Thursday, May 7, 2009

Mayor Adams Will Ditch Car

Following Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Sam Adams has said that he will ditch the car for a month and go on bike and transit.

We mentioned to Adams that the 71-year-old Bates was going even further: The Berkley mayor has traded in his 2001 Volvo for a transit pass and walking shoes. "Seriously?" Adams said. "He's really doing that? No driving at all?" None.

Adams paused, obviously feeling out-maneuvered in the race to become America's greenest mayor. "How big is Berkeley?" he asked. "Because Portland is 143 square miles?"With a chuckle, he relented. "OK," he said, "I'll take his challenge for one month."

Wha?! Who in their right mind would take that challenge? Oh perhaps someone who is not a member of the Emerald Aristocracy. Many people here in San Francisco talk a green game, but can they back it up? Plug in hybrids aren't going to cut it in this race. You gotta do more.

5 comments:

AJ said...

I've seen Sam on the MAX a _lot_, but I think he dialed it back once he got a nice city car and had to zoom back and forth between all these meetings throughout the county.

He can call me, I can give him tips on getting from one side of Portland to the other quickly without setting foot in a car.

Alon Levy said...

Bloomberg took the subway for a while - or, rather, he was driven to the express stop in an SUV. I think he no longer takes the subway at all.

Jon said...

i wonder if this has anything to do with the minor car crash he just got in.

just saw him at the SE portland bike & streetcar open house a few days ago. i'm not sure how he arrived.

Pantograph Trolleypole said...

Yeah the article says this is a rather direct result of the car crash.

Jarrett at HumanTransit.org said...

Sensibly, Sam's agreeing to do this in May-June, when Portland's wet but not frigid. Latitude should count for something in comparing these dares.

I'm actually ambivalent about these kinds of stunts. When I have to go somewhere, I always look at the transit option, but I only use it if it makes sense. To submit myself to inferior service isn't as green a gesture as it might seem, because in doing so I'm enabling the folks who want to keep it inferior.