cyclezealot

Tomorrow is election day.. Government effect all things including our access to roads, construction of bike paths, laws governing where we can bike.. I checked my state's lawmakers score of bicycling.. Below is a web site advocating our rights as cyclists. Thought it might be helpful, before you vote tomorrow..


Congressional Candidate Survey Results 2002

America Bikes has mailed surveys to all major party candidates for Congress. Select your state below to view responses received to date. If candidates in your state or district have not responded, please encourage them to do so. For details, contact survey@americabikes.org.

If you are unsure of your Congressional district, go to Sign In / Sign Up Screen and enter your information, using your home address, to find out.

Please go to Sign In / Sign Up Screen screen to register with America Bikes to receive regular updates on our campaign to convince Congress to include strong bicycling and walking provisions in the 2003 federal transportation funding bill.


Select a State: AKARCACOCTDCFLGAIDILINKSKYLAMDMEMIMNMOMSNCNHNJNMNVNYOHORPARISCTNTXVAWAWIWVWY





Copyright © 2002, America Bikes
Site Engineering and Hosting by Information Resource Associates, Inc.

D*Alex

Sorry-never heard of that state.

Roughstuff

Bah, humbug!!!! Just vote republican!

roughstuff

nathank

the URL is https://www.americabikes.org/survey_search.asp

there were only 2 listing for Oregon bot h Portland District 3(Democrat District 3: Earl Blumenauer VERY bike-positive and Republican Sarah Seale also bike-positive)

but i found an interesting quote form Pauline Dixon in Dallas for Tx House District 32 (i have no idea of here other positions)

webist

Well, today is election day. For the first time ever, I rode my bike to the polls.

Actually, I stopped by the poll to drop off my mail in ballot while I was out riding. The polling place is only 100 yards from my back door. Had to ride around for a while before they opened.

Merriwether

What seems to be in demand is a bicycle that the dead can ride to the polls. I won't say which major party it is that demands a bike like this...

morsen

I am going to vote for the major party that isn't the lapdog of oil, automotive, and highway interests. Oh wait...

"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos." - Homer

Merriwether

Chris L

(dons flame proof jacket, opens door to fallout shelter)

So are they actually going to count all the votes this time?

Merriwether

Oh, they counted votes, all right. Alsk morsen what the outcome was...

cyclezealot

The practical use of web sites like this is to badger the likes of a Pauline Dixon. Maybe a mass club ride ending at her office, fillibustering her staff.

nathank

well, the US will unfortunately continue to get more conservative and screwed up... now we have George W and a Republican controlled House AND now a Republican controlled Senate... hello total control by big corporations... (oil, etc)

Roughstuff

Yippee....a fully republican government. Of course, thankfully, as a practical matter, both parties still have control and influence since the two houses are close. I have an initial idea as a cyclist:

Lets get rid of the billions we waste on AMtrak every year; get rid of vast sections of the department of energy; get rid of the US Department of Education entirely: take that money and give it to states and local communities to build wider shoulders on many local roads. Wouldn't that improve our lot, as riders, vastly?

Roughstuff

p.s. the results came in overnight here in the UK. I gotta go PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cycletourist

Here in Missouri there was a 55 cents per pack cigarette tax hike on the ballot. I haven't heard yet but I hope it passed.

Since most smokers are UNDER 35 and most voters are OVER 35 that means that most voters are non-smokers. So it seems reasonable that a cigarette tax hike should pass easily.

webist

The cigarette tax sure passed easily in AZ.

Prosody

The tax in missouri failed. Though one of the goals of the tax--to reduce smoking by young people by making it too expensive--is admirable, I doubt it would work all that well. Just look at other expensive vices young people pick up.

The problem with a tax on cigarettes is that it has the greatest effect on the people least able to afford it. Rates of smoking in a population are tied to demographics: well-educated people with higher-paying jobs are less likely to be smokers than poorly-educated people with lower-paying jobs. A tax on cigarettes, then, will be paid in greater proportion by poorer people, who are least able to pay more in taxes. Sure, you can complain that those people ought to quit smoking, but that is a simple answer to a complex issue that cannot be solved with simple answers.

Education is much more effective at preventing smoking than are taxes. The truth campaign comes to mind as effective media education. Parents and schools can also help prevent kids from taking up cigarettes. Taxing smokers works something like a punishment: these people are doing something they ought not do, so let's punish them with a tax. Our society is good at punishing people. We ought to educate instead. Rather than wait for people do do wrong then punish them, we ought to give them the information to make better decisions. What we spend on tobacco-related health care will be much less if we educate children to reject tobacco than it will be if we merely tax smokers.

While we educating kids to reject tobacco, we can also educate them to eat well, exercise, read, practice open-mindedness, accept differences among people, ride bicycles...

webist

A tax should have no purpose beyond the legitimate raising of necessary revenue.

Assessments intended to modify a behavior should be labeled a fine, not a tax.

Tax breaks on the other hand should be labeled as gifts.

John E

Sorry, I do not buy into demographic-based arguments where voluntary behaviours are concerned. Frankly, I want to do whatever I can to reduce the rate of smoking (I support both education and taxation), because I am sick of breathing second-hand smoke, particularly when I travel outside of California, which is way ahead of most of the rest of the world in protecting nonsmokers' rights.



Smoking should be confined to consenting adults in private ...

cycletourist

It has already been demonstrated in other states that raising the price of cigarettes DOES prevent children from taking up the habit. I forget what percentage of Missouri residents are smokers but we ranked third in the nation. Missouri and the other two states that have more smokers than we do all have the cheapest cigarettes in America. That is not a coincidence.

But pricing issues aside, what I really want to see is a ban on smoking in the workplace.

Chris L

I read a report a while back suggesting that the Australian State of New South Wales expects to have a total ban on smoking in public within five years. I'd say we'll have to wait about 40 years for that to happen in Queensland though.