LEO's Stephen George on the death of a bicyclist; NAC's junior editor on the Bridges Project and oil addiction.

A tip of the hat goes to Stephen George.

The LEO writer has made metro transportation his personal issue, and he’s a tenacious bulldog about it. It's refreshing to see a writer filling the classic role.

Sadly, I’m so old that I can remember when such journalistic dynamos were the stock in trade of the Courier-Journal, but now, given the numbing and dumbing effects of two decades of stewardship by Gannett (a word that bears a striking resemblance to the Spanish word “garrote,” which is a length of chain, wire or rope used to strangle someone to death, or in this usage: “From its hidden vantage point in the back seat, the Courier-Journal editorial board has shamelessly Gannetted/garroted the concept of 8664 on a regular basis.”)

George’s article this week:

A bridge to bike-friendly

How Chips Cronen, the cyclist who died on the Second Street Bridge earlier this month, will help change the way you think about road riding — for the better.

Here are a handful of links that will help you understand the significance of Cronen’s death:

A Cyclist’s Death

Safe Streets Louisville

Reasons you should ride a bicycle & your business should use bike based couriers

Meanwhile, yesterday NAC pointed toward:

(An) 8664 event today on the Great Lawn of Louisville's Waterfront Park.

This led to a wonderful posting at John Gonder’s blog:

A Utopian Greenway ?

Later in the day on Wednesday, my colleague Bluegill weighed in on the configuration of the Greenway and provided this instructive comment, which I’m now lifting to the marquee:

A part of the problem is that the (Greenway) project is being mostly funded with federal transportation dollars.

The politicians who decry oil company price gouging and our involvement in the Middle East in relation to oil are the very same bunch who perpetuate a transportation funding system that heavily favors gas guzzling automobile projects at the expense of fuel-sparing ones.

Per Thomas Friedman of the NY Times and many others, we pay for it all twice. Once at the pump, where dollars ultimately end up in the oily hands of those funding terrorists, insurgents, etc., and then again with our tax dollars via the military who are given the life threatening but ridiculous job of warding off the groups we fund.

Meanwhile, our tax dollars are used to create single occupancy vehicle projects that not only exacerbate our dependence on the above cycle but also preclude a significant portion of the population from getting to jobs, school, and other life improving activities.

If that's not enough, development groups like One Southern Indiana and Greater Louisville Incorporated then come around asking for even more tax dollars, at least a portion of which will be used to convince us that following that same path as quickly and blindly as possible is the only way to salvage our economic well-being.

The only person who represents us at the federal level who currently seems to understand all that (and who knows what's happened to Yarmuth) is Indiana Senator Richard Lugar.

Readers, particularly very pro-business Republicans, should check out the energy section of his web site, particularly the link to curing our oil addiction.

It's not at all disingenuous to suggest that the Bridges Project and automobile portions of the Greenway support terrorism.

I'm especially pleased. I already knew that NABC's brewing equipment helps to kill fascists. Now I can take the added pleasure in knowing that my Trek hybrid is a weapon against terrorism, and that I don't even have to shop 'til I drop to be a cog in the war.

Before all this came up, we noted that New Albany could use a "positive spirit" enlargement pill when it comes to attitudes toward bicycling, but don't hold your breath.