Bike lanes
It’s no surprise that the Malden City Council will not recognize the citizens’ petition to ban bicycle lanes. (“Bike, bus lanes increasing” Boston Herald, 9/09/23). Bike lanes are deeply unpopular. If the matter ever went on the ballot, it would be the end of bike lanes. Even Michelle Wu, while running for Mayor of Boston, never mentioned to the electorate that she would buck public sentiment and Walsh administration policies in West Roxbury and the South End.
Bike lanes are destroying city life all over greater Boston and other American cities. Progressive Democratic politicians are eager to please their leftist base. The urban bicycle is the uber symbol of Liberal Democracy. The bicycle is an anachronism. Bikes are literally a historical disorder that depends upon hijacking the infrastructure of the modern city and rerouting it to their own limitations under the banner of “progress.” The MBTA is bleeding ridership.
Walking from the North End to the Seaport in South Boston this weekend I experienced the inconvenience and brushes with safety pedestrians in Boston face navigating the bike craze. The dearth of car traffic during the COVID lockdowns only escalated these nonsensical policies much to the chagrin of the working classes. Politicians like the Malden City Council and Mayor Wu continue to cynically grab public property from citizens and car commuters. The loss of travel lanes and parking spaces hurts the shoppers and small business owners that make up the fabric of our neighborhoods.
As a former president of the Roslindale Board of Trade, I remember Mayors Menino and Flynn championing local businesses. Who is Mayor Wu and the Malden City Council really championing as the bike lanes put local retailers out of business? That’s right, the corporate elites of American e-business. Those trucks and vans further clogging our narrowed streets with their double-parking should really be emblazoned with “Vote Wu” as a thank you.
Boston area drivers can expect more of these poorly received bike lanes and bus lanes, but the politicians must understand that many voters will see this farcical road regime for what it is: class-based politics aimed first at those who can’t afford real estate within biking distance of the downtown center, and secondly at those (largely parents) wed to the old car regime because of sports and school activities who will be hounded out of the cities so the bicycling elite can buy their family homes. It’s a sad joke that Boston was once known as the Hub of the universe.
Lou Murray
West Roxbury
