| Subject: | Re: Fwd: [FIXED-GEAR] Fwd: yak Digest #505 |
| Date: | 07/24/2003 02:59 AM |
| From: | 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 -- #----------------------------------------------------------# # Penguinix Consulting # #----------------------------------------------------------# # Software development, QA and testing. # # Linux support and training. # # "Don't fear the penguin!" # #----------------------------------------------------------# # Registered Linux user: #309247 http://counter.li.org # #----------------------------------------------------------# |
