[*BCM*] spoiled citizens of brookline.

[esw at alum.mit.edu]

> I hope that Brookline continues to improve the bicycling climate in
>  town.

Right on!

It's great to hear that Brookline officials are moving towards more
sustainable forms of transportation!  Reducing the number of parking
spaces [for cars&suvs] is an essential step towards a more liveable
city.  I am a little worried about the "contraflow bike lanes" but I'm
sure the Highway Department knows how best to accommodate us road
fleas.  :) Or rather, I hope that some of the more enlightened active
participants in the community have vetted these ideas, so that's all
good.
 
> And, I hope that you apologize for painting a town of 57,000 people
> of incredible diversity with a single brush...

Some generalizations and stereotypes are crucial for survival.
Society suffers when we can no longer publicly acknowledge that.  If
say, UPS hired a bunch of new drivers one week, and then the next week
I almost got hit by an incompetent UPS driver, you better believe I'm
going to send around an email: "Hey watch out for the UPS trucks out
there; I almost got hit."  But in your world that wouldn't be allowed.
I might offend the thousands of hardworking UPS drivers that do their
duty with skill and professionalism!

The tricky part is to draw the line between where split-second
decisions are needed [on a bike, alone at night on foot, etc] versus
situations where you can get to know a person and develop your own
understanding of them as an individual.  Even if I was almost hit by a
UPS driver, and if I was permanenty afraid of them on the road, I'd
still be happy to share a drink with one in a bar and hear about his
or her day.

The original post was about split-second life or death decisions.  At
the very worst he implied that all new drivers in SUVs are dangerous,
and that the rich parents of these new drivers are the root of the
problem.  He didn't say that Brookline is awful.  He didn't say that
all drivers in Brookline are awful.  He didn't even say that everyone
in an SUV is awful.  He didn't say that all parents are awful.  He
just gave us some actionable advice: this time of year, when a large
number of inexperienced drivers are have recently been armed with
lethal force, we should be especially careful while sharing the road
in Brookline.

-erik