From the Livable Streets front lines, Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson goes for a bike ride with the bike-commuting Mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn. There's a lot of different lessons that can be drawn from this Streetfilm, but one of the major ones that local politicians can take to heart is the man power provided by a group of passionate cyclists is worth its weight in gold. McGinn was outspent four to one, but road to victory on the strength of his loyal, empowered volunteers. Looks like a little bike-friendliness can go a long way politically. Paging Eric Garcetti...
As for McGinn's policies, I'll leave the summary to Eckerson who at the Streetfilms site, says:
As you'll see, McGinn has a lot of great things to say. Particularly exciting is a new website called Ideas for Seattle,which asks residents what they would like to see the mayor focus on.Take a look: A good dozen of the current Top 20 could be classified aslivable streets issues. (Note: I think other cities should replicatethis.) So we wish Mayor McGinn the best and can't wait to check back ina few years to see what kind of changes have taken place.
