Voting for bicycles

Everyone votes what they know, what they want, and what they fear (or some mix thereof). Today, ColeNeighborhoood.com touches on the issue of bicycles in the city of Denver, and how that impinges upon the Council District 8 election as well the future of his neighborhood.

In "A Cyclist For City Council District 8," he writes: "I believe the bicycle can solve many of today's problems":

Childhood obesity? Get kids on their bikes. Adult obesity? How about cycling as a low-impact, fun and healthy adult activity? Concerned about traffic? Get more people on bikes for commuting. Dependence on foreign oil? Pollution? Ditto. Even the issue of gangs and keeping youth out of trouble has some relevance to cycling--Supposedly Fred Rodriguez, one of the top American competitive cyclists, credits the bicycle for keeping him from heading down the path of destruction that many of his friends did, growing up in urban Los Angeles.

Denver is a relatively bicycle-friendly city thanks to efforts by Bicycle Colorado, Bike Denver, and other advocacy organizations, but the bicycle needs to be taken into consideration in any urban planning to be done in North Denver, too.