The Austin-American Statesman makes it up to us...

I just wanted to point out a few other articles on the Austin-American Statesman's website and blog area, relating to Cindy Stone's editorial bullshit article from a few weeks back. Note that Mrs. Stone has ties to El Mercado and Vinny's Ten-0-Three, so please keep that in mind next time you have a hankering for Tex-Mex or Italian foods...

First to bat was Pamela LeBlanc, local cyclist and author of Austin360's Fit City Blog. She responded a few days after the original story with her rebuttal. Unlike the "story" she responded to, Pamela actually includes RESEARCHED (and sourced) facts in her article, and ends the posting with an admonishion to Mrs. Stone to go ride a bike, in an effort to relieve some stress. Great advice in my opinion!

Second up was the dynamic TRIO of LOBV's Rob D'Amico, Bicycle Sport Shop owner Hill Abel, and local cyclist Chris Trickey. Their response, posted to the Statesman's website last Friday, outlines some of the obvious lies of the original editorial as well as points out many of the benefits of the new plan to cyclists and motorists alike. They do a great job of explaining some of the ways that the updated plan will increase the quality of life for ALL Austinites, not just the ones of us who get around on 2 wheels. Great article guys.

Finally, today the Statesman published an editorial entitled "Merging car traffic with cycling interests", which takes a much more balanced look at the issue. I mentioned this one yesterday, but if you didn't read it I highly suggest you take a few moments and do so. As much as I hate to agree with a few points of this editorial, I believe that they're correct in anticipating that we're going to face an uphill struggle to secure our chunk of the city's budget and get our initiatives pushed through in today's (and the future's) rocky financial climate. We'll see how things go, for today lets just focus on getting the plan passed.

So now that you know what's at stake, do you see why YOU need to be there today at 6pm?