Bird announced earlier today that it has voluntarily pulled all of its scooters out of Cleveland, a city not only unaccustomed to nice things, but one that actively works against them.
“We are voluntarily pausing our operations in Cleveland,” a statement from the company read. “However, we have had productive conversations with Councilman Kerry McCormack and community members, and are hopeful that we will be able to collaborate with the City on their permitting process so that Bird can be a reliable, affordable, and environmentally friendly transportation option for the community.”
Some officials had voiced safety concerns, and councilman Kerry McCormack said in a series of tweets this morning that, “I support @BirdRide’s decision to temporarily pull their scooters in #Cleveland. This is a good faith effort to allow for talks with the city on hammering out an agreement and guidelines for permanent operation. I expect those conversations to happen in a reasonable time frame. As a community we need to develop & support a comprehensive #transportation plan for Downtown and neighborhoods throughout #Cle. This should be inclusive and consider safe infrastructure for all modes of transportation.”
Because when one thinks of a reasonable and informed body capable of making a good-faith timely decision, Cleveland city council immediately comes to mind.
This article appears in Aug 15-21, 2018.
“Cleveland, a city not only unaccustomed to nice things, but one that actively works against them. “
The writer is assuming that scooters are nice things. Casualties and unfortunate incidents in other cities have proven otherwise. Maybe the powers that be don’t want anybody else to die. And the recklessness of both drivers ( drunk or otherwise) and scooter riders (who ignore traffic laws and helmet safety) will lead to more deaths, because too many folks in Cleveland don’t seem to know WTF they are doing.
The writer also assumes that the reader agrees that scooters are nice things. Not everyone thinks so. Vigilantes in California and elsewhere have burned them and trashed them. Wasn’t the burning of the LeBron jerseys enough of an embarrassment? Do we really need to go through that again?
Most people in Cleveland will not care if the scooters are booted out of here because they will never ride them anyway. It might make Cleveland look backward and stodgy and un-hip, but since when has the average Clevelander cared about being cool? Who cares what the rest of America thinks? Maybe by banning scooters, we are actually being ahead of everyone else. Maybe they will do it, too.
And there are murders to solve and streets to fix and drug problems and plenty of other urban woes. Scooters are pretty low priority, except for all the hipster Millennials who will cry for a while and then get on with their lives. Besides, how many months a year can you scoot, anyhow? This ain’t California, Forget the scooters,,,start looking for your boots and gloves…now.
Ban cars. They are unsafe. Also pedestrians should be ticketed. Walking is dangerous. A drunk driver could kill pedestrians