Monday, January 28, 2013

obama's new chief of staff rides a bike to work

the league of american bicyclists has a post describing that current bike commuter and new obama administration employee, denis mcdonough, may have to stop riding his bike due to the security involved.


the league posits top five reasons the new CoS should be allowed to ride his bike to work.

• the fitness of his security detail will set a new standard for the entire White House
•he’ll never get stuck in traffic in times of emergency
•there’s always plenty of bike parking space on the White House railings
•he’ll never have to leave a critical security briefing “becasue my carpool is leaving now”
•didn’t you sign an Executive Order on Sustainability that encourages this sort of thing?

they are asking to fill out 5 more reasons as to why he should be allowed to ride his bike to work. what would you say?

the times article i listed above says probably one of the most poignent reasons he should be allowed to ride his bike: "(After scrapes with motorists, he now mostly drives.)"

so one of my reasons would be: "the visibility someone in his position bike commuting to work will set a nationwide trend." the trend will be less dependence on foreign oil and also combat obesity, setting a role model for our nation's children. basically things we like about biking anyway.

what would you add to the list?

5 comments:

  1. The probably soon to be former head of the Department of Energy, (and nobel lauriate), Steven Chu, was a daily bike commuter for his whole adult life, most recently when he was the head of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab 2004-2009. I believe he was not allowed to ride his bike to work in DC. He had to have secret service pick im up. There are a couple articles talking about how he was able to ride in on bike to work day with a secret service agent on an E bike accompanying him. I am guessing there is no way in hell they let this guy ride in, but I would love to be surprised...

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    1. i'm also thinking there will be no way ever that they would let him, but why not start thinking outside the box? they let presidents jog, why not let them ride a bike?

      yeah, i'm aware of steven chu, and definitely found it ironic that he really wanted to ride, but wasn't allowed. we'll see how this unfolds. probably in a predictably boring way.

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  2. My reason:
    Sometimes even a government agency should do the right thing.

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    1. 'Sometimes even a government agency should do the right thing.'- After trying every possible alternative.

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