Yesterday, a man, 54 years old, was stabbed multiple times just before midnight on the W.S.B.P. near Brookside Crossing in West Warwick. He’s expected to recover but investigation continues. Lights and patrols would certainly reduce chances and spot cretins and vandals who hang around after hours when they aren’t supposed to be using paths.

“We had representatives of over 600 individuals and groups from the Chamber of Commerce to the Sierra Club… For the first time in history we are part of a very impressive, broad coalition that is all pulling in the same direction. We’ve got an administration that has been the most supportive in history and we’ve got facts on the ground. The work that has been done with the cycling community, to broaden the base, to deal with things like economic development and Safe Routes to School, it’s all there…

It’s a chance for us not just to beat back this bad legislation, but to educate elected officials.”

• This is the most partisan transportation bill that I have ever seen
• It also is the most anti-safety bill I have ever seen. It hollows out our No. 1 priority, which is safety, and frankly, it hollows out the guts of the transportation efforts that we’ve been about for the last three years

Will our elective “representatives” ever wake up and realize they work for the public and we expect them to work together? Come on, some of these skills should have been learned back in kindergarten.

Cardiovascular illnesses, cancer, and infectious diseases cause most deaths each year. All are indirectly related to petroleum use. Next up is motor vehicle collisions. It’s the nation’s leading cause of death among children and teens. With over $100 billion in losses from 4 million accidents in America alone, the 1.3 million traffic deaths globally each year rival all soldiers killed in wars during entire 20th Century, considered the bloodiest in history. We tolerate such unabated carnage as collateral damage in a class war fueled by Big Oil.

Road building/repairing is one of the most unsustainable of all processes, nearly $1 trillion/year in federal funds matched by state percentages. That exceeds welfare for nation’s growing number of poor. Rhode Island was nearly bankrupted by spending $1 billion on only 4 miles of highway in Providence and Quonset. P’s & Q’s, nobody pays any mind to details. I used to get Ford’s and XOM’s annual report: I would make me puke to see their careless attitude and greedy mindset. They aren’t going to ever clean up environment they spoiled everywhere, are they? The engine of economy may have always been automotive, but it’s only transferring wealth to wealthiest at environment’s and everyone else’s expense.

My take is that the Republicn leaders know such bill cannot get thru the Senate or past this President but it shows what the GOP would do if they win the next election. I say this sadly as a former Republican candidate for local office (think of the Democrats who ran North Provdnce!) and I am aware of the psychologically satisfying non-partisan all-politicians-are-lousy position, but we have to face the fact that the national GOP is entirely in the service of the most savage elements of the fossil fuel/auto industry that seek to reverse all the (limited enough) progress we have made. Failure to recognize that plays into the hands of those whose vision for America is uncontrolled corporate greed, pollution, ugliness and reduced mobility for those that don’t or won’t drive.

This is what comes of trying to enforce ridiculous legislation aimed at controlling bicyclists, most of whom are only traveling slightly faster than runners and present no danger to anyone, except perhaps themselves. In RI there are 16 additional laws that only impact cyclists above and beyond other users of roads. Cycling needs to be decriminalized and de-marginalized.

Now, making city and towns compliant with federal and state law is another thing altogether. Has a lot to do with how laws are interpreted. I tend to agree that if there are some reasonable accommodations that allows you to cross E-W at decent intervals and N-S along entire length, you need not redesign major roads RI-114 and RI-138, although as it exists RI-114 is inadequate as a motorist escape route to I-24 and long since has required limited access and widening. The connection between I-24 and Newport Bridge is an old joke.