WHAT: BUY NOTHING DAY BICYCLE RIDE
WHEN: Friday, November 23, 3 p.m.
WHERE: Meet at the Liberty Pole downtown

Join a group of fun and civic-minded, quasi-socialist cyclists as we  
ride to the mall on bikes on Buy Nothing Day to wish everyone a happy  
Friday. And of course, we'll be gently confronting people about  
mindless consumerism. We'll have leaflets, a bike trailer sound  
system, and a route that takes us through all the major strip malls  
and shopping centers in Henrietta.

For those in Rochester who'd like to promote this event, a PDF of a  
flyer for you to paste up all over town is available at 
rocbike.com.

See you there!

Check this out: http://www.rocbike.com/2007/09/03/cycling-alliances/

Cycling alliances (Comments: 11)

Posted 3 September, 2007 in Cycling Thoughts

I recently wrote a review of Full Moon Vista Bike & Sport. In the comments section at the end, Ted Forsyth, a local activist and one of the organizers of the monthly Critical Mass rides, wrote the following (my reply follows):

Ted Forsyth, September 2nd, 2007 at 7:55 pm:

I found it very saddening to go there one night (my first time) to pass on some critical mass flyers and was told by the manager that he had no intention of posting anything regarding mass because he felt it was "counter-productive". I prodded him with a few questions–one of which being if he had ever ridden in any big masses and understood the pure joy of such things and alas he said no. So that was a let down and I probably won't go back there. :(

Jason, September 3rd, 2007 at 2:50 pm:

Hi Ted,

I think it's a shame to write off an ally because of a minor difference in tactics. It seems like a more productive thing would be to go back and invite him personally to attend. Or invite him to write his thoughts and then post them on IndyMedia (or here). Or just accept that not everyone who believes in the goal believes in the same tactics.

I think Critical Mass has both positives and negatives. I loved it when I did it, but it's easy to see how the nearly complete lack of explanation of our actions makes it difficult to convince or even educate anyone regarding our cause. CM could stand to be a lot more media savvy, so that our issues get talked about, not just honked at.

Regarding Full Moon Vista specifically: From what I can see, these folks really care about cyclists and the idea of cycling. That means they're about 95% the same as the average CM rider ideologically, but they have a different method of advocacy. If those folks are worth tossing aside, then who's worth forming an alliance with?

Thanks for all that you're doing to make Rochester safe for cyclists.

What do YOU think? How do we make smart alliances to start putting cycling on the map in Rochester? What should we work on first? How do we get our message across? As some of you know, I organize campaigns for a living, and I'm interested in cycling advocacy. Rochester needs more local attention on alternative transportation, and I hope to make RocBike.com a key player in that conversation. Please use the comment form at the end of this message to respond. (If you don't see it, click on the title of this post. That will take you to the post's specific page, which has the comment box at the bottom.)

Thanks for participating!