We continue south on 106th Ave NE towards Main Street, and here we are greeted an opportunity to do a magic trick! Make a bicyclist disappear, which is the apparent intent of this bike lane as in gradually narrows into nothingness.
It is too bad the bike shop moved from the storefront on the right, as they were conveniently located to commence repairs on bikes whose riders did not succeed in the vanishing trick, and instead ended up in the lane with the drivers, who, around here, don’t tend to notice cyclists until they bounce off their windshield.
More so than the rest of Bellevue, downtown has almost no bike facilities. However, on 106th Avenue between 4th and 2nd something resembling a bike lane can be found! Something unique in downtown. But, like so many of the other bike lanes I’ve been talking about, I think this one was another “accidental” bike lane: there was extra space on the pavement so they painted lines which resemble bike lanes and lull us into a false sense of security, for we shall soon be disappointed.
In this case, what starts as a nice bike lane slowly loses about 1 foot of it’s width, with the narrowest being right where a tree encroaches onto the street. The tree has been pruned in an odd structure, which ensures that car drivers will pass unmolested, but cyclists will need to duck at the moment traffic is forced closest.
This is the latest capitulation to the automobile taking place in Bellevue: They have decided to widen NE 8th Street, for two blocks! I am uncertain how these two blocks will do anything for the unfixable traffic situation, other than move the head of the traffic jam two blocks farther along.
Also, look closely at the building in the middle of the picture and the distance between it and the new curb. Somehow, I doubt a usable sidewalk can be put there.
A long time ago, city hall made the decision to only include half the streets in downtown Bellevue. So unlike the gridlock that occurs in most cities, in Bellevue it has to happen with half as many streets. There is no fix other than getting people out of their cars. So adding an extra lane for two blocks is useless at best. It is just another futile attempt to appease an insatiable tyrant (hence the title).
The world got one more vegan yesterday (5-Nov-08) at 6:14pm when Madeleine Helen Marie Fisher was brought into this world. She was 7 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long. As can be seen in this picture she quite liked laying on her front with her butt up in the air. Contractions began just after Obama’s acceptance speech, so obviously she was waiting for that before gracing us with her presence.
Both mother and daughter are doing well.
While riding down 114th Ave NE, near SE 2nd St, I spotted this amusing juxtaposition. Just in case you can’t tell from my terrible photography, there is a sign helpfully indicating that the bike route for the Lake Washington Loop is straight ahead. But from this angle, directly ahead of that sign is a “dead end” sign. Maybe this is a different definition of “loop” than I am accustomed to.
But the bike route actually does go down that road, which is only a dead end for cars, a short bike path connects the end of that street with 112th Ave right before the nightmare of 8th Street (more on that later).
However, in a city that considered bicycles real vehicles, there would be a sign below “dead end” which said “except bicycles.”
Here we are at 118th Ave SE, approaching SE 8th Street. The “motorcycles” warning sign wasn’t there last time I rode through here, otherwise you could more easily see the irony here. The small sign is a route marker for the Lake Washington Loop bike route, which helpfully indicates that the route is straight ahead. Of course the temporary warning sign is not just blocking the bike lane, but also obscuring the fact that it narrows down to nothing. Nothing says “bike route” like vanishing bike lanes.
116th Ave NE is Bellevue’s “auto row”, and, ironically, has a nice wide bike lane along the uphill side of an otherwise rather busy four-lane street (though it only extends about 6 blocks). But then it is abruptly tapered down to nothing just before the intersection with the unbelievably hostile 8th Street (more on that in future posts). The red and grey sign on the right is for the local Hummer dealership whose driveway is right where the bike lane ends. So this is obvious attempt to make me turn right and trade in my bike for an SUV so that I will fit in more amongst the botox and silicone laden, cell-phone wielding, trophy wives in their Lexus SUVs who menace the streets of Bellevue.
If you look at the Bellevue bike map, you’ll see 118th Ave marked as a bike route (the map does not distinguish bike lanes from bike routes as it would show how few of the former exist). After leaving downtown 118th Ave does have a couple miles of bike lanes. But at the intersection with SE 8th Street bicyclists are apparently expected to jump over the curb extensions on both sides of this intersection. So, mountain bikers will get a bit of jumping practice, but those of us on road bikes or recumbents are left in a position where we will undoubtedly have to stop and wait for traffic to clear, and, if the light is still green, proceed. A harsh reminder to bicyclists of their second-class status in the eyes of car drivers and road designers.
Are we at Gandhicon three yet? We now have two cases of anti-bike people demanding environmental reviews of facilities for bicyclists, one in San Francisco and one in New York City. (of course the supreme irony is that these people probably would have fought environmental reviews for car-oriented facilities). Whatever, I’m looking forward to Gandhicon four.
Quite often in economic news I hear mention of increases in worker productivity. I never really thought much about the deeper meaning of that until recently. It is obvious that the amount of work a given person can do in a day can only increase so far, so where does this extra “productivity” come from? Certainly, machines can make a worker more productive or even make them redundant, but that also has its limits. But I’ve recently come face-to-face with this increased “productivity”.
The first was at a local Babies R Us store where we wanted to get a piece of furniture. First we had to locate somebody who could help us, but the one person at checkout was rather busy with the long line and it took a while to locate anybody else. The person we finally located seemed to be the only person in the store who had any clue as to what was going on, and as such was bombarded with questions from other employees and customers alike. Of course, what we wanted was out of stock, so we ordered it, though it took the cashier a while to figure out how to ring it up. Several weeks later we got a call from them informing us that we had to make an “appointment” to pick it up. When my wife called to do so, she was put on hold for 20 minutes, routed to the wrong department, and then asked to call back later. When we went to the store we once again faced a cashier who didn’t know how to process our order, and when loading it up we discovered that it wasn’t quite the color we wanted, but the person helping us could only give us an impotent shrug. Not wanting to deal with them any further we took it and left.
The other experience I had was at work, where I had a problem with one of my servers. So, I put in a service request and patiently waited. After a couple of weeks I was told the machine would need to be rebooted, but since it was a production server, I had to schedule a time. When that time came a different IT person looked at it and said the problem wasn’t even on this machine and I needed to file another service request against a different department. Doing that took nearly an hour since I had to determine which category, out of hundreds, that the SR belonged in. After several weeks the SR was closed with a question “is this still a problem?” Of course, it was, so submitted documentation of this and waited for a few more weeks, at which time I was told to send email to a certain person, so they could approve the fix. I am still waiting.
I’m sure everyone has a long list of tales like these. These show where this supposed productivity is coming from: us. Corporations are excellent mechanisms for externalizing costs, indeed, that and avoidance of responsibility are the corporations’ purpose. Productivity is just another kind of “cost” being externalized. Rather than hiring enough competent people to do the work, fewer people are employed at lower pay, which creates higher turnover, and the few remaining competent people eventually leave due to frustration and overwork. Since the remaining skeleton crew cannot deal with the workload, automated telephone systems and computer-based “trouble ticket” systems are put in place, not only to prevent you from speaking to an actual worker, but to also relentlessly measure their productivity, so that the inevitable layoffs will target the supposed laggards.
Like everything else in life, productivity is a zero-sum game. It cannot be increased without taking it from someone else.
As I ride my bike I notice some odd traffic features, and one day I thought that all the lane markers and signs communicate an action, “don’t cross this line”, “stop here”, &c. So I started thinking about what bike related markers were communicating to me. Since Bellevue is, relatively speaking, pretty hostile to bicyclists, what they communicate is often hostile or at least confusing. So in this and any subsequent “translation” posts, will share such things.
I happened upon this on a residential street as I was going to pick up my CSA share (this is on 128th Ave NE around 1st St.)
I guess this is a weird variant on traffic calming: make the cars slow down, but make the cyclists either do a dangerous swerve or stop dead until traffic clears. At least the ditch looks soft…
I have been a member of the Helsing Junction Farm CSA for four years now. In their recent newsletter they were asking a variety of questions mostly related to two topics: should all veggies come from the farm or is it ok if they buy veggies from other farms or even wholesalers, and the quality of the produce. Here are my thoughts.
My motivation for joining a CSA is probably different from most. Industrial agriculture has spent the last half century or so destroying family farms, biodiversity and our health. On a personal level, we have distanced ourselves from the seasons and the reality of food production, further subjecting small farmers to our fickle sense of convenience. Reducing food production to mere consumerism is an insult to farmers and a capitulation the worst attributes of humanity. So for me, joining a CSA was a concrete way to speak out against this, to reconnect myself, directly, with a small farmer, and make all our lives better in the process.
I have always felt a CSA share is an investment in a farm. In exchange I get a box of veggies every week, containing whatever they managed to harvest that week. If that means that I get ears of corn with bugs in them, or if I get few tomatoes because of poor weather, or even if I get potatoes with lots of dirt on them, so be it. To me, these are positive things as I know that veggies are not going to waste because they don’t look pretty enough for Whole Foods shoppers, and I know that the farmers will not suffer due to circumstances beyond their control.
I have heard of some CSAs who buy more produce from other farms or from wholesalers, but I am generally opposed of such things. Extricating myself and the farmer from the vagaries of the “market” is a prime goal for me, so introducing a wholesaler into the relationship would harm that goal and I would be opposed to it. However if several CSAs cooperate (as my CSA cooperates with Provisions CSA), I am all for it.
All in all, I am extremely happy with my CSA: I have gotten some wonderful vegies and I feel good to be supporting local farmers.
When I read Omnivore’s Dilemma the first thing that struck me was their use of the word “symbiosis”. I grew up on a farm, and I took care of the chickens, and I started thinking about “symbiosis”. Symbiosis implies that when the two creatures interact, they both benefit from the relationship. But for anyone involved in animal agriculture to use this word is simply a whitewashing to hide what really happens, or a way for them to assuage their conscience.
For example, the relationship between the dairy cow and the farmer is nothing short of parasitism. The cow’s life is greatly shortened, she has to live in filthy conditions, she is repeatedly impregnated and then has her babies taken away from her (and so-called free-range cows only gets the second condition mitigated). The only benefits the cow receives only serve to keep her alive to produce milk. Any meat-based agriculture is strictly parasitic as the animals are brought into existence for the sole purpose of being killed, after an exceeding brief and brutal life. I see no benefit for the animal.
However, based on my experience, I do think it is possible for humans and chickens to be in a symbiotic relationship. I think I was near this situation with my chickens. My chickens had about half an acre of pasture to roam freely in, they had a clean coop, fresh straw in their nest boxes, they always had fresh feed and water, and I never killed any of them. I would collect their eggs, but, unlike dairy cows, chickens will lay eggs fairly regularly whether they are breeding or not. Of course, in this exchange I took away their reproductive freedom, but every other freedom was accorded them and they lived out their full, natural lives. In my opinion, that fits the definition of “symbiosis,” anything less is parasitism.
The comments that followed the blog entry were largely filled with ignorance and intolerance, in accordance with internet traditions. But my favorite was this astounding display of all-out ignorance:
_[…] if we all become strict vegans, where’s all the food going to come from?
Obviously this person believes that the animals live on air. Animal agriculture consumes at least half of the U.S. grain production. That’s enough grain to feed 800 million people (see this), compare that to the 10.4 million children who die each year of malnutrition. How does that steak taste now?
When I first read Greens are the enemies of liberty I didn’t even think it was worth responding to. Kind of wrestling with a pig. The article is a mess of strawmen, broad generalizations and hysterics, but amongst this there are a few vital points to contemplate.
He rightly fears authoritarianism, and I think everyone, aside from those in power, fear that too. There are people on every side of every debate who might want to impose their will on others, but to generalize an entire movement in such a way is fallacious. I certainly have no such desire, as domination and hierarchy have been the source of most injustices throughout history. However, he does confuse demands for legal proceedings (i.e. “criminal tribunals”) with authoritarianism. Justice and revenge are very different things.
Ah, but here’s a key point, he says
Liberty – true liberty – requires that people see themselves as self-respecting, self-determining subjects, capable of making free choices and pursuing the “good life” as they see fit.
It’s interesting to see what he leaves out: responsibility. By this standard, if I want to dump all my garbage in my backyard that’s my business, my “free choice”, and the fact it attracts rats which invade your house is your problem. Ultimately his point of view is that we act in a moral vacuum: if I ask for you to clean up your yard, I am “imposing my will” on you; and that any time a society tries to force you to take responsibility for your actions, or impose penalties to mitigate the consequences, this is tyranny.
But the reality is that everything we do has consequences, some minor, some severe, some good, some bad. I think it is fair to say that someone who denies that there are consequences is delusional if not sociopathic, and someone who acknowledges these consequences but doesn’t care is selfish and narcissistic. I would be scared of either sort of person. However, if someone agrees that there are consequences, but simply disputes the degree of consequences, then at least we can have a discussion in which reason and morality might lead us all to a better place.
Here then is the “promotion of guilt” he decries: The “free choices” he wants to pursue are seen, increasingly, as having negative impacts. It is too bad he finds himself on the wrong side of this cultural phenomenon. Culture evolves, and ethical codes change. Slavery, rape, killing heretics, child abuse and human sacrifice were all seen as normal at various times in history, fortunately most people now consider these forms of oppression as unacceptable. Taking responsibility for what comes out of your tailpipe, what goes down your drain, and what goes in your trash is just the next step.
In a rare display of sanity, the FDA has, for a third time denied Merck’s applications to sell Mevacor over the counter. They noted that “high cholesterol is a chronic condition lacking overt symptoms, unlike other health problems that are currently treated over the counter.”
Actually, there is usually a clear symptom: that sausage you’re shoving down your gullet. Knock it off and you won’t need to pay Merck for dangerous chemicals.
While looking up some things about cholesterol on Wikipedia I found someone complaining that “people have been frightened and badgered into eating a tedious and flavorless diet…” I think that person is tedious and flavorless. And, of course, clueless. My diet has had more flavor since I became vegan. I actually learned to cook, rather than toss a slab of dead animal onto my plate and call it done.
This passage is from a recent op-ed by David Brooks:
The high point of his campaign, so far, has been his energy policy, which is comprehensive and bold, but does not try to turn us into a nation of bicyclists. It does not view America’s energy-intense economy as a sign of sinfulness.
While I seriously doubt that any mainstream candidate intends to turn us into a “nation of bicyclists,” I have to ask… what’s wrong with that?
The leading causes of death in this country are, for the most part, caused by poor diets and lack of exercise, so bicycling would fix half of that problem. The leading cause of death for young people is automobiles, bicyclists wouldn’t pose the same threat to our kids. Recent studies have shown that particulates emitted by vehicles contribute to heart disease and strokes, bicycles don’t emit such particles. I fail to see any negatives there.
When I envision the city streets around me filled with bicycles instead of cars, I see nearly empty streets with happy people socializing with one another instead of being isolated inside several tons of steel. I see people living closer to their workplaces, grocery stores and schools. I see people talking to one another, building communities, rather than focusing their frustration and isolation on others in the form of road rage.
I will grant you that a bicyclist may arrive a bit sweaty, but installing shower rooms at workplaces is not beyond our technological know-how. I think humans have a fair grasp of indoor plumbing.
The only downside is that we have structured our lives around automobiles and virtually free energy, and that bicycling may be difficult for some of them. But this structure is doomed, and a forward thinking energy policy will face these hard facts and help these people and their communities rebuild.
But if I’m wrong about this and, after doing the work rebuild our landscapes to human scales, we discover endless supplies of cheap oil, the world will be a better, happier and healthier place. What if you’re wrong, Mr. Brooks?
Years ago I went to a bicycle legal clinic where I first heard cyclists called an “embattled minority”. Since that time I have ridden many thousands of miles in many cities and found it to be true in a variety of minor ways. One of them is parking. The condo complex where I live has such a policy. Let’s review… here’s what car drivers get:
Here’s what bicylists get:
I don’t know about you, but that looks like a second-class situation.
My wife, who is on the condo board, made an attempt to change this, but it became clear that residents here are neither willing to allow bikes to be parked on decks, nor give up a single uncovered parking space for a bike rack. What’s truly sad about this is that we live in a downtown area, and most necessities of life are within a mile or two. Most everyone here could use a bike for much of their transportation, but few will because they don’t want to have their bikes in their living room or undertake the effort (as I do) of shoving their bike into a small closet.