Today Mayor Rybak toured and promoted several Nice Ride stations in north Minneapolis. The route started at UROC, then took a pit stop at the Avenue Eatery (where I joined up with them). There, Rybak spoke briefly about the importance of the Nice Ride stations in NoMi. I made sure to thank him for the new bike lanes on Emerson, and then he went off to do other business. At the Avenue Eatery, I met the proprietors of a new bike shop in NoMi, located in the rear of the building on Broadway, between Emerson and Fremont.
Some criticism has been floating around that it's inappropriate for the mayor to do these tours or photo ops in north Minneapolis while we're still struggling with the tornado recovery. I disagree, and to the extent I would criticize the mayor today, I'd say I wish he could have stayed with the group for the entirety of the bike tour. And I believe it's possible to work on tough, ongoing issues over north while still highlighting some of the positive amenities like Nice Ride kiosks.
Thanks, Mayor Rybak, and thanks Nice Ride!
Regarding the "criticism floating around," some of the criticism has been criticized right back, but the particular forum where the criticism is floating around won't allow rebuttals like "stupid and inane."
ReplyDelete"False dichotomy" of jobs versus bikes is, however, fair game.
And, of course, one can point out the lone critic doesn't live in North Minneapolis and is just trying to "pimp" our issues for his own petty gain.
Well the North Minneapolis Tornado Watch person posted a similar false choice dichotomy on his page much earlier than Don Allen's blog post or issues forum message. That's actually what I was referring to.
ReplyDeleteThe Tornado Watch guy doesn't live in NoMi either, but there's a key difference between him and people like Don Allen. In my estimation there isn't a single person who's done more as a volunteer. I don't believe I've ever seen Don or Terry lift a finger to help out.
Just to be clear, I was reporting the criticism because I originally saw it coming from a credible source.
Furthermore, one could argue that investing in infrastructure does create jobs.
The jobs vs. Bike criticism originally appeared on the tornado watch facebook page.
ReplyDelete