Robert Sullivan on the NYTimes argues for bikers to reach a higher level of “civility” to show good faith in Bloomberg’s recent travails concerning favorable bike policies. I agree on principle, but not how he envisions it.

For starters, it’s clear that Sullivan and I are different types of bikers. As in an earlier post I made, I pointed out the different habits of Brooklyn and Manhattan traffic flow and thus biker attitude, and I believe Brooklyn is affecting his view more than Manhattan.

Now, let me get the agreements out of the way: Yes, I do believe the new bicycle infrastructure is succeeding in a number of ways of separating bike traffic and car traffic, and one of the unfortunate side effects is that bike traffic is paired with the much slower (and less regulated) foot traffic. Unfortunately, I would have to disagree in how this came about: Sullivan thinks the bike lanes are a generally good thing. I don’t. Read the rest of this entry »

Just so I don’t forget the link, the NYTimes City Room Blog did a little piece on New Yorkers’ willingness to date outside established boundaries. Their conclusion:

New Yorkers are, on the whole, more willing to date outside their race, religion, age group, educational attainment, economic status and political party before they’ll consider dating outside the four boroughs.*

Considering the poll, I wouldn’t be surprised if a New Yorker would sooner go gay than date a Long Islander. I dated a Long Islander once (once) – it’s listed in my 25 Random Things on Facebook – and the only thing I got out of that date was a story about how I discovered somebody wholly without goals, aspirations or interests. It’s uncanny.

*Fuck Staten Island.