jo-@aracnet.com
Roger Joys wrote:
Worth writing an email or letter to your representatives.
-r
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Snyder [mailto:rls3-@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 04:09 PM
To: 'tandem', 'fixed gear', 'seawheels'
Subject: [FIXED-GEAR] Fwd: yak Digest #505
This was posted to the Bike Friday (yak) list, but I think it is worth
cross posting to all my lists.
Rob
--- ya-@bikefriday.com wrote:
Message-ID: <004701c35105$c079cd00$10dba618@woh.rr.com>
From: "Claire Lea" <SloTw-@woh.rr.com>
Subject: To the defenses
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 06:32:38 -0400
More information is available at:
http://www.americabikes.org/
SloTw-@woh.rr.com
aka Claire Lea
A house subcommittee has voted to cut all funding for
bike paths and other pollution-free transportation
programs.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Katharine Mieszkowski
July 22, 2003 | For every bike commuter who proudly
pedals to work under the mantra "one less car,"
Congress has a message for you: Get back on the
highway where you belong, burning fossil fuel like a
real American. That goes for you, too, you
traffic-hazard pedestrians.
Fresh out of subcommittee, a new congressional
transportation appropriations bill will entirely
eliminate some $600 million worth of annual federal
funding for bike paths, walkways and other such
transportation niceties in fiscal year 2004.
Never mind the political fallout of U.S. oil
dependency on the Middle East, or the fact that the
average mileage per gallon for new cars and trucks in
the U.S. is at its lowest level in 20 years. Members
of the House's Appropriations Subcommittee on
Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies know
that what America needs now is fewer bike paths and
walkways -- but more highways.
Defenders of the bill argue that, in light of huge
federal deficits, something has to go, but for bike
activists and environmentalists who have been pushing
for decades for alternatives to driving, the cuts are
a giant step backward.
"The irony of trying to make it easier for people to
drive when we're clearly running up against major
roadblocks on providing oil for driving is just too
much," says Leah Shahum, executive director of the San
Francisco Bicycle Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes
bikes for transportation.
Under the new bill, which the full Committee on
Appropriations is likely to consider this week, before
it goes to the House floor for a vote, highways would
receive $34.1 billion in fiscal year 2004, which is
$2.5 billion more than this year, while the
Transportation Enhancements program that funds bike
paths and walkways would get nothing. The bill would
also significantly reduce funding for everything from
Amtrak to reverse-commute transportation programs that
connect low-income urban workers to jobs in the
suburbs.
"It's saying: 'We're not really that interested in
community restoration or improvement. We just want the
money going toward highway development,'" says Susan
Prolman, government relations counsel for Defenders of
Wildlife. She points out that the bill puts $4.8
billion more into highway projects than President Bush
asked for in his 2004 budget.
<snip>
"They essentially gutted funding for sensible
alternatives in favor of more road building," says
Eric Olson, who works for the Sierra Club's Challenge
to Sprawl campaign in Washington.
After 40 years of funding highways, in 1991 the
Department of Transportation started the
Transportation Enhancements program to develop a more
"modally balanced transportation system by encouraging
projects that are more than asphalt, concrete and
steel." Environmentalists and historical
preservationist groups viewed its creation as a
watershed in federal transportation policy -- an
acknowledgement that the U.S.'s vast federal highway
system can do more than just seamlessly move cars and
trucks.
Who said regime change DOESN'T begin at home...
Joe
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