CCC celebrates with cake and icecream at Oxbow Meadows
CCC conducts September Business Meeting at Oxbow Meadows
Witnesses note greater efficiency without Wade presiding
Victor dominates with amazing finish time (4 hours and what?!?)...
CCC orchestrates gorgeous weather and heroic volunteers...
Valley Health Care team shows the right stuff for century support
McCain and Obama camps spar over who is more bicycle-friendly
Obama accuses McCain of "erratic" riding, claims Dems more qualified to lead pacelines.
McCain campaign issues denial, links Obama to doping scandal.
Okay, I made that last thing up, but seriously wouldn't it be nice if they were both saying more about transportation issues? Read on for a non-partisan analysis...
Assessing the Presidential Candidates
by Andy Clarke, League of American Bicyclists
The reporter from Reuters was quite insistent. “Which of the candidates would be best for bicycling?” It’s an obvious question, and most people follow that up with, “It’s Obama, right? I saw him in the newspaper riding a bike. And McCain doesn’t like special interests and earmarks, so he’d be bad.”
It’s true; Obama rides a bike, and was supportive of increased funding for Safe Routes to School and other bike projects when he spoke to the industry in June. Yes, John McCain has campaigned tirelessly against the pork barrel politics so closely identified with recent transportation bills. But is that really enough to go on? For example, most of the bicycle funding in the transportation bill comes from core programs, not earmarks and pork projects – and most people say they would love to have a “clean” bill next time around.
How about a side by side analysis of their views and positions on bicycling? Well, actually, you just saw it. You can scour their campaign websites and speeches and position statements and you won’t come up with a whole lot more from either of them. There are a couple of brief references to bicycling and walking in Obama’s urban policy and that’s about all.
Given all that bicycling has to offer in terms of health, energy, environment, congestion relief, transportation, recreation, climate change etc etc that’s a pretty frustrating showing. But don’t worry, if it makes you feel any better bicycling is not being singled out for lack of attention. Transportation as a whole gets scant recognition – it falls under “other issues” for Obama, and not at all for McCain. At a Presidential candidates forum back in January on transportation and infrastructure, sponsored in part by the League and NYC-based bicycle advocates Transportation Alternatives, most of candidates didn’t even bother to show up.
Both McCain and Obama have long and detailed policies and statements on climate change; on improving health care and reducing health costs; on reducing our dependence on foreign oil; on environmental protection. And yet they barely mention transportation – despite the fact that authorizing the next transportation bill is near the top of the Congressional agenda for 2009, and transportation has a massive impact on all these issues.
Indeed, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is currently circulating a letter to congressional leaders encouraging them to set health outcomes for the upcoming transportation bill. In the letter, they point out that physical inactivity costs the nation $76 billion annually, traffic fatalities “cost” $164 billion, pollution from cars and trucks rack up a tab approaching another $64 billion a year in health impacts…numbers that dwarf our spending on the very highways that are generating these costs! And that’s just the health numbers. Imagine if we invested $60-70 billion in transportation dollars every year to actively promote more bicycling and walking, less driving, and fewer crashes.
This isn’t a new issue and it certainly isn’t the preserve of candidates running for President. Every year when the Administration releases it’s budget there’s more debate about millions of dollars in the National Park Service or EPA budget than the tens of billions being spent on highways and transit.
Maybe the McCain vs. Obama debates this fall won’t hinge on bicycling issues, or even on transportation policy – although if you get a chance to ask them what they’ll do to promote bicycling you certainly should. However, we should also remember that this November thousands of politicians are running for office, including every member of the House of Representatives and numerous Senators. Every one of them is going to be answering questions about gas prices, climate change, health costs, traffic congestion, and energy independence. Every one of them - Republican, Democrat or Independent - needs to hear that bicycling is a real part of the solution.
They also need to hear that bicycling isn’t a special interest issue; it’s very much in the public interest to get more people on bikes more often.
The reporter from Reuters was quite insistent. “Which of the candidates would be best for bicycling?” It’s an obvious question, and most people follow that up with, “It’s Obama, right? I saw him in the newspaper riding a bike. And McCain doesn’t like special interests and earmarks, so he’d be bad.”
It’s true; Obama rides a bike, and was supportive of increased funding for Safe Routes to School and other bike projects when he spoke to the industry in June. Yes, John McCain has campaigned tirelessly against the pork barrel politics so closely identified with recent transportation bills. But is that really enough to go on? For example, most of the bicycle funding in the transportation bill comes from core programs, not earmarks and pork projects – and most people say they would love to have a “clean” bill next time around.
How about a side by side analysis of their views and positions on bicycling? Well, actually, you just saw it. You can scour their campaign websites and speeches and position statements and you won’t come up with a whole lot more from either of them. There are a couple of brief references to bicycling and walking in Obama’s urban policy and that’s about all.
Given all that bicycling has to offer in terms of health, energy, environment, congestion relief, transportation, recreation, climate change etc etc that’s a pretty frustrating showing. But don’t worry, if it makes you feel any better bicycling is not being singled out for lack of attention. Transportation as a whole gets scant recognition – it falls under “other issues” for Obama, and not at all for McCain. At a Presidential candidates forum back in January on transportation and infrastructure, sponsored in part by the League and NYC-based bicycle advocates Transportation Alternatives, most of candidates didn’t even bother to show up.
Both McCain and Obama have long and detailed policies and statements on climate change; on improving health care and reducing health costs; on reducing our dependence on foreign oil; on environmental protection. And yet they barely mention transportation – despite the fact that authorizing the next transportation bill is near the top of the Congressional agenda for 2009, and transportation has a massive impact on all these issues.
Indeed, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is currently circulating a letter to congressional leaders encouraging them to set health outcomes for the upcoming transportation bill. In the letter, they point out that physical inactivity costs the nation $76 billion annually, traffic fatalities “cost” $164 billion, pollution from cars and trucks rack up a tab approaching another $64 billion a year in health impacts…numbers that dwarf our spending on the very highways that are generating these costs! And that’s just the health numbers. Imagine if we invested $60-70 billion in transportation dollars every year to actively promote more bicycling and walking, less driving, and fewer crashes.
This isn’t a new issue and it certainly isn’t the preserve of candidates running for President. Every year when the Administration releases it’s budget there’s more debate about millions of dollars in the National Park Service or EPA budget than the tens of billions being spent on highways and transit.
Maybe the McCain vs. Obama debates this fall won’t hinge on bicycling issues, or even on transportation policy – although if you get a chance to ask them what they’ll do to promote bicycling you certainly should. However, we should also remember that this November thousands of politicians are running for office, including every member of the House of Representatives and numerous Senators. Every one of them is going to be answering questions about gas prices, climate change, health costs, traffic congestion, and energy independence. Every one of them - Republican, Democrat or Independent - needs to hear that bicycling is a real part of the solution.
They also need to hear that bicycling isn’t a special interest issue; it’s very much in the public interest to get more people on bikes more often.
