Like most people I’ve got a ten-speed bike tucked away somewhere around the house. Though I don’t get on it as much as I’d like too, occasionally I do take it out and have even been known to pay a few bills while riding my bike. I have to say the look on the clerk’s face as she sees me pulling up to pay the gas bill is priceless. McDonald’s on the other hand doesn’t seem to care how you get into their drive through just as long as you fork over the cash when the window opens. A friend of mine even dares rush hour traffic five days a week as he pedals from work and back. This brings me to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters recent statements concerning the road and bridge decay and how bikes are particularly to blame.
In a recent statement the Secretary said:
“I think we have to examine where we’re spending money today. And if we think that we’re spending money today in the highest and best use, then perhaps we would need to make that discussion, but I don’t believe we are. There’s about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things like bike paths or trails. Some is being spent on museums, on restoring lighthouses, as I indicated.”
First off the fact that a Transportation Secretary doesn’t consider walking or riding bikes forms of transportation is completely ridiculous. Second of all if part of the transportation budget shouldn’t be set aside for paths that would allow non-vehicular citizens to get around safely on, then where is the money supposed to come from? The Food & Drug Administration? What Mrs. Peters fails to mention however is the surplus of $1 billion dollars that was returned to the Federal government by the state governments because they didn’t have any place to use it.
Now let’s not get into the reasons behind the surplus (the fact that they couldn’t find a way to spend $1 billion when bridges are collapsing all across the country is a debate for another post) my point here is that how can a representative of this country not realize that walking/bicycle riding is transportation and has zero to do with the governments reckless spending habits. Maybe if they didn’t spend $100 million smackers on plane tickets they never used, our roads would be in better shape along with a lot of other things.
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