Coming through!
Re: “State poised to regulate e-bikes” (6/20/2019): Wow. So the Wisconsin Bike Fed and Mayor Rhodes-Conway team up with Harley Davidson to motorize our bike paths. Who needs AAA when you’ve got bike advocates like these? Just. Wow.
— Michael Barrett, via email
[This article] misses the mark in a very important way. It states that a person riding an e-bike at high speeds on a bike/pedestrian path is the equivalent of a non-powered bicyclist riding fast. This is absurd.
A e-bike can reach and maintain speeds much higher than most human-powered cyclists can even dream. A non-powered bicyclist is lucky to reach 20-25 mph at all, no less for long stretches down a bike path.
Also, a non-powered bicyclist who can reach and maintain those speeds has likely spent a lot of time on a bike and is thus an experienced (and arguably) safer rider. Someone with little biking experience can hop on an e-bike and cruise on paths for hours at speeds likely unsafe for their experience level, on day one of ownership.
This experience chasm is just one of the reasons e-bikes are not meant for pedestrian and bike paths.
E-bikes are basically scooters. And no one in their right mind would allow thousands of scooters on bike paths. E-bikes have no place on our city bike/pedestrian paths.
— David Devito, via email
Wrong motive
Re: “Reyes’s vote on cops was in bounds” (6/27/2019): Dave Cieslewicz wrongly assumed to know my motives in supporting the ethics complaint against the school board chair. My motive is to seek better ethics in public office, a goal Dave should also support but doesn’t.
Personally, I’m ambivalent about the SRO contract (not opposed, as Dave claimed). But I’m firm on the need for following ethics rules. At all levels in American public life, ethics have eroded and we need better.
As Dave notes, the school board meeting in question was suspect due to the lack of discussion and rapid passage of such a controversial item. There is a conflict of interest. The board should retake the vote, this time following the spirit and letter of ethics laws. [School board members] should all take ethics training to avoid such a repeat.
— Andy Olsen, via email
Robbed
Re: “The GOP’s education deception” (6/20/2019): Let’s not forget that Scott Walker robbed the UW System of over $200 million to pay for the Bucks’ new arena. I love the Bucks, but arenas should be paid for by private ownership groups and citizens, not the taxpayers. UW-Madison dropped out of the top five research institutions in the nation because of this EXACT decision for the first time in 25+ years. This matters. It will affect the Wisconsin economy and all of the people paying taxes in the state.
— David Zamkov, via Facebook
Correction: In last week’s cover story (“Speaking out”), Sheri Swokowski’s last name was incorrectly spelled.
