2006 Election Guide

I sent emails to the candidates in the Maryland Governor and Senator races, as well as the Virginia Senator race. I got no responses (I did get a lot of junk email). So here is what I have to help you...

Maryland
Governor
Robert Ehrlich - "Transportation is more than buses, bridges and roads," said Governor Ehrlich. "Transportation Enhancement grants allow us to fund some of the smaller projects in our communities that preserve our heritage, enhance safety and improve the quality of life of our citizens.  These projects are great examples of the Ehrlich-Steele Administration at work in our communities."

Martin O'Malley - Building on the “Main Streets” program, Martin O’Malley will support new initiatives to promote walking and bicycling as alternatives to short auto trips, thereby reducing cold start emissions. These programs will place special emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle safety, school and park connectivity, and transit linkages. In Baltimore, O’Malley administration worked with Congressman Ben Cardin to complete the 14-mile Gwynns Falls Trail, a multi-purpose path lacing the city’s Westside. Furthermore, Martin O’Malley brought stakeholders together in Baltimore to adopt a Bicycle Master Plan for the city in 2006, assigning nearly a $1 million in planning, design, and construction to implement a Collegetown Network.

At the state level, it is important that highway, street, and transit designs keep pedestrians and bicyclists in mind by including refuge area at crossings, continuous sidewalks, shoulders and bike lanes, and adequate lighting. In partnership with local governments, Martin O’Malley will look for opportunities to construct hiker/biker paths, such as the one proposed for the Purple Line.

Senator

Ben Cardin - "You'll be biking an area and you won't believe you're in Baltimore City," says U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin.             

Cardin not only helped wrangle as much as $2 million in federal highway funds for the trail, but he has also biked it many times. He celebrated his birthday last year at a trail-side pavilion in Leakin Park. That picnic area has since been named in his honor.

The trail can carry a cyclist, Cardin says, from Security Boulevard to downtown, insulating the rider most of the way from honking horns and exhaust fumes: "It's so peaceful."

Michael Steele - "Making sure that people are connected to places and each other is absolutely necessary to the growth and development of smaller cities like Salisbury," said Lt. Governor Steele. "As the bike path extends in and around Salisbury, it will connect communities to the heart of the city, its people, and those who visit."

Virginia Senator

George Allen - Allen classmate Tim Good said he had to confront Allen after Good's little brother reported that Allen had stolen his bicycle. "George Allen was a big bully," said Good. Allen denied stealing the bike, but Good said it reappeared at school the next day.

“During his remarks, Allen spotted me in the crowd and mentioned me as his former Earlysville neighbor,” Grant recalled. “Then he made a public wisecrack about me with what he called, and I quote here, my ‘sissy helmet.’

“I was in the crowd in my tan suit holding my bicycle helmet, since I had biked to the rally from where I parked my car over near the Four Seasons neighborhood,” Grant said.
“For the record, George Allen may consider wearing bicycle helmets as being sissy, but I don’t. Being safe is not being a sissy,” he said.

James Webb - I couldn't find anything. But there's no evidence he's a bike thief or thinks bike helmets are for sissies.

In case you're concerned I'm being biased, I have two defenses. 1) Every candidate was given fair chance to provide their own statements. 2) In general I used the first link I came across involving the candidates name and the word "bicycle" that had a really good statement from the candidate.

(Pictured is Senator Pia Cayento, a Senator in the 13th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines. Being a health buff, she became famous for her bicycle rides around the metro during her campaign period. She took her bike to the senate session hall floor for this photograph. If only this is what our Senators were - and looked - like)

Comments

[guez]

Does anyone have concrete details on Ehrlich's performance regarding these issues. My general impression is that, despite his rhetoric, he has not been good on transit issues (unless you're an advocate for the ICC). His previous appointee to Metro, Robert J. Smith, was in favor of raising fares and skeptical about expanding serve. For what it's worth, Smith became a big critic of Ehrlich after being fired (for statements insensitive to homosexuals).

[Jack]

Ehrlich is so-so for bikes. He is probably more pro-trail than pro-bike per se. He made a big show of supporting allocation of TEA money (which the state allocates) for various trail projects. His administration didn't put a full trail along the full 18-mile ICC, just 7 miles worth. I don't think he's any worse than Glendening, or O'Malley for that matter. MDOT is still a decade or more behind on bike issues, but then they always were. Speaking of which, personally I think it's unhealthy to have one party run the entire state, even if it's my party. Re: "Smith becamse a big critic of Ehrlich after being fired (for statements insensitive to homosexuals)"... just to clarify, Smith made the insensitive comments and hence was fired.

[Jack]

George Allen is an idiot. But clearly he's pro-bike if he's willing to steal to get one! BTW football players wear sissy helmets too. Anyone who thinks cycling is for macacas, or I mean, sissies, never rode out Rt. 7, and certainly never rode competitively.

[Chris]

Good Lord! That George Allen story is just bizarre! I would love to put George Allen on a bicycle and ask him him to just try and hang with the cyclists at Hains Point for the noon rides. Sissies, my ass!

[guez]

Any thoughts on how Ehrlich's preference for a purple line "busway" would affect cyclists?

[washcycle]

Not sure about the busway. The ideal solution, from a bike perspective, is a metro line under ground until reaching the train tracks at the end of the GBT, then something that allows the bike trail to be extended to Silver Spring. But calling that a pipe dream is charitable at best. Does the busway run on the CCT right-of-way, because that's a negative. Does it allow for the trail to connect to Silver Spring, because that's a positive.

[The Human Car]

When I try to talk to Ehrlich about bike issues, I get handed off to Flanagan pretty quickly, so when talking about alternate transportation policy we are really talking about Flanagan’s policy and not what Ehrlich says. I have some details posted here http://www.baltimorespokes.org/comment.php?mode=view&cid=202 which may be of interest.

It does seem the general policy of the state is to ignore key stake holders, local and regional plans and do whatever they want on the cheap. You would think that when doing something for __ group that they would want to get that group to support what they are doing rather then opposing it, but not Flanagan. It’s almost as if the state looks at how successful the CCT trail is and says, well we won’t do that again. And then the state looks at how successful the Metro line is in Baltimore and says, well we won’t do that again either.

It’s not like any of the alternate transportation folks are asking for gold line facilities we are just asking to build what has been proven to work well and please stop wasting money on building more of what isn’t working so well.

hi all :)