Just a month ago, AAA released a heartwarming PSA reminding drivers that cyclists are people, before a crowd of hundreds of bike advocates at the National Bike Summit.
Well, I think we have our answer now. In a recent article in the Washington City Paper, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John Townsend attacks David Alpert, founder of Greater Greater Washington, in unbelievable fashion. Network blog Beyond DC has this report:
AAA’s official company spokesman John Townsend says GGW’s David Alpert is a “nerd,” a “ninny,” is “developmentally retarded,” and is “like the Klan.”
If AAA thinks it’s good business practice for its spokespeople to make offensive personal attacks, then AAA isn’t a company I will ever have anything to do with. I don’t currently own a car, but someday I probably will. AAA won’t be my insurance partner when that day comes.
And in the mean time, if this is how AAA thinks and represents itself, guess how seriously I take their positions on transportation issues.
Will AAA stand behind Townsend and his childish behavior?
Keep in mind, Alpert is a guy who founded a tremendously successful local news site as a volunteer project and now contributes editorials semi-regularly at the Washington Post. One of these two men looks pretty foolish and it's not David Alpert.
In a recent post on GGW, the editorial team urged readers to move their business to the Better World Club, a Portland-based roadside support provider, which in the words of GGW writers "offers many of the same benefits as AAA, but without the disdain."
Elsewhere on the Network today: Global Site Plans outlines Miami 21, the city of Miami's plan to use form-based code to make the city more walkable and sustainable. The League of American Bicyclists explains how one member's suggestion helped launch the Bike-Friendly Communities program. And Human Transit says the way seats are configured in subway cars isn't just a matter of preference, it has real impacts on capacity and service quality.
Cities and municipalities with larger budgets and staff are more likely to win competitive federal infrastructure grants, the Urban Institute has found.
Transit ridership hasn't come all the way back from the pandemic, and they're going to need more federal help, along with other changes, says Governing magazine.
A top Paris pedestrian planner, a leading GIS professional, and Streetsblog's own Kea Wilson weigh in on the roots of America's nighttime road safety crisis, and the strategies that can help end it.