The USA Today ran a story this morning about the increasing interest among city leaders in creating bike friendly cities.

Government leaders in New York, Boston, and San Francisco are holding their cities to the standards of European cities like Copenhagen, where nearly 40% of trips are made by bike

“‘We’re re-imagining the streets of New York,’ says Janette Sadik-Khan, the

city’s transportation commissioner. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to add

200 miles of bike lanes by 2010 to serve a growing population.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino last month named a former national cycling

champion to be the city’s director of bike planning. The city is

identifying the best roads for bicycling in a mapping project that

cyclists eventually may be able to access online. It also plans to add 250

bike racks by next fall and this month will hold a summit of cycling

experts to determine a long-term bike strategy.

‘There’s never been so much attention from cities collectively for cycling

as a mode of transportation,’ says Loren Mooney, executive editor of

Bicycling magazine. ‘Cities are recognizing that it is a realistic and

inexpensive solution to a lot of different problems — to the traffic

issues, to pollution issues, to personal health issues because instead of

sitting in cars for an hour you have people out burning calories.’

Chicago is striving by 2015 to have 5% of all trips shorter than 5 miles

to be taken by bicycle. Mayor Richard Daley also is considering launching

a bike program he saw in Paris. That effort, begun in July, allows

residents and visitors to check out a bike at one location, ride free

during the first half-hour and park the bike at another location near

their destination.”

There are, however, the skeptics among us. The article went on:

“‘I don’t think encouraging cycling is going to reduce congestion or

significantly change the transportation makeup of our cities,’ says Randal

O’Toole, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. ‘There really is very

little evidence that any of (these efforts) are reducing the amount of

driving. They’re just making it more annoying to drivers.’”

It was reported yesterday in this very newspaper that City Councilman Tom Marshall has proposed the development of a citywide bicycle transportation plan. That’s great! Except Memphis already has one.

Could it be improved? yeah. Memphis’ Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee improved the plan as recently as this past July.

The hot question is Who will step up and flex the political muscle necessary to improve the City of Memphis by creating a bicycle

infrastructure? From where I write, it appears that citizens will take the lead, and the monthly critical mass rides appear to be the first charge in a public push for cycling improvements.

In other cities mayors are taking the lead–Can our new City Council muster the political wherewithal to develop the 21st century urban sensibility of thriving metropolitan areas like Boston and San Francisco? It’s worth reminding our readers that former Memphis City Schools superintendent Carol Johnson recently accepted a position in the Boston Public schools system. I wonder if she commutes by bike? If not, Boston would be a good place to start.