Look, it's pointless to argue this anymore. Bill's just being contrarian to be a pain in the ass.

His response to the pothole issue is to say, yes, that's a problem, but you should get the city to fix it.

In a nutshell: we can start a priori with a mandatory bike lane law. Any problem that might ever rear its head becomes a problem that we as cyclists must expect the city or responsible party to fix.

Yes, Bill, you're right. If every bike lane is perfectly designed and installed; constantly maintained; never obstructed; well shielded from straying birds, squirrels, and dogs; striped only on roads where one would have no need of left turns; deiced any time the temperature dips below freezing; scrubbed clean of any automobile tail pipe drippings; grade separated from automobile turns; and essentially every unforseen circumstance forseen and corrected for...well then yes, mandatory bike lane laws might be feasible.

Me, I occupy a little state called "reality". You should come visit sometime.