Sunday, September 30, 2007

Down With Car Culture



The owner of the Power Exchange sex club (above) is running for mayor and was part of the raucous after-party at the Temple Bar Friday night following the weekly mayoral debate in front of City Hall.



The drinking was briefly interrupted by the arrival of thousands of bicyclists riding by in the fifteenth anniversary of the Critical Mass bike ride which takes place on the last Friday evening of every month.



One of the other mayoral candidates, Lonnie Holmes (above), had the gumption to stand in the middle of the street holding up a large campaign sign as the cyclists whizzed by appreciatively.



The Critical Mass event and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition are controversial for their advocacy of bikes over cars for this congested city...



...but who can seriously advocate for car culture over ped culture after looking at the estuary of the Presidio, for instance, which until recently was a huge asphalt expanse covering a toxic dump?



On Saturday morning, the place was filled with locals and tourists on rented bicycles gasping at the almost psychedelic beauty of the day.



It's hard to change people's behavior, but living without cars as much as possible creates communities, improves everyone's health, and is a blueprint for some kind of future without oil wars.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of psychedelic, the pot brownies purveyors were doing a brisk business at the Folsom Street Fair on Sunday. Missed you there, and at Saturday Beer Bust!

AlbGlinka said...

One of the (only) perks of rehearsing operas at the Presidio is being in that gorgeous part of town, particularly on a sunny day.

I have a friend who's active in the Bike Coalition and was quick to differentiate their work from Critical Mass-- because they're a registered non-profit and actually work to get changes made in bike lanes, etc. I guess it's all good.