And You Will Know Us By Our Tyrannical Majority

Participatory democracy. I’m all up in that shit holmes. Last night I went to the Transportation Alternatives-organized candidates’ debate for the 39th City Council district seat being vacated by Bill DeBlasio. The crowd, much like the candidates’ panel, skewed overwhelmingly white and old–an entirely unsurprising demo in the politics game, and especially in my much-maligned hood of Park Slope. (We got babies, son! Fuck. Your. Sidewalk. Space.) I went to the event willfully underinformed about most local politics issues,  and was immediately thrown into confusion by the sheer number of people running for office that showed up. I think it there were like eight guys up there, all of whom looked like former business editor and chief economist for the U.S.News & World Report, Robert Black. (Okay, I wasn’t wearing my glasses.)

Green Party candidate David Pechefsky got instant cred for showing up at PS 321 on his own personal pedicab, which he evidently uses to treat his motor-impaired mother to rides in Prospect Park. Mostly I was unsurprised by how little difference there was between the Democrats, and how much pandering was going on. Some of the candidates seemed a little more polished than the others, but I would guess that whichever of them can raise the most money is a lock for the general election. All of them seemed to endorse the idea that traffic enforcement in the city needs to be stepped up significantly in order to make the streets safer for everyone unensconsced in two tons of steel and fiberglass. Gary Reilly spoke particularly to my heart when he derided current zoning regs requiring new buildings to create parking, a stipulation that inevitably leads to more cars on the streets and curb cuts in sidewalks to give cars ingress/egress to garages at the expense of pedestrians. There were two Republicans on the panel, one of whom, Gary Smith, has a pretty ill police record. Had I known of the sexual abuse charges, I would have washed my hand very very soon after he shook it.

From outside reading I’ve gathered that the main issue in the race seems to be over the Gowanus Canal cleanup. The divide lies between those who back a city-funded cleanup effort, and those who think the area should be declared a Superfund site. To me, the issue is a no-brainer. Superfund status would open up a ton of federal funding for the cleanup effort and force those businesses responsible for the original contamination to foot a lot of the bill. I would hazard a wholly uninformed guess that those working against the Superfund designation are backed by developers who want to throw lux cons up all over the canal, and are worried about the resulting stigma of Superfund as an impediment to getting dumbass yuppies to pony up deposits on multimillion dollar condos.

My personal politics remain an unabashed hot mess. I’m registered with the Green Party, which means my votes are generally useless in a primary ballot. I’ve been vaguely keeping an eye on the mayoral contest in the initial hopes that Comptroller William Thompson could present a viable threat to Bloomberg’s developer-dick riding administration of death. But reports that Thompson was recently openly shit-talking bike lanes in the West Village broke my heart. Evidently the guy has no idea how to manage money, which is also a slight problem. I guess it’s kind of a moot point for me anyway since I’m just going to vote for Reverend Billy. Electallujah!

You can check out Ben Fried’s write-up on the debate at Streetsblog.

A Visual Sound

I’ve been trying to remain dedicated to commuting to work by bike on the seemingly rare days that it hasn’t been raining. I’ve found that age has tempered by desire for the adrenaline rush that follows bombing down Broadway while bracketed by yellow cabs; getting to my destination without incurring a traumatic head injury somehow seems more desirable these days. This newfound yearning for avoiding death on New York City’s harried streets, coupled with my dalliances with the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, has had me experimenting with actually following all of the city’s traffic laws during my commutes.

It’s hard not to notice, after about a week of bicycle commuting, that any attempt to race to your destination is generally negated by the city’s traffic control systems. I used to bust by slower commuters, only to have them catch up to me minutes later as I stood waiting for a red light. I was also inspired by Copenhagen’s Slow Bicycle Movement, which advocates the bicycle riders’ comfort and the enjoyment of one’s surroundings above all else. Following the traffic laws also only seems to add about five minutes to my commute, which is time I’d rather not be spending in my cubicle prison anyway.