Bike Cult Controls Brownsville's 4B "Quality of Life" Tax Dollars~Do You Believe?

$7,000 of taxpayer dollars were spent last
year to hang this postcard in the lobby of
the Harlingen Airport.  Perhaps, tourists would
remember the sign and bring their high-end
bicycles on their next trip to Harlingen.

Brownsville's bike cult members know the truth: two-wheeled human-powered transport is the future of our city, the panacea for all our city's problems.  

Bike cult members stare glassy-eyed at unbelievers who can't see the "over 1,000 riders who use the Battlefield Hike & Bike Trail daily into Linear Park."  That statement was included in a traffic enhancement grant application that netted $786,000 to connect the Battlefield Trail through downtown to Fort Brown.  Unbelievers who cross the trail cannot see the thousand riders.  They, we lack faith in the bike god.  We also do not see how the bike god has anointed Brownsville as the Bicycle Capital of the Rio Grande Valley.

Below is an email received 2/13/14 from Rachel Flores, the former Executive Director of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation. Now, with Rachel taking a new job at SPI, this email reveals a mindset, a mentality most in our city will have difficulty identifying with or sharing.

Hello Mr. Barton,

I forgot to add one small request regarding the information discussed at the meeting. I was hoping you would be so kind as to not mention that we will be asking the State Legislature to name Brownsville the bicycling capital of the valley. As mentioned, we are working with the our representatives to get that designation, and revealing our intentions will decrease the likelihood of us getting it. If its out there it increases the chances that other valley cities will contest it and/or compete with us for it. There is no problem with discussing the marketing campaign, the state designation is the only the thing that could pose a strategic problem for us. In the interest of transparency, I'm happy to keep you updated as the process moves along.

best,
rachel

Rose Gowen, High Priestess of
the Bike Cult

Rachel has left her position as director of the BCIC(some say she had difficulty with the controlling, manipulative Rose Gowen.)  The High Priestess of the Bike Cult remains.  

If you recall the uproar at the July 1, 2014 City Commission meeting when the City Commission considered a proposal to reduce heavily traveled city artery E. 6th Street from 3 lanes to 2 to accommodate a bike lane, you may recall City Commissioner Rose Gowen arguing FOR the project based on the potential loss of $150,000 in TxDot money.  When the overlay of E.6th St. is included, the project cost swells to $400,000.  Well, at the last BCIC meeting chaired by Rose Gowen, another project, Belden Connect, was funded for $208,000.  That means a total of $608,000 in local and federal tax dollars spent on the E. 6th Street project.  In Brownsville, Bikes Rule!

Bike Cult members, sometimes called the
"Bike People" at a bike revival in Ft Worth

If you keep up with the binders connected with City Commission meetings, requesting travel expenses all over the country for board and city commission members, you may have noted how many of the seminars are connected with bike trails.  The pic above was taken at a seminar, cleverly named the Texas Trails & Active Transportation Conference.  Rose Gowen is holding her "Trail Boss" award, likely for bringing such a large contingent at taxpayer expense to the conference.  

Members of Brownsville's planning, tourism, bus, parks and health departments also attended the bike seminar at taxpayer expense.  

Gowen, a bike visionary, sees "bicycle tourism" having a major impact on the city's economic future.  At a recent BCIC meeting Gowen explained that bicycle tourists "have an annual income of $190,000, no $200,000 and an average of at least two advanced degrees."  In other words, such bicycle tourists will enrich Brownsville economically, but also intellectually.  All of us need to be on the lookout for Brownsville's first bicycle tourist.

Now, the latest development in Bikemania.  Indeed, the bike god works in mysterious ways.  Do you remember the 3 small offices the city purchased along E. 11th Street for a downtown mayors office, police substation and museum?  Well, now the city has once again changed plans.  Two of the offices will be related to Brownsville's most important form of transportation-the bicycle.  Our city's Planning Department has been heavily involved in this project from the get-go.

Bike Texas' New Office

Bike Texas, formerly the Texas Bike Coalition, will occupy the building at 615 E. 11th. Their mission is described on their website:  "advancing bicycle access, safety, and education. We encourage and promote bicycling, increased safety, and improved conditions. We unite and inspire people and provide a cohesive voice for people who ride bikes in Texas."

BC Workshop, the non-profit recently garnering $208,000 in tax dollars for the Belden Connect Project, connecting the Belden and Battlefield Bike Trails, will occupy the building at 609 E. 11th.

Do you think our city leaders have become obsessed with bicycles, bicycle trails, bicycle meeting rooms, bicycle tourism, bicycle advertising and high-priced travel to bicycle seminars to the neglect of other priorities?  

I do.