St. Pete mayor wants you to cycle with him

ST. PETERSBURG-- Mayor Rick Baker wants you to bike to work with him Friday in honor of National Bike Month.

Baker will depart from the Northeast Exchange Club/Coffee Pot Park, First St. and 31st Ave. NE, at 7:15 a.m. and then continue to City Hall. The public is invited to join.

To find out more about the city's expanding bicycle trail network or other information for pedestrians and cyclists, visit www.stpete.org/bicycle.

- Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer

Comments

[Stop Sign Runna]

We should get the posse together and go and blow this ride up! Let's see how fast Mayor Baker can pedal before he keels over. I say he'd get his HR up to about 130 and it'll be off to da side wit him!

[Chip Haynes]

I would respectfully suggest that the very best thing Stop Sign Runna could possibly do to seriously support bicycling in St. Petersburg is buy a car.

[Stop Sign Runna]

F.Y.I - I have a car! I never said I was a tree hugger.

We'd be doing this city a favor jacking that ride up. That guy is all for big corporate and has NO concern for people like you or I or anyone who can't contribute millions of dollars towards destroying everything within 20 city blocks of here. What you gonna do when there are 10,000 cars trying to get in and out of downtown St. Pete 3 or 4 days a week (OR MORE) and you and the bike you rode in on are squeezed out of town?

Well, that's the Mayor and city council's "big picture" plan for this city!

If Mayor Baker has his way, this ENTIRE city will be nothing but condos, storefront and a GI-NORMOUS baseball stadium that he approved to fill in part of the bay for!!

YEA! Let's all do a ride with him on Friday...

NO tnx!

[Chip Haynes]

Whoa, dude- have you thought about trying de-caf? One big corproation, Progress Energy, has been kind enough to let us use their power line corridors for a 20 mile bike trail to help make the Pinellas Trail a complete 75 mile loop around Pinellas County. I know you personally wouldn't be caught riding on a recreational trail, but the Pinellas Trail is about he second most popular tourist destination on the Suncoast (after our beaches). Not all corporations are soulless zombies trying to eat your brains. As for Mayor Rick, you might want to shop around and check out other cities. Somewhere along the line, while no one was looking, St. Pete went from The Land Of The Nearly Dead to Very Seriously Cool. I blame Mayor Rick.

As for the cars choking you out, relax- the gas prices will be fixing that pesky problem. Well, that and gas rationing.

Carpe Velo.

[Red Light Runna]

Dude,
Are you actually defending Baker? Oh yes, a stadium is a great idea especially when there are all these other cuts yet property taxes are so high. He doesn't care about anyone except those that live in Old Northeast and the wealthy. Is that you Chip? By the way, when are you coming out on one of the group rides? I'd be happy to wait for you and if you get dropped, at least you will have Mel.

[Chip Haynes]

Hey, I think the stadium idea is the dumbest thing since Paris Hilton's last CD. Still, compared to a lot of other places around here, St. Pete is like Bicycle City. Am I defending Mayor Rick? Well, he is in charge down there, so i guess he has to take the credit along with the blame.

And as for coming down for a ride, I did seriously think about it, but I have trouble justifying hauling my bike 40 miles round trip by truck for a bicycle ride.

We shall have to worship from afar.

[Mel]

Hey! How'd I get brought into this?

[Chip Haynes]

Apparently RLR thinks you're slower than me. HA! Ain't no one slower than me! Just you watch!

Sometimes I pedal so slow I actually go back in time.