Portland dethroned as world's most bike-friendly city

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by insert_name_here_00

, but I could see how normal things like taking a lane downtown might come across as 'stupid' to somebody from St. Cloud.

I'm not even sure what literacy has to do with this.

I love biking, back when I lived in a small town with around 3000 people I used to bike all over the country. I used to bike to church and school too when I was young because I enjoyed it so much. But yea, OTHER people from st cloud would think its stupid. If you come to Minnesota, stay in Minneapolis, the people in St. Cloud are so retarded. So proud of this crappy town and they act like Minneapolis is so big and crowded and dangerous and full of crime, and St. Cloud is a perfect utopia.

Unfortunately im in a small apartment now and my bike is at my grandparents' house

For the literacy thing, I was just commenting on how Minneapolis and Minnesota are talked about being well educated and literate and people talk how Minnesota has great education, but there are several failing schools here and just because we do have some fantastic education doesn't mean everyone who lives here is a genius, which is what A FEW people i've talked too have KIND OF thought.
I said a FEW people i talked to kind of think that, I did NOT say EVERYBODY i talked to thought EXACTLY THAT
Just clarifying that

[Lunar Delta]

Originally Posted by brubaker

I wish they'd take away all the car lanes (downtown).
It'd be paradise...

Hear, hear!

[mzfroggez]

here here (or is that "hear hear"? - it's 2 am on the east coast /does it matter?)................... but - you certainly understand the game

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

Well, there is the conspiracy theory that has to be mentioned......

1st the city government wants to spend 600 million on bike paths, but only the hard core biker's are fully supporting with the taxpayer money being spent.....

Then a magazine writes up Portland is dethroned as Uber Bike-friendly City...

Then Civic Pride kicks in and more voters in Portland warm up to the 600 million expense as a means to regain Bike-Friendly Title.....

Then Politicians jump on the Civic-Pride Bandwagon and make hollow promises that the Bike-Friendly title will entice job making entrepreneurs, thus for Civic Pride and job growth Portland needs 600-million in new bike paths....

Public accepts (buys? pun intended) the politician's call to Civic Pride and so forth with polls showing strong support now for spending 600 million.....

The money gets allocated, contracts signed, and construction starts on bike paths. Then the next time that magazine comes out with bike-friendly ratings, Portland is on top again; The Political Hacks puff out their collective chests and proclaim their vision was correct (at about re-election time too.)....

Now, was that so Inexplicable?

(The above was of course tongue-in-cheek; Portland's Politician's wouldn't be that crass, would they? )

[bledsoe3]

Originally Posted by brubaker

I wish they'd take away all the car lanes (downtown).
It'd be paradise...

How would this affect you back in Austin?

[rhodan653]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

Well, there is the conspiracy theory that has to be mentioned......

1st the city government wants to spend 600 million on bike paths, but only the hard core biker's are fully supporting with the taxpayer money being spent.....

Then a magazine writes up Portland is dethroned as Uber Bike-friendly City...

Then Civic Pride kicks in and more voters in Portland warm up to the 600 million expense as a means to regain Bike-Friendly Title.....

Then Politicians jump on the Civic-Pride Bandwagon and make hollow promises that the Bike-Friendly title will entice job making entrepreneurs, thus for Civic Pride and job growth Portland needs 600-million in new bike paths....

Public accepts (buys? pun intended) the politician's call to Civic Pride and so forth with polls showing strong support now for spending 600 million.....

The money gets allocated, contracts signed, and construction starts on bike paths. Then the next time that magazine comes out with bike-friendly ratings, Portland is on top again; The Political Hacks puff out their collective chests and proclaim their vision was correct (at about re-election time too.)....

Now, was that so Inexplicable?

(The above was of course tongue-in-cheek; Portland's Politician's wouldn't be that crass, would they? )

Great post...as to your last question......!

If only these magazines would publicize average metro school performance by city a bit more maybe a priority shift towards investments with higher overall societal payoff would occur.....(and I do not even have kids).

[keroppininja]

title is a bit misleading, "world best" the list was done as a national comparison.

Minneapolis is ok, but most motorists seem like they would rather hit you than give right of way when you have it. Not sure if this is purely intentional or just a large lack of skill in drivers, probably both imo from what I've seen.

The bike paths out side of the immediate downtown zone areas are decent for the most part but around the lakes, the paths are only one way and there is no designated lane in the road for the opposite direction bike traffic. In the immediate downtown zone, almost all of the bike lanes are in the street and that can be pretty dangerous especially with the general attitude of motorists, I have more than a few friends that have been hit by cars while on their bikes when having the right of way and the drivers just drive off. The city if I remember correctly, recently removed some of the bike lanes altogether because it was a fairly common issue and in their place opened up Nicollet Ave which was public bus only to bike traffic.

If Minneapolis really is the nations most bike friendly city, that is not saying much at all imo.