After I bicycle ride into the outreaches of Northampton, I realized that it is much safer to ride a bike in Manhattan than Northampton because of the roads. We have the highest taxes, the biggest budget and the worst roads.
I think that our mayors have long realized that, while we profess to want to be able to live where we could ride a bike, we don’t actually need roads that are safe for a bike. And if you retort, “What about the bike paths?” I say, there are so many cracks in the bike paths that it’s like the clickety-clack of an old train on old tracks. But drivers drive on the same roads. Don’t they notice?
It’s like my father used to say, “When the car starts rattling, turn up the radio.”
Bill Arnold
Florence