Below is a letter written by a Long Beach resident, Mr. William Burkett, to the editors at the Long Beach Press Telegram in response to sports columnist Doug Krikorian’s remark about his frustration with cyclists riding down 2nd St. on the sharrows, slowing traffic, which appeared  in his column posted March 5th.  Mr. Burkett feels that the cycling community is bullying the local government.

Cycling bullies

Re “Cyclists have support in many different corners” (Sports  March 6):

Kudos to Doug Krikorian – it’s about time that folks start standing up to the bullies in the “big-cycling lobby.” There is a big difference between building or modifying infrastructure to accommodate current demand and in building or modifying infrastructure to create demand. It’s not the job of people in city government to decide what is and what isn’t a healthy lifestyle, and to spend our tax dollars to try to force us out of our cars.

Here’s a message to everyone in City Hall: Fill our potholes, pave our roads, maintain adequate police and firefighting personnel, balance your budget, and leave us all alone.

William Burkett

Long Beach (see letters to the editor in today’s paper March 10, 2011)

BlahBlahFreddie’s position on cycling advocacy:  “It’s all about the safety stupid.”

BlahBlahFreddie advocates education for both motorists and cyclists to bring about safer conditions for cycling on our city streets.  We believe sharrows and bike lanes help raise the awareness that bicycles use the city streets too.