Oregon bicycle owners beware!

[GLC1968]

People in our bike club want them to add skateboards, wheelchairs, shoes with the little wheels, and just plain old shoes! I think that just points up the absurdity of the whole idea.

Don't forget baby strollers and those jogger things!

[Biciclista]

http://theboothbychronicles.blogspot.com/


SHARE THE ROAD - SHARE THE LOAD. IT'S THAT SIMPLE
I keep hearing and reading this from motorists who don’t like bicyclists and see them as “freeloaders”, and I am really getting tired of it. Who died and made you guys the tax police for crying out loud? Please explain to me just exactly what you mean by 'it's that simple'. And now we have these four legislators in Oregon who want everyone to be forced to register their bikes at a cost of $54 every two years or face a $90 fine. There would be a $25 fine for failing to notify the State when ownership changes hands, too.

I read this “cyclists are freeloaders” garbage in the blogs. I read it in the editorial pages and I read it in the “sound-off” forums. I hear it from motorists who yell at me and tell me to get off the road that was built for them. Well excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but you are totally missing the point. Let me pose a question to you. The sidewalks in front of your house are paid for with highway and property taxes. I'd like to know just exactly when you plan to register your Nikes, because I PAID FOR THOSE SIDEWALKS with my gas taxes, auto registration, drivers license and other highway user fees, as well as the property tax I paid on the home I own. Where do you get off sharing my road without paying your fair share of taxes when you go out for an evening walk around the block?

more click on the link above

[Aint Doody]

Oooh, Mimi. I like what he has to say. I'm going to forward that link to some people I know.

[Zen]

I know the guy that writes that blog. What a wacky old curmudgeon

[Aint Doody]

But, Zen, he makes some really good points. And besides I like wacky, old curmudgeons.

[Tuckervill]

What would the letters section of the newspaper be without the local curmudgeon?

Karen

[salsabike]

I know the guy that writes that blog. What a wacky old curmudgeon

But, Zen, he makes some really good points. And besides I like wacky, old curmudgeons.

<snort> So does Biciclista. I believe that would be the spousal blog she's citing...

[Biciclista]

more from the wacky old curmudgeon (has the ring of truth!)

http://theboothbychronicles.blogspot.com/
Dear Representative Krieger:

I've been accused recently of being a wacky old curmudgeon for something I recently posted in my blog expressing my feelings about your new proposal to the Oregon State Legislature. You can read that if you would like, but I doubt it would give you any great insights or change your mind. I did, however, find one of your remarks to Bicycle Portland recently to be particularly telling:

"Talk about a time when you need some revenue for transportation...bikes have used the roads in this state forever and have never contributed a penny. The only people that pay into the system are those people who buy motor vehicle licenses and registration fees."

Your logic here, sir, is flawed. Every citizen, regardless of their mode of transportation, pays into the sytem. Here are just a few examples.

When I leave my house and walk to the grocery store, spend $100 in purchases of food and other essentials, I am paying a price for those goods. In order for those goods to be manufactured, tranported to a warehouse, picked up and transported from the warehouse to the grocery store, there was a price to pay for shipping. It costs roughly $6,000 in freight charges to move a truck load of fresh produce from California to New York. Of that, a substantial portion pays for gasoline and other highway taxes. Further, each employee of the grocery store had to get to work. Most of them drove. Their salaries are paid by the grocery store, who adds the cost of those salaries into the cost of goods sold. Those salaries paid for the automobiles those employees drove to work. By my purchase of goods, I, too, paid for the construction and maintenance of those roads. I paid for this whether I owned a car, drove a car, rode a bicycle, rode the bus, or flew.

more at the blog!