opinion

Count on an idiot like Tom "breast implants make you healthier" Coburn to criticize the Midtown Bike Center. The fact is, if we're going to change our transportation infrastructure from one based on oil (from places like Oklahoma) to one including renewable resources, we're going to need to encourage bike transit. The Greenway does that excellently - a cross-city corridor which is increasingly popular and heavily used. The Midtown Bike Center is a brilliant example of alternative infrastructure - it facilitates bike commuting and also brings the community together. I have biked past it multiple times to see community meetings taking place within, to say nothing of all the times I've had my bike serviced. We have to learn to stop running scared from the hypocritical scolds of the Right, and learn to stand up for progressive values.

If Sen. Coburn was clear about what, in his perception, constitutes waste, I could better judge his criteria and the programs he criticizes. My bet is every one of the projects on his list has some kind of benefit to many people. Since most dollars now spent by the US are borrowed, and we're close to only being able to pay debt service and defense costs, ALL these programs and every health, human service, transportation, development, etc program will need to be eliminated if the US is to stay solvent. See the movie I.O.U.S.A. if you are really concerned about which programs are good and which programs are bad and which ones, if any, we can afford. We have some phenomenal choices to make in the next decade.

What "reduces auto emissions and pressure on roads" is the Greenway itself -- a paved surface with no cars on that runs thru the heart of the city. The bike center is incidental to that smooth convenience. People convince themselves that money tossed at something like this is really going to help bike ridership, but where's the evidence? I rode the Greenway 59 times to work this year. The center had absolutely nothing to do with it.

aren't you supposed to pay down debt, before you start spending more money.

and morons defend this spending? I guess that's why this country is 11 trillion in debt. But thanks, Denise, for reminding us why we're broke. What a twit!

As a 70 year old healthy, trim physically active exerciser for all of my life and a taxpayer in the 40% category because of hard work that produces good income; you argument for taxpayer money for the bicycle center is disgusting and laughable. Me and my friends career in bicycling and exercise is not enhanced one iota because of the center, but our pocket books have been picked once again by our coalition of Republican/Democratic pimps who have pandered to idiots like you for your vote with promises of taxpayer money for worthless projects like your bicycle center. For your education: In 1971 the US owed no one any money, now as a world class bankrupt nation we owe others in excess of 17 trillion dollars, with another 70 trillion dollars needed to fund medicare and social security. Repugnant as it may be for you and your bicycle groupies to realize is one fact of economic reality. 40 years of Republican/Democratic overspending, much of it to satisfy ignorant voters and worthless projects, has gotten our once mighty nation into insolvency. That is what the current crisis is all about today and will be for the foreseeable future.

If Minneapolis thought that a center for such a small group of politically vocal people was a good idea, why not have the business that supposedly make money from it pay for it. Could it be that they bellied up to the trough because they knew that spending it out of local funds might be a blot on the public opinion of them and their reelection campaigns?

I have to think there's a agenda to the comments above other than upset at the use of this money. I don't understand why you would be upset at this paltry amount that is trying to promote a healthier lifestyle and more environmentally friendly way of living when we've spent trillions on other idiotic things like a war. Even if you have been lifelong riders, others, who aren't lifelong riders, may be encouraged by the center even though you didn't need it. Maybe being an ambassador to others and encouraging something like this would make you a happier person. Bitterness is so uncool.

and it's not working! We have reached the point where we do not have sufficient revenue for even the most basic and critical government services. We haven't sold our "national soul" to the devil, we've sold it to China and Japan on a promissory note to be paid by our children and grandchildren. Why not have each government agency establish priorities for spending (bike path v path maintenance v security v bike center v ???, in this case)? Allocate revenues according to prioritized needs. When revenues are depleted, stop spending. If revenues are insufficient for highest-priority items, increase revenues. We need to vote for representatives with a vision beyond getting elected/re-elected.

I don't need Federal money to ride a bicycle. Why is it that liberals think we have to be taxed for everything -- even the things I'm perfectly capable of doing myself?