Shrubisms Live on Both Sides of the Aisle

From Huffington Post:

More than 50% of working Americans live less than 5 miles from home...

- Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) on bicycling, and support for bicycle-friendly projects challenged in the stimulus package

Blumenauer makes an otherwise cogent argument for putting bicycle-friendly projects back in the stimulus package:

Bicycling also has immediate and direct benefits for communities that invest in bicycle paths, bike lanes, trails, and secure bicycle parking. For each $1 million invested in an FHWA-approved paved bicycle or multi-use trail, the local economy gains 65 jobs and between $50 and $100 million in local economic benefits. Some communities are already showing the results of these investments. After investing less than 1% of their total transportation budget in bicycle facilities in the past eight years, the City of Portland has seen a 144% increase in bicycle use - and the growth of a $90 million bicycle industry that has added nearly 50 new businesses in just the past two years.

However, it only takes one wrong word to take us back to the sort of statement we came to expect from the former [mal]administration.

With friends like these...