be more forthright about who they are, and until they prove to be parasitic to the cause, I support this exposure to cyclist rights.



Foldie
responding to a comment by theroyalacademy
04.21.10 - 3:57 pm

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I agree... though the end result -- more people on bikes is a bit suspicious...i.e. I think their real interest is the increase in purchasing bicycles & bike related products.

they propose a better environment as the end result, but the bike industry has more of positive environmental impact as a bi product, not necessarily from "good" intentions or such. unless you noticed a greener bike industry, I think the reality is that bike production has increased, but the methods, materials and such are just piling up. Look how much useless crap is being made, marketed, and sold. Did we really need SE Drafts?

This was largely the criticism of the single speed movement toward the industry. The SS movement (or whatever) wanted to regress, but the industry grabbed the trend and marketed the shit out of it. I contributed / benefited from the industry wide interest in single speed products, so I can't hate too much... but it is overall disappointing that we can't ever seem to get around this format.

I think the academy is more in tune with the marketing tools implemented by the group and in some sense you guys are talking about different things. there should be better transparency with the industry interests and not unite industry with "people' or "cyclist" (as academy noted). At the end of the day, the industry rarely has an interest in "people" or "cyclist" except as the recipients of their products.

These are two different entities and why cant the industry just speak/represent itself, while the people speak for themselves?

(enter -- well, thats just not how things work in this society)-- ok, I just lost interest.



md2
responding to a comment by theroyalacademy
04.21.10 - 4:52 pm

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Well, I do not elect a faux grassroots group to represent me. It is deceptive and offensive.

+ 10,000,000.

Astroturfing is dirty and lame. I am already loathe to let bike organizations speak for me, just because they so often push for things I don't really want. A bike organization that may or may not be campaigning for things that are important to me AND that pretends to be something it's not is entirely beyond the pale.

And in general (whether it's people or organization) I always figure that if they're that quick to lie to others, why should I expect them to be honest with me?



PC
responding to a comment by theroyalacademy
04.21.10 - 9:59 pm

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if the end result is people on bikes... is that so bad?



Roadblock
04.21.10 - 10:13 pm

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Is this crap really going to get people on bikes? Honestly? Compared to, say, Midnight Ridazz or CICLE or the Bike [insert cooking metaphor here] or Orange 20, who have actually demonstrably gotten people on bikes and kept them there, and have done so without being deceptive about who they are and what they want?



PC
responding to a comment by Roadblock
04.22.10 - 2:42 am

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Don't overthink it. It's just a list of a million people on bikes...



alicestrong
04.22.10 - 8:13 am

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Squirrels are fighting on my front porch! Oh, yeah, and "bump".



Girl Power
responding to a comment by alicestrong
04.22.10 - 12:08 pm

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