A Fox in the Henhouse

 For those of you who may not be familiar with recent events in Philadelphia. Following the death of Dr. Barbara Friedes who wass riding in in the bike lane along the 1800 block of Spruce St. at the hands of a drunk driver. The Philly Bike Action stepped up their bike lane parties, which they used as a way to keep cars from parking in the bike lane on Sunday's. Which has been going on since 2009. This has led to the elimination of this "privilege" by recent passing of a no stopping law by the City of Philadelphia. Which has led to pushback from individuals and Philadelphia RCO's in the forms of complaints about being excluded from the redesign to lawsuits.

But the most egregious and astounding example about how this is being addressed is coming from within the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, in the form of BCGP Board Member Jeff Braff. He is part of the Spruce & Pine St. Task Force, independent of the BCGP and the City of Philadelphia. Whose stated goal is to create an "alternative" and "independent design". In order to protect their privilege to park in bike lanes. While Mr. Braff has made it clear that he is doing this independently of the BCGP, that does not mean that his being a member of the BCGP board is a being ignored 

Board members on non for-profits are often recruited for their stature within a community and their ability to bring large donations from individuals. These same board members also use this as way to polish their resumes while providing little if any results. The BCGP has only one choice to deal with this. Mr. Braff needs to be removed from the board immediately and his actions on the task force need to be disavowed by the BCGP. Otherwise any credibility that the BCGP has regarding its advocacy work is nothing more than a Potemkin Village.

Or to put as simply as possible, the phone call is coming from inside the house.

I'm Tired

I’m tired. Tired of the state of cycling advocacy in Philadelphia.

I’m tired of individuals and advocacy groups trying to take credit for the work of 
others.

When individuals started holding memorial rides and placing ghost bikes 
for cyclists who have been killed while riding. Only to have the Bicycle 
Coalition of Greater Philadelphia ask them to step aside so they 
can do it. Or when the BCGP tried to claim it played some sort of crucial
role in the lawsuit against the Marriott and ParkingOps and its resolution.

I’m tired of the Bicycle Coalition wasting its time on the trolls and troglodytes that

infest the media and the internet. The BCGP have wasted far to much time on

Stu Bykofsky, making lopsided deals that only benefit Mr. Bykofsky. But the true

insult to the cycling community was when the BCGP devoted an entire podcast to

the Twitter troll @ZeroVisionPhila. Giving him the chance to voice his unfounded

theories.

There are many individuals in Philadelphia who are making positive change

when it comes to infrastructure. Instead of featuring people like that, the BCGP

chose to engage in sophomoric hijinks.

I am tired of people in the media and on social media who promulgate the concept of a war on cars. Especially when it come to Philadelphia’s

grumpy old man, Stu Bykofsky.

Who has spent close to ten years promoting the myth that bike lanes create traffic

and that all cyclists break the law by running red lights and stop signs. Some

claim that this is merely an act and Stu is a great guy. My response to this is,

Stu Bykofsky is anti-bike and a narcissist. Who engages in extreme statements

like calling cyclists “pedalphiles” in order to manipulate people into giving him 
what he does not deserve, credibility.

I’m tired of the groups who form on social media who want to play a role in cycling

advocacy. Yet stand by and do nothing more than talk, with very little action.

Some of the worst moments occur when they discuss if a public action should

be taken. If you have to ask the question, you already know the answer.

I’m tired of people who think that if we inform and educate the general public

they will somehow accept cyclists as legitimate street users. It’s time to stop

asking the public politely and time to take public action on regular and consistent basis.

I’m tired.

Caught Between a Rock and a Rock

Randy LoBasso wears two hats in Philadelphia, he is the spokesperson for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and citizen journalist for Metro Newspaper. Where he writes columns about bicycling and infrastructure. In his most recent piece, “Philly Needs to Change its Street Safety Approval Process”, he bemoans the growing problem of Philadelphia’s City Council control over bike lanes.

You see in Philadelphia, City Council, not Civil Engineers, have the final authority as to whether or not a bicycle lane is installed. Any City Council member can stop a bicycle lane from being installed for any reason or no reason at all. This is often done by claiming “neighborhood concerns” or cherry picking which replies from community members are valid.

However Mr. LoBasso glosses over the key reason why this has happened with this statement, “It's time Council gives up this unneeded privilege it gave itself five years ago and leave street safety to the experts.” Philadelphia’s City Council didn’t wake up one day and engage in coup d'etat to take control of bicycle lane infrastructure, it was given to them by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia in May 2012. Which I wrote about in “Dancing with the Devil.”

In exchange for an ineffective Safe Streets Bill the BCGP agreed to let Philadelphia City Council pass a bill giving City Council final approval of bicycle lane infrastructure. The same bill that City Council tried to pass in 2011 and was stopped by the BCGP when they marshaled their forces against it.  

So let’s face it everyone, while the Philadelphia City Council is the problem, they will never give up control over bicycle lanes. The root of the problem is the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. They are the ones that made this deal in the best interests of Philadelphia cyclists. A deal that continues to work against the needs of the Philadelphia cycling community. The only question that remains is when will the BCGP learn that Philadelphia City Council can not be trusted and how many more deals like this will be made before they do.

A Tale of Two Cities

Two cities, two bike lanes, one is successful, the other isn't. Why?

Witness now a tale of two cities. One the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. The other, Portland Oregon, is the City of Roses. Each city has a growing bicycling infrastructure and activists who are involved in it. And yet when confronted with the same challenge they each had a different approach.

Each city has a bike lane covered in layer of debris. The kind of stuff that punctures tires and makes it difficult to ride. In Portland a group of citizen activists who are part of PDX Transformation put on safety vests and grabbed some brooms and cleaned the bike lane.

But in Philadelphia it was a different story. A city blessed with paid, professional activists, The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. Who leaped into immediate action by Tweeting for someone to take a picture for them. Instead of having an employee or intern go check it out themselves.

Instead of organizing a work party to clear the lane of debris. I have no doubt that the BCGP will make a few phone calls and send a few e-mails to various city agencies asking for them to clean the lane. Which will be ignored or subject to empty promises.

Philadelphia cyclists are at the mercy of professional activists who have become so wrapped up in nebulous long term goals. That they have forgotten how to get their hands dirty over more immediate needs.

200th Post

It seems not that long ago in 2011 when I first started writing this journal. All to often people have wondered why I do this.

Fame?

Fortune?

The respect of my peers?

Adulation of the masses?

Free stuff from bicycle companies?

Dating Victoria's Secret models?

I only wish it had been as simple as one of those items on the list. The main reason was that I felt there was a lack of an independent voice for the Philadelphia cycling scene. In 2009 there were two voices for cycling; opinion writer Stu Bykofsky and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

On the one hand you had Stu Bykofsky a local opinion writer and grumpy old man. Who on regular basis writes anti-bike columns based on half truths and masquerading his personal opinion as facts. On the other there was the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia whose focus on long term visions and insider negotiating practices often left Philadelphia cyclists hold the short end of the stick. When bad deals were negotiated with the city of Philadelphia government or Mr. Bykofsky. With no one questioning the actions of either party or any expectation of  accountability.

Along the way I have seen the Philadelphia cycling scene change and evolve. Bicycle lanes have become part of Philadelphia in a unique way. In the past people used to yell at me to get off the road, now they yell at me to get into the bicycle lane. Even when there is none.

Group rides have increased and evolved from the Pretzel Ride, to several different rides a month, all year round. Annual rides like Cranksgivng and the Tweed Ride have become the highlight of the year. There have even been large scale rides like the 2015 PopeRide and the 2016 RideDNC that have have had attracted over 1000 riders.

Philadelphia still has a lot of work to do, there are things that need to change and be improved. One of the most pressing issues is to undo the deal the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia made with Philadelphia City Council. In which for return for a Safe Streets bill the BCGP allowed the City Council passed a bill giving them final control of the installation of all new bike lanes in Philadelphia. Decisions like this should be left in the hands of city engineers, not a group of politicians who are only interested in getting reelected.

I also feel that it is time to expand the bike lane infrastructure with actual bike lanes, not sharrows. As well as maintain the existing system. If you take the time to ride many of the bike lanes outside of Center City you will see that they have faded away to the point where you can’t tell there was ever a bike lane.

One of the things that I am intrigued by is Mayor Kenney and his actual commitment to Vision Zero and Open Streets. For those of us who did not flee Philadelphia during the 2015 Papal visit, Popen Streets and the PopeRide was an experience to remember. It created an unofficial opportunity to see how Philadelphia and its residents would react to future events, led to a petition asking for Open Streets events, and on September 24 the first Open Streets event will be held in Philadelphia.

While I sense there is some growing change in the cycling scene now that City of Philadelphia government seems more receptive to listening concerns of residents who walk and bike. I am still skeptical about how major issues will be addressed.

"Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'"

Normally I am not a big fan of petitions so I thought nothing of a recent petition (http://chn.ge/1TF7HbQ) calling on the City of Philadelphia to enforce the parking regulations regarding bicycle lanes. Because, let's face it, the PPA has no interest in ticketing cars parked in bicycle lanes.

That changed when the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia wrote a blog post (http://bit.ly/1Xkzr4J) justifying the current status quo the petition is trying to address. First the BCGP explained that the parking laws along Spruce and Pine St.’s are subject to asterisks. Signs that read “No Parking” were actually 20 minute loading zones. Only those locations that are posted as “No Stopping” mean no parking. But those are few and far apart, at best 25% of Spruce and Pine.

To make matters worse the BCGP tried to justify the current regulations.  With the excuse of “These parking regulations were decided years before the bike lanes were installed and these did not change when the bike lanes were installed in 2009.” They made a similar statement regarding churches using bike lanes as parking on Sunday.

The BCGP tried to rationalize it away by saying; “For someone unfamiliar with these long-standing agreements between the city and religious folks, this agreement may seem bizarre. Simply acknowledging these rules and the long-standing agreement can make a cyclist’s head explode.” 

The only thing making my head explode is how the BCGP tries to rationalize what has been going on since 2009, eight years. With the addition of bike lanes along Spruce & Pine has changed the way traffic flows along these streets. Which means all past agreements should change to reflect the new street conditions. The excuses that the BCGP has given to justify the chronic problems with Spruce & Pine St leaves one asking, whose side are they really on?

The BCGP has a growing number of public issues where their lack of advocacy and being too much of an insider has become obvious. With its increasing number of vanity projects and one sided deals that don’t benefit cyclists. The BCGP has become a bureaucracy and a “bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status”. (Laurence J. Peter, creator of the Peter Principle)

Vanity is the quicksand of reason

On March 2015 Phillypedals.com published a bombshell editorial from Michael McGettigan, owner of Trophy Bikes and former Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia board member. In it he took the BCGP to task about how they “might need to be a little less “insidey” and work on their advocacy chops a bit” (http://phillypedals.com/bicycle-coalition-needs-shift-higher-gear/).

Once again the BCGP has catered to its wealthy donors with a vanity project that does little to help the average Philly cyclist. This time it is artistically designed bike racks or art racks. A standard bike rack, pictured below, is what every cyclist prefers.

Unfortunately racks like this are not sexy if the BCGP asks you to donate money. So instead they have installed and are raising funds for additional art racks, known as “Gilded Gates” (http://bit.ly/1WRkQNU). At an estimated cost of $3215.00 per Gilded Gate, based on the cost at this site for a double gate (http://bit.ly/1RtdwEE).

In addition art racks have the inherent problem of not being recognized as a bicycle rack. So much so that a sign has to be placed near it so people will know.

When designing anything, especially something that serves both a practical and artistic purpose. There is a guideline that should always be applied, form follows function. In other words when you design something at the end of the day it should be easily recognizable as to whats its purpose is.

There are alternate solutions like having local artists paint unsexy racks to make them sexy. Similar to a recent project by having local artists turn parking meters on 52nd St. in Philadelphia into mini murals. Just think how many more existing bike racks could be turned into works of art

Just imagine how many existing bike racks could be transformed for the cost of one Gilded Gate.

Game Over

I thought I had seen it all when it came to #unblockbikelanes. Cars, trucks and the PPA unwilling to ticket them no matter how blatant or how long a vehicle had been sitting there. In some cases weeks could go by and a vehicle could go without a single ticket. But this picture took the prize.

What's wrong with this picture, I here you ask? It appears that some city agency has placed a directional sign for oncoming cars in a contra-flow bike lane. Forcing cyclists to ride illegally on the sidewalk or ride into on coming traffic.

At this point we should just call #unblockbikelanes what it is, a charade.To this I can only have one response.

Its time to stop playing a game that we have no chance of winning because the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia made deal with Philadelphia Parking Authority that was unenforceable. Its time to stop posting pictures under the #unblockbikelanes until the PPA management is prepared to enforce the parking laws as they are. As opposed to the selective enforcement they prefer.

Sometimes 140 Characters is not Enough

Recently I engaged Philadelphia Inquirer writer Inga Saffron in a discussion on Twitter regarding her concerns over a bill being considered by Philadelphia City Council(http://tinyurl.com/pq8qyjd). One that would consolidate several city departments under a single authority, possibly under the authority of the City Council. Which could create a patchwork effect for future projects.

As you can see from the Twitter exchange Ms. Saffron seems to be under the impression that Mayor Nutter’s administration bears some responsibility for the lack of new bike lanes since 2012. The dialogue reached a point where I felt that a 140 character sound bite was not going to communicate what I had to say.

https://twitter.com/IngaSaffron/status/572438262075293696

So let me be blunt, Mayor Nutter’s administration is not responsible for the lack of new bicycle lanes since 2012. That honor is bestowed upon the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. Who in 2012 thought that giving City Council approval over the installation of future bike lanes that would replace parking or an existing lane of traffic in exchange for the Complete Streets Bill. This was the same deal that the BCGP fought against in 2011.

I don’t know what the BCGP was thinking when they made this deal. The City Council has history of trying to pass punitive bills against cyclists and to think that a City Council member would not use this option was delusional.

This point was driven home Council-Man at Large Bill Greenlee (http://tinyurl.com/kglwfwe) who declared that no bike lane would be installed on 22nd St, between Fairmont and Spring Garden. He claimed that the street needed two lanes of traffic, even though the Streets Department stated that two lanes would not fit. He also claimed that local constituents objected. But refused to allow a public hearing. The frightening thing about this is that a Council-Man at Large has no defined district. They are free to take action in district they chose, even though each district has its own councilman.

There are things I do blame the Nutter administration for. Their failure to deal with the police turning the bike lane at 13th & Arch into police parking. Even though there is public garage and a police parking lot available. Or their unwillingness to get religious institutions to stop using the Pine St. bike lane as on street parking. As most of them have arrangements for off street parking.

But at the end of the day the reason there have been no new bike lanes in Philadelphia since 2012 is because of the deal the BCGP made with City Council for the Safe Streets Bill. Not because of a failure on the part of the Nutter Administration.

If Ms. Saffron feels otherwise she can write something more than 140 characters long about how the Nutter Administration is partly or fully responsible for the lack of new bike lanes since 2012.

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2014 - A year in review

Social Rides

The social ride scene in Philadelphia still mystifies me. There are several rides now with consistent schedules; Take Your Time Bike Rides, Philly Bike Party, and the Philly Full Moon Bike Ride. The question seems to be whether the ridership is going to grow? Take the Baltimore Bike Party; its first ride had 50 riders and within a few months it had grown to hundreds and in some cases thousands of riders. While this many riders creates its own specific challenges, it still leaves me wondering why Philadelphia residents and college students seem to be uninterested in any type of social ride.

Velodrome - Just another 6000 seat stadium

One announcement that drew some attention was the intent to build a velodrome in Philadelphia. A world class indoor  facility that could be used by Olympic athletes. There are two slight problems. First the developers behind this project have to raise 100 million dollars and they have pledged to do this with any government funding. Second, they will make it a profitable business.

As much as I would love to have an all weather velodrome in the heart Philadelphia. Lets face it a velodrome is never going to be profitable. Fortunately the developers have a back up plan. The velodrome will also be able to function as a 6000 seat concert venue. So is this really a group of altruistic developers who want to build a world class velodrome? Or this this just an attempt to open another 6000 seat arena? I’m not betting on altruism.

Mayors Bicycle Advocacy Board - All racing all the time

Mayor Nutter in attempt make Philadelphia bicycle friendly city created a Bicycle Advisory Board. The BAB team’s job is to find ways to promote cycling within Philadelphia to residents and businesses. While promoting cycling to the residents and business owners of Philadelphia all very well and good, the backgrounds members of the board say other wise and is more focused on the other goal; Their other goal is “to create, market, and promote national and international cycling races in Philadelphia to attract the finest and most highly-rated bicycle riders to compete in our City, including supporting and raising funds for the annual Philly Bicycling Classic.”

Eleven of the board members of are involved in racing and three in advocacy. The final BAB member is the most questionable of the group, Lisa Nutter, Mayor Nutter’s wife. It appears nepotism abounds in forming the BAB team. 

Given the high ratio of BAB members involved with racing and the utter lack of people representing the average cyclist in Philadelphia its is clear that the BAB’s primary mission will be promoting racing. Anything beyond racing I’ll wait to see how effective they really will be.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia scores a trifecta
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia has had a year to be thankful for. The Safe Streets bill has become an albatross around their neck equal to the story of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. This year the BCGP scored a trifecta.

1. Bicycle Lanes vs Bill Greenlee
Remember when the BCGP thought that giving the Philadelphia City Council final decision making authority for the installation of new bike lanes would not cause any problems? So did we. (http://tinyurl.com/o3q5ce2) It didn’t take long for Councilman At Large Bill Greenlee to decide that that would be no bike lane would be installed along 6 blocks of 22nd St. Why? Because he said so. And there is nothing that can be done to change this thanks to the BCGP’s agreement with the Philadelphia City Council.

2. #Unblockbikelanes = #QuestionableResults
Then there is the #unblockbikelanes. The idea was that people could tweet the Philadelphia Parking Authority cars that were parked in bike lanes. In return the PPA would step up ticketing of these vehicles. Unfortunately that has not be  en the case.

In the first quarter (http://tinyurl.com/njbns95) the PPA wrote close to same number of tickets on 2013 as in 2014. So the BCGP leaped into action and talked to the PPA and the number of tickets issued by 96% over 2013 in the second quarter (http://tinyurl.com/prddy25). Fortunately the PPA counterbalanced this offset by issuing 20% fewer tickets (http://tinyurl.com/qjrrywz) in the third quarter of 2014 compared to 2013. I expect the fourth quarter numbers to be equally dismal.

Some have even joked that the #unblockbikelanes is some sort of bizarre drinking game. This is yet another example the BCGP negotiating a deal that lacks any protection if either party fails to uphold the agreement.

3. Getting less bang for the buck 
The final element of the trifecta was the $100,000 (http://tinyurl.com/kkp6xa5) spent to create ten artistic bike racks of questionable value. Lets hope that in 2015 the BCGP will be willing to raise half that for ordinary bikes racks of real benefit.

We've added it to our database.

Have you heard any of these jokes?

When your spouse asks you to run an errand do respond with "I'll add it to my database?

What’s the difference between Santa Claus and the PPA?

When Santa makes a list he checks it twice, the PPA just makes a list.

The #unblockbikelanes hashtag is really a bizarre drinking game created by the PPA. A Drink is taken when a Tweet is about the 7/11 at 22nd & Lombard, 13th & Arch St., or a PPA vehicle is parked in a bike lane is posted on Twitter.

************************************

By now you’re all familiar with the sad saga of the Safe Streets bill. When the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia surrendered all future bicycle lane installation to the hands of the professional politicians. Giving the Philadelphia City Council yet another way to stymie any future bike lane development.

One of the benefits of this bill that was that the Philadelphia Parking Authority would start enforcing ticketing cars that park in bike lanes. In spite of a confusing definition about how they could be used as a loading zone. And with great fanfare this past winter the BCGP and the PPA announced the creation of hashtag, #unblockbikelanes. So the PPA could create a database of hot spots and alert PPA employees to vehicles that needed to be ticketed.

And it appeared to be a rousing success in the first quarter of 2014, until there was some digging and turned out it was the same number ticketed in the first quarter of 2013 (http://tinyurl.com/njbns95). So the BCGP went back and discussed some additional solutions with the PPA. Which resulted in a 96% increase (http://tinyurl.com/prddy25) in the number of tickets issued in the second quarter of 2014 from 2013.

Unfortunately the third quarter resulted in a close to 20% decrease in the number of tickets issued for cars parked in bike lanes from 2013 to 2014. 

Green=Increased number of tickets. 

Red=decreased number of tickets.

Street	2013	2014	Change	Percentage
Spruce St. 1400-2300	192	196	4	2.08%
Poplar Dr. 2900-3100	9	0	-9	-100.00%
Pine St. 300-2100	147	195	48	32.65%
N13th St. 99-100	16	6	-10	-62.50%
Market St. 3700	3	0	3	-100.00%
Lombard St. 1000-1200	1	5	4	400.00%
Spruce St. 1000-1200	14	9	-5	-35.71%
24th & Fairmount	131	43	-88	-67.17%
Spruce St. 1300-1700	99	39	-60	-60.60%
25th & Fairmount	66	23	-43	-65.15%
22nd & Lombard	10	23	13	130.00%
South St., East of Grays Ferry	3	0	-3	-100.00%
S. 22nd, 400-500	8	23	15	187.50%
2200 South St.	2	0	-2	-100.00%
2300 Locust St.	0	2	2	100.00%
Total	701	564	137	-19.54%

On the one hand I would like to think that the drop in tickets is due to the message getting out about cars getting ticketed for parking in bike lanes. On the other hand since there was no change in the number of tickets issued in the first quarter of 2014 versus 2013  Combined with the fact the the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia had to meet with the PPA to remind them of their obligation to enforce ticketing cars in bike lanes. I have my concerns about the fourth quarter numbers.

This leaves with just one question; What is going on at the PPA? What happened to all of the meter maids that we saw on Parking Wars? Who were lurking behind corners and hid behind objects ready to ticket a car as the meter set to expire. The ones who not just took pride in their job, but had an almost sadistic glee in the way they executed their duties. Frankly I don’t know where they are.

I only wish we could count on the BCGP to once again step into the breach. But they are too busy trying to “Connect the Circuit”. So they can avoid the albatross that hangs around their neck, that the Safe Streets bill has become. I'll see what happens with the fourth quarter numbers when they become available.