Philadelphia columnist Stu Bykofsky says "Philadelphia streets are too small and clogged. Bicycling will never be a serious alternative form of transportation here."
That got me curious about Philadelphia. I'd been once and visited a zoo. I have an idea they have a bell there that cracked on it's first excursion into the ring-tone world. What else is true of Philadelphia?
1. Philadelphia was once the United States capital city.
....but then everyone decided that malaria infested Washington DC would be way better.
2. Philadelphia is home to the cheesesteak sandwich, water ice, soft pretzels, and TastyKakes.
Ok. Explains the weight issue...People in Phildalphia are not small.
3. Apparently Philadelphia has a problem with people getting murdered
Anyways according to Stu Bykofsky, their streets are too small and clogged for anything else. Wow. That's incredibly sad. Philadelphia, a place which was once a capital city and is now known for it's TastyKakes will never be a place that people can commute by bicycle. Never. Never. It's always going to be the same in Philadelphia. It's always going to be the same old shit-hole where people get murdered and drive cars and eat TastyKakes because they're so damned depressed.
Who is Stu Bykofsky?
I do an image search and this is what I hit first:
Located at this blog: http://brendancalling.com/2009/11/23/stu-bykofskys-temper-tantrum/
...because apparently Philadelphia isn't entirely prepared to turn themselves over to the TastyKake conspiracy.
His profile picture which is the same as his High School yearbook photo:
What he actually looks like (guy on left) (aka giant purple people eater)
Ok. So fat guys in purple outfits say bicyclists don't belong in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is just too washed up to ever support anything new or interesting. It's sad to Philadelphia will never be anything more than a place where people eat TastyKakes and get murdered and frankly, call me an optimist, but I think the guy is wrong. Don't listen to him Philadelphia!!! Get out there and ride your bikes and show that your city is not yet a smoking hole, that life can change and the air can be cleaner and a city can rise from it's own ashes.
Here's a different city to provide encouragement. It's name is Davis, California.
Bike counts for Davis, California are pretty fucking impressive.
Davis has a diverse bike community that has achieved the coveted (to non-Philadelphians) Platinum bike city status. Palo Alto (a city where real estate values and economy are generally considered to be superior to Philadephia) is a mere Gold level bike city but continues to try. We're pulling for you Paly!
Here's Davis, California.
Here's Philadelphia.
C'mon. Which picture do you want to be in? Hint: the guy being carried out of the building wasn't killed by a bicyclist running a red light.
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