Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane
Austin’s Least Conscientious People
RECEIVED Sat., July 27, 2019
Dear Editor,
What is The Austin Chronicle’s position on the city leadership’s hatred of sharing Austin roads, with regards to bicyclists?
After NUMEROUS bicyclists on Great Northern Boulevard were reported for screaming at or harassing pedestrians, the Allandale Neighborhood Association’s hardworking and conscientious safety volunteer complained and asked for sidewalks. Ask me for the link, on Nextdoor.com, of the ENORMOUSLY long list of complaints!
Unbeknownst to her, the cyclists got to city leaders first, apparently. The city proposed a 10 mph speed limit on bike lanes that are completely empty WELL OVER two-thirds of the day, along the entire length, and they have “No Parking” anywhere. They proposed sharrows on the road. They either WANTED to force our neighborhood 11-year-old girls unsafely into traffic, or they are stupid, since that would have happened. The bicyclists, in my strong opinion, had told Leslie Pool that they wanted the street as a loop, but the locals were getting in their way; that’s why the barrage of verbal abuse by nonlocals. The city responded to complaints about bicyclists, by trying to give them EVERYTHING they could have wanted, and by forcing local children off the best street in the neighborhood for them to bike on. City Traffic Engineer Jesse Duncan, a surly man who doesn’t listen well, told me that the city had NO IDEA how many pedestrians were using the road (few were). That was their excuse for donating the road I have to drive on, to get home, to Austin’s least conscientious people.
I’m FINE with SHARING. I don’t mind when polite bikers congregate on my street, at all. I’m in favor of sharing. That’s precisely why it irks me, that when I drive south on the street I live on, and there’s empty bike lanes, and it happens that a 12 mph bicyclist won’t move 12 inches to the right, to let me by. This city is too crowded for the leaders to oppose sharing, by ANYONE. But our racer bicyclists, which includes a LARGE PROVEN element of undesirable people, one of whom SCREAMED insults at my mother, a grandmom of seven, often HATE the idea of being considerate. Why pander to that?
I’m aware that the Chronicle is pro-bicycle. Are y’all as against sharing as our leaders are? If not, can you please publicize how rotten we’ve been treated, here? The city should know that their leaders propose the dumbest traffic laws in America, to help the rude.
What is The Austin Chronicle’s position on the city leadership’s hatred of sharing Austin roads, with regards to bicyclists?
After NUMEROUS bicyclists on Great Northern Boulevard were reported for screaming at or harassing pedestrians, the Allandale Neighborhood Association’s hardworking and conscientious safety volunteer complained and asked for sidewalks. Ask me for the link, on Nextdoor.com, of the ENORMOUSLY long list of complaints!
Unbeknownst to her, the cyclists got to city leaders first, apparently. The city proposed a 10 mph speed limit on bike lanes that are completely empty WELL OVER two-thirds of the day, along the entire length, and they have “No Parking” anywhere. They proposed sharrows on the road. They either WANTED to force our neighborhood 11-year-old girls unsafely into traffic, or they are stupid, since that would have happened. The bicyclists, in my strong opinion, had told Leslie Pool that they wanted the street as a loop, but the locals were getting in their way; that’s why the barrage of verbal abuse by nonlocals. The city responded to complaints about bicyclists, by trying to give them EVERYTHING they could have wanted, and by forcing local children off the best street in the neighborhood for them to bike on. City Traffic Engineer Jesse Duncan, a surly man who doesn’t listen well, told me that the city had NO IDEA how many pedestrians were using the road (few were). That was their excuse for donating the road I have to drive on, to get home, to Austin’s least conscientious people.
I’m FINE with SHARING. I don’t mind when polite bikers congregate on my street, at all. I’m in favor of sharing. That’s precisely why it irks me, that when I drive south on the street I live on, and there’s empty bike lanes, and it happens that a 12 mph bicyclist won’t move 12 inches to the right, to let me by. This city is too crowded for the leaders to oppose sharing, by ANYONE. But our racer bicyclists, which includes a LARGE PROVEN element of undesirable people, one of whom SCREAMED insults at my mother, a grandmom of seven, often HATE the idea of being considerate. Why pander to that?
I’m aware that the Chronicle is pro-bicycle. Are y’all as against sharing as our leaders are? If not, can you please publicize how rotten we’ve been treated, here? The city should know that their leaders propose the dumbest traffic laws in America, to help the rude.
Scott McCarty
