May 12, 2008

Oh, Great: It’s Bike to Work Week again.

You’d think, as someone who accomplishes nearly all personal transportation on a bike (ever ride your bike to Logan? I have.) I’d be psyched about Bike to Work Week. But the truth is, I hate it.

Instead of promoting some meathead nod to a cause, the City of Boston could do plenty of things to be more bike friendly, but Mayor Menino (seen here making a baby cry) consistently fails to deliver on promise after promise. The Globe thinks it’ll be different this time, but their reasoning seems to be largely based on the fact that Menino now occasionally rides a silver Trek around Hyde Park.

Of course, the Mayor still drives to work (Menino, who holds a BA in Community Planning, apparently loves cars; he made his political bones protesting against the expansion of the Orange Line to Needham) and will probably never throw his leg over the top tube within five miles of City Hall.

Nor will he ever get box-trucked into a Jersey barrier around some hole-in-the-ground condo development on Stuart St., or have to ride up, over and around Beacon Hill to get from the Common to Cambridge Street because never-congested Charles Street has three lanes, none of them designated for bikes, and all of them going the wrong way.

Ugh. Stupid Boston. Anyone who wonders why cyclists break the law here has clearly never ridden a bike. Unless you’re particularly tough or quick-reflexed, you might consider a home downtown, where you won’t need a bike to get around.

112 Pinckney #14 -$579,000
1 bed, 1 bath, 720 sq. ft.

228 Comm Ave - $224,900
0 bed, 1 bath, 335 sq. ft.

21-23 Hancock St #2 - $549,000
1 bed, 1 bath, 685 sq. ft.

Image: Urban Cyclist on the Ringstrasse, Vienna, Austria. Wikipedia user Gengiskanhg, 16 August 2006. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.