the mayor

While we're talking about the mayor.... Does anyone else think its funny that Seattle elected such a pro- bike mayor after Nickels? Nickels did a wonderful job as mayor in my and most people's opinion but he was booted out of office for something as ridiculous as the snow storm response.

To review: a while back we had a week of really wintery weather. The city elected not to salt the roads and to deploy plows with rubber tips. It was a different approach to clearing snow on the streets, a more environmentally friendly approach- but the real problem was the amount of snow and cold weather, and lack of snowplows in a city that doesn't usually see much snow. Those days were awesome! My street, already steep, was so slick that cars couldn't go up or down it. It was relegated to a sledding hill. Which the neighbors and kids took full advantage of. I rode to work on some studded mountain bike tires. It was a fun commute; fewer cars than normal. When the snow and ice finally melted, my drivetrain didnt seize up into a pile of rust because there was not as much salt on the roads. The snow was entirely pleasant for me. We socialized and played in the snow with our neighbors. But I guess the average Seattleite was enraged that their SUV wouldn't get them to work on those days.

Nickels gave himself a "B" on the snow response and the rest is history.

To me it is another disconnect between peoples perceived values and actions. We all say we want to protect the water quality of the puget sound.... but not if it means not salting the roads on that snow day we get every year. We all say we are concerned about global warming but the most we are willing to do about it is buy those crappy fluorescent bulbs.

I give Nickels an A+ on the snow response. I'm hoping for a good winter!