JTriumph

Senator Toomey is proposing to zero out the Transportion Alternatives Program. Thread title is from the report in the following link:

Senator Pat Toomey Fights to Spare America From Safe Streets | Streetsblog USA

Although TAP is rounding error in the federal transportation budget, it has a big impact on the accommodation of the movement of pedestrians and bicyclists on public roads, and if anything should be expanded, in my opinion.

genec

I kind of figured he was one of those fat sweaty guys... but no, he is thin, looks in shape.

I guess he just doesn't think.

We are ALL pedestrians from time to time. Yet somehow the Senator just thinks cars are all that matters. He doesn't like trains either.

JoeyBike

Limousine door-to-door. What does he care?

genec

When he leaves the limo... does he float on air or what? Just how does that work? Apparently his feet never touch the ground and it's like that for everybody?

PatrickGSR94

Maybe he's carried in a "litter" by 4 big dudes on poles.

Litter (vehicle) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

dynodonn 

Goes to show how much further a dollar goes in building non motorized infrastructure than for motorized designs, and generally, non motorized infrastructure tends to last much longer.

JoeyBike

I think the Rule of Pedestrians states that walking directly from the curb to the door is not considered a pedestrian activity. So CROSSING the sidewalk does not count. Only if you have to walk on a sidewalk perpendicular to the flow of the adjacent street do you become an actual pedestrian.

Or perhaps he is thinking of THIS definition of Pedestrian: COMMONPLACE

Examples:

• He lived a pedestrian life, working at the paper mill and living in his trailer.
• pedestrian concerns like paying the bills and getting the kids to school on time.

Certainly he does neither of these^^ ergo...not pedestrian.

(Pedestrian - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

905

Congress discusses the 'cycling menace'. Coming to a parallel universe near you.

Rollfast

Why isn't this a Foo topic?

I-Like-To-Bike

Because A&S smugsters feel morally superior to the low life who post in the nether regions of Bike Forums?

Rollfast

Naw, you just gotta reindoctrinate them or something, I haven't been here in a while

spare_wheel

Cutting funds for active transport infrastructure is not an advocacy and safety issue?

I-Like-To-Bike

Previous responses in the thread consisting of petty personal insults and snark are not advocacy or safety related, just petty insults and snark.

905

In other Foo[l] news, Pat Toomey will eat your brains!

JTriumph

OP here.

The intention of the post was to get on people's radar a current initiative to zero TAP. I personally will be engaged by writing to my Senators, since there is a definitely IMO a role for the federal DoT to account for pedestrians and cyclists in their projects. As far as I can tell, this subject fits exactly the mission statement of A&S.

Junior senators from Pennsylvania (my home state and now my neighboring state) have been easy targets for snark for some time now. Rather than engaging in this kind of baiting, Toomey should be reflecting about how the feds can help in his home state, for example, accelerate and improve (with additional funds) ongoing efforts to reconnect pedestrians and cyclists to the Delaware Riverfront waterfront, which is in many places in Philly is separated by an interstate highway (I95).

I-Like-To-Bike

Your OP and this follow up are right on target as an advocacy issue. The responses unfortunately on this thread were nothing but dumb-donkey snark.

Hopefully you can get an intelligent dialog going with the appropriate officials.

905

I have no desire to turn this into an argument about a thread, particularly with someone who has the good taste to use Lewis Carroll as source material for their avatar. However...

In "The Hunting of the Snark" Carroll described the quarry as creatures "that have feathers, and bite, and those that have whiskers, and scratch."

"If your Snark be a Snark, that is right:
Fetch it home by all means—you may serve it with greens,
And it’s handy for striking a light.
You may seek it with thimbles—and seek it with care;
You may hunt it with forks and hope;
You may threaten its life with a railway-share;
You may charm it with smiles and soap—”

IMO snark is entirely appropriate in topics concerning many if not most congress critters (one of the "unmistakable marks" of a Snark is ambition In a hasty parenthesis he cried); and if replies of this or indeed almost any variety bring more visitors to this thread to be apprised of an important issue, that's a good thing.



Having said that, I can understand the sometimes frustration with snark as it has evolved:

Judging by Toomey's response to an extremely snarky depiction in the media [see the 'eat your brains' Atlantic link above], he apparently embraced the snark enough to use it in his fundraising efforts.

Fortunately in the UK, where Snarks were first spotted, most blatantly anti-cyclist legislators immediately come into the sights of very vocal cycling advocates, who thrive in spite of or perhaps because of always being pushed to the margins in what is an equally car-centric culture.

mconlonx

The initiative to zero out TAP is not a new one, it happens every time the long-awaited Transportation Bill is considered. Yes, it is chump change in the big scheme of things, a rounding error as you've characterized it, but it is still how many millions of dollars? which most see as a large sum of money. Seeing the trees for the forest, as it were. It is an easy political target which can be slighted as benefiting only a perceived minority.

While amendments such as this are proposed all the time, the fact that years later money is still in the Transportation Bill to support TAP is testament to the fact that saner heads recognize it as important and worth preserving. Streetsblog is being slightly sensational about it in an effort to motivate the clueless into action.

Regarding my state's Senators, one I know will vote against any such amendment, King (I), based on lobbying by our state group (Bicycle Coalition of Maine) and one will consider it and vote according to political expediency -- she may horse-trade a pro amendment vote to further some other political end, Collins (R). Her vote may rest on the opinion of our state's DOT head, which is not at all encouraging since that guy was a right wing whack-job (The Beast LePage (R)) appointment.

CrankyOne

Something else to look at is if Toomey fights all federal redistribution programs. In other words, he believes that local projects are better off funded and controlled locally and that the federal government should get out of the business of taxing everyone to buy a box load of $400 hammers for Peoria that nobody in Peoria wants.

rydabent

I still somehow or other believe that when anyone is elected to a position in Washington, the first thing they do is take them in the back room, stick two straws up their nose and suck out all brain cells that have anything to do with common sense, logic, or fiscal responsibility.

dynodonn 

No 400 dollar hammers ended up in my locale, only some long needed sidewalks to replace some well worn, tree root lined, dirt foot paths that paralleled along next to some nicely paved roads.

Chicago Al 

And this is the kind of knee-jerk 'gubmint is bad' thinking that politicians like Toomey count on. His 'reasoning' is no doubt that he is being fiscally responsible and that it's 'common sense' that the Safe Streets initiative should be zeroed out.

There is a whole group in Washington dedicated to the proposition that 'government can't do anything right,' and when in power they do a good job of proving it.

mconlonx

^ part of the problem.

rydabent

chicago

And what has Washington "done right" in the last few years? While of course I want cycling infrastructure improved, remember the country is 17 TRILLION DOLLARS in the hole.

dynodonn 

All the while, TAP is only a .00005 dent in the deficit, but it can make a considerable improvement to not only cyclists but all non motorized road users as well.