Excerpt from Streetsblog Capitol Hill by Angie Schmitt
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Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland attended both his local protests and it got him thinking about the parallels between Occupy Wall Street’s rallying cry — “We are the 99 percent” — and the 68 percent of city dwellers who say they would bike if they felt safe enough. He wonders if bike advocates could take a page from this phenomenon:
Let’s, for the sake of discussion, compare the “top 1 percent” with the last century of auto-dominated urban planning and its ongoing primacy due to the politics around transportation funding.
And many of you are aware that bicycling dominated American life in the late 19th century, only to be all but eradicated by the onslaught of the automobile (which, ironically, took over the “good roads” bike lovers pushed for). The dominance of auto-centric development, policies, and roads are what have led to the situation where we currently have only 0.6 percent of our fellow citizens who use a bicycle as their primary means of getting to work.
Outrageous right? The 68 percent should be marching in the streets! People deserve equal levels of safety whether they choose to drive a car or ride a bike!
To make change in America that’s not supported by corporations or the existing power structure (both of which apply to bicycling), you need people in the streets. It’s as simple as that. Conferences, summits, meetings with politicians, and new laws will only get you so far.
https://streetsblog.net/2011/10/11/what-the-cycling-movement-can-learn-from-occupy-wall-street/oldId.20111011155729864