Events & Entertainment : Activists

Bike riding, like so many other things in the Bay Area, has become a political battlefield. The latest salvo, as Phred Dvorak reports today in the WSJ, is the charge that making San Francisco more bike-friendly will lead to more pollution. That’s the battle cry of longtime local gadfly Rob Anderson, whose legal challenges have so far paralyzed the city’s plan to add dedicated bike lanes. His argument:

Cars always will vastly outnumber bikes, he reasons, so allotting more street space to cyclists could cause more traffic jams, more idling and more pollution. Mr. Anderson says the city has been blinded by political correctness. It’s an “attempt by the anti-car fanatics to screw up our traffic on behalf of the bicycle fantasy,” he wrote in his blog this month.

Read more about critical mass and its detractors here.

On November 16th and 17th, a huge coalition of groups including the Rainforest Action Network, Coal River Mountain Watch, Appalachian Voices, Rising Tide, Mountain Justice Summer, SEAC , and Energy Justice Network are mobilizing direct actions to send a clear message to Bank of America and Citibank: stop investments in the coal industry.

Participants say they are taking the message straight to Wall Street. From leafleting at local banks and ATMs to creative street theater and non-violent direct action at bank offices, activists are making their demands clear: we want clean energy!