Does your city have any kind of Bike/Ped Advisory Committee? FWIW, in Portland, Maine, the Public Works department is responsible for both the planning and the painting. They have taken an initiative to put more paint on the ground, and came to our advisory group to get input. As a result, some of us have been meeting regularly with them for about a year now. Not a lot of new paint on the ground yet, for a variety of reasons, some of which is funding, but some of which I like to think is because we've been able to educate them about standards, good and bad places for bike lanes, suggested sharrows, etc., and spent a lot of time reviewing routes and treatments.

Exactly my dilemma. I'm on record here as saying that I am very comfortable with vehicular cycling and don't need special paint, and like to think that everyone who is going to be on the road can and should learn the same. But I also can appreciate the argument that riding totally vehicularly with no help from the infrastructure is quite a "barrier to entry" to some people more than it was to me, due to both personality and details of their ride. I think infrastructure done well can be of some help, so I think I am coming down on the side of helping the well-meaning gov't officials to do it right, or at least keep them from doing it badly, rather than giving up altogether because it is not a pure position. But I personally will also seek to advance cyclist education in every way I can, because I still think infrastructure without education is not enough, just as it is not enough for motorists.