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.
