Living Car Free - Hooray for Whole Foods!

A couple weeks ago I went to the Whole Foods near my house and forgot about the huge pothole right in front of the driveway... It's along the crack between the concrete and asphalt, and covers about 2/3rds of the driveway. Between watching for cars, signalling, and avoiding pedestrians, I nailed it at about 10 mph... barely getting my hand back on the bars in time after signalling the turn, and nearly losing it. :eek:

Ended up pinch flatting my front tire and walked home after going to the store. (It's only about 6 blocks)

Well, I complained to Customer Service, and the lady came out and looked... it's blocking most of the driveway right in front of the bike rack (which always has 10 or more bikes!)... when I pointed out how dangerous it was to cyclists and showed her my flat tire, she was concerned, but mentioned that it wasn't really their property, and that the city would have to take care of it, but that she'd call them.

Went back a week later and there's brand new asphalt there!!! SWEET! :love:

I love it when a company values ALL it's customers, not only the ones that drive there.

Don't forget to praise the city. They did most of the work.

Don't forget to praise the city. They did most of the work.

Yes, yes they did. I'd like to know what kind of a miracle Whole Foods pulled off to get such prompt attention. I've seen potholes that bad sit for months. Hit one downtown once, following a city bus... flatted my tire, threw my pannier off one direction, me off the other... right in front of another bus. Luckily traffic wasn't moving real fast and the bus driver was able to stop in time. City employee shrugged and said it was 'on the list' to be repaired. It was another two months before it got fixed.

I wonder if Whole Foods went ahead and paid someone to fix it? Dunno. Might ask next time I'm by there, if I think of it.

Some folks aren't so fond of Whole Foods: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/13-0

Some folks aren't so fond of Whole Foods: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/13-0

You know what?

In our society, as we speak, there's somebody loud and strident objecting to everything and anything. Be it left, right, libertarian, fascist, communist, or completely apathetic.

We've become of society of 'objectors'. And I'm getting to the point where I wish they'd shut the **** up.

Yes, yes they did. I'd like to know what kind of a miracle Whole Foods pulled off to get such prompt attention. I've seen potholes that bad sit for months.

I work for a city, and here's what I've learned about the public works department: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. There is never enough time or money to do everything, especially in the current situation city/county/state/federal budgets are facing. But the employees themselves actually enjoy solving problems and making improvements for the public (at least the guys who work here do). So if a member of the public or business owner calls and lets us know something that is dangerous or something that could really improve something, we're happy to give it prompt attention. Something that is dangerous is always going to get fixed quickly because the city attorney gets nervous (especially in a self-insured city like ours where any damage settlements come right out of the already stressed budget). But even something like a bad curb and gutter that allows water to pool up in front of a driveway or something that just looks bad will be fixed soon if only people would alert the city that that's what they want done. Otherwise the employees just go about routine maintenance and who knows when that particular pothole will come up for fixing: call and it goes to the top of the list.

Call in every pothole you'd like fixed. Take a photo with your phone if you'd like. San Francisco has a program to go around (on bikes) and identify problems and forward the info to the city to get fixed. It works!

Some folks aren't so fond of Whole Foods: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/13-0

I have to side with this guy:


arkie September 2nd, 2009 9:17 am
If I am not a radical liberal, then I must be a right wing conservative. Is this how it works? I must either be one or the other? I guess no one can be an independent conservative, think for themselves, and decide what is right based on the issues.

I am not supposed to shop at Whole Foods because the psuedo intellectuals want a boycott because someone has a different opinion than their own. I am not supposed to shop at Trader Joe's because they do not like how they collect their seafood. PETA does not want me to eat meat. I am not supposed to eat at fast food places because it will make me fat. I cannot shop at Wal-Mart because they are not union and mistreat the million or so workers employeed by them. I am not supposed to eat produce and vegetables because we exploit migrant workers and poison the land with pesticides.

As one of the great blue collar comedians tells us, "You Cannot Fix Stupid".

We've become of society of 'objectors'. And I'm getting to the point where I wish they'd shut the **** up.

We've always been a "society of 'objectors' ". That's part of living in a democracy. The only places I know of where people "shut the **** up" are totalitarian states. No thanks.

We've always been a "society of 'objectors'". That's part of living in a democracy. The only places I know of where people "shut the **** up" are totalitarian states. No thanks.

Yup and that is why I am labeled as a libertarian centrist:eek::innocent::D

Aaron:)