The animosity in discourse these days, even right here in River City, has taken the snap out of my bean.
The issues that most of us care about are the same — public safety, affordable housing, a humane solution to ending tent camps and cooling down our overheated planet. It’s how we address these issues where we are split.
One of the big divides right now involves bikes. How could that be? Who doesn’t love bikes? Who isn’t proud that Minneapolis is one of America’s most bikeable cities?
The divide really isn’t about bikes, it’s about bike lanes.
Those who push for more bike lanes, generally of the far-left persuasion, believe that restricting cars in favor of bike lanes will lead to a more pedestrian-friendly streetscape, encourage local shopping and curb carbon.
Those who resist more bike lanes, generally of the pragmatic left persuasion (like me), believe that the effect on carbon is insignificant, and that the impact on trees and small businesses will lead to dreary streetscapes and shuttered storefronts. We believe that we should change the kind of cars we drive and not the roads we drive them on.
Trying to tell those who are besotted with bike lanes that we share most of their values is a fool’s errand. “Y’all are a bunch of climate arsonists!” … “I hope your car breaks down and you’re forced to see this neighborhood from the sidewalk!”
The most common response is that we should move to the suburbs if we love our gas-guzzling cars so much — overlooking the embarrassing fact that Lisa Bender, former City Council president and leading proponent of on street bike lanes, has done just that. The divide at times feels like a chasm.
But recently I came across two allies from each side of the divide that gave me hope.
Andrea Corbin is a business owner on Lyndale who, along with others, has created the 70-member Small Business Alliance to push back against proposals to remove parking on Lyndale (between Franklin and Lake) in order to add bike lanes. She is a newcomer to activism — and already does live in a suburb! She was surprised to learn that I was a Democrat. “My Republican friends think that Democrats all want more bike lanes!,” she told me.
The well-funded bike lobby may have met their match in Andrea, who is an indefatigable organizer, spending more time at City Hall and public hearings than on her own flower business, in order to make sure that small businesses on Lyndale are heard and parking is preserved.
Then I read an article in Southside Pride, a lively monthly newspaper published since 1991 by “unrepentant Maoist” Ed Felien, about Phil Vandervaart, a professional sign painter who specializes in signs for small businesses. Southside Pride is an interesting read, with good coverage of familiar issues from a far-left perspective that generally echoes Felien’s.
Reporter Stephanie Fox writes about Vandervaart, “His connection to so many small storefront businesses is why he sees the city’s new policy to eliminate street parking to the advantage of bike traffic as a threat to the survival of many of those businesses.”
Fox quotes Vandervaart. “At 46th and Cedar, they eliminated 40 spots. A woman with an antique business there can’t even allow people to park there to unload.” He continues, “I am an avid biker. I bike almost every day. But I go out there and no one is riding their bikes on commercial streets. I don’t ride on major roads, and I don’t know anyone who does. Taking out needed parking for a bike lane that no one is going to use … it’s maddening.” It’s unlikely that Vandervaart and Corbin have met, but their shared views on the “maddening” push to add more bike lanes to city streets makes me think maybe we can bridge that divide after all.
It’s a slim reed on which to hang our hopes for the future of our city, but I offer it to all of you anyway. May we all manage to agree on the goals and have a healthy and kinder new year.
