I have to admit, it’s quite entertaining watching the exploits of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Between the crack smoking and the drunken stupors there is never a dull moment and finally our neighbors to the North are starting to out buffoon us for a change. I mean certainly not the first mayor to endulge in the rock form of cocaine.
But former D.C. Mayor, Marion Barry never had moves like this in the gospel choir.
What I don’t find amusing is what a bicycle hater Rob Ford is and how one of the main reasons he got elected was for his love affair with the automobile. Seems odd for such a model of healthy slimmed down mobility, with great dance moves and appetite suppressing drug habits.
Here is a recent article in the Boston Globe that explains more:
Conservatives’ new enemy: Bikes
The bicycle is emerging as a new conservative front in the culture wars.
By: Jordan Michael Smith | GLOBE December 15th, 2013
EVEN BEFORE TORONTO MAYOR Rob Ford became internationally famous for being videotaped smoking crack, he was known as a City Hall version of Bluto Blutarsky of “Animal House”—swearing in public, proudly overeating, guzzling booze. His boorishness is so conspicuous and well documented that it raises the question: Who elected this guy? And why?
The answer, in large part, comes down to transit. Ford is famously pro-car, and his strongest support came from suburbs outside downtown Toronto, where voters drive into the city during the day and return by car in the evening.
Read more: here.
I first became aware of the hate from a trailer for a great new documentary:
Bikes vs Cars by Fredrik Gertteb.
This documentary is like a Freakanomics of car ownership vs bicycle and explores how biking is a vehicle for change all over the world.
This project recently reached its fund raising goals on kickstarter so it should be having a run of screenings in the near future.
Rob Ford can’t wait.
