Dave Snyder

When Advocacy Backfires Balancing the fight for safer streets with the truth that cycling is already safe, healthy, and fun

Here's a bike advocacy conundrum for you. We must loudly protest that streets are too dangerous, but highlighting the dangers scares people away from bicycling. I'd love your thoughts on navigating this. I've included a few ideas in the attached article.

Y'all stop it with the dancing on this dude's grave. Killing our political opponents will only works if we kill millions of them, and I don't want to do that. Here's a distraction: people absolutely destroying Anne Coulter at a roast for Rob Lowe. www.instagram.com/reel/DOZPUKl...

I agree with @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social on this. Kirk was voicing his despicable views promoting illegal violence. I know lots of not-famous people who do that. I will punch them if nec., but I won't kill them. Killing for political reasons only works if we kill millions and I don't want to do that.

Slow Streets: More than Just Bike Infrastructure Page Street in San Francisco is a regular residential street that happened to be my street when I moved to San Francisco a few decades ago.

My favorite kind of bike infrastructure is just a street. A "slow street" with few vehicles and top speeds of 20 mph. They are social infrastructure! I wrote about SF’s slow streets in a recent issue of my newsletter. davesnydersf.substac...
#urbanism

Are you brave enough to fight and win? Where violence comes into play in your campaigning

I know you know that we now live in a dictatorship, enforced with violence. How do we fight back without escalating the violence? As I've contemplated nonviolence, I applied it to local advocacy and provided some advice because it takes courage. But you'll win. Be brave.

Bike share is not an exclusive club! But most pricing models provide affordable rates only for those who pay for a membership. For most people, a bike share trip is absurdly expensive. That's a really dumb way to provide a transportation resource. Ditch the membership model!
open.substack.com/pu...

Los Angeles could be the best place in the world to ride a bike Yes, yes it could. Hear me out.

As a San Franciscan I’m supposed to deride Los Angeles as an obscenely car dependent metropolis of superficial people stuck in traffic. But I love LA. It’s not like that. It’s reasonably bikeable now, and has the potential to be amazing. Don’t believe me? Read it: davesnydersf.substac... #urbanism

Have you heard of ride-outs? They remind me of Critical Mass and are also important to our movement to reclaim city streets as places to build community, not just drive through in fast machines.
open.substack.com/pu...?

Local bike advocacy is very effective resistance My dear fellow bicycle advocates, you're doing exactly the right thing.

My love letter to local bike advocates. In the context of our corrupt and undemocratic national govt, local organizers fighting for the right to safely and joyfully walk and bike in our communities are laying the foundation for a new system.
#urbanism
davesnydersf.substack.com/p/local-bike...

Two buses occupy both lanes on Market Street

Autonomous vehicles are the future of cars, and that’s great. They're much safer and potentially more efficient. But it’s not guaranteed. This article shows how the San Francisco Mayor’s proposal to allow Waymos on Market Street is dangerous. #urbanism

Strong local advocacy isn't magic It's the result of skills development. You can help by supporting the League's Local Advocacy programming.

With our national government as it is, local advocacy is the best path toward effective social change. That's why I supported the League's local advocacy programming. I talk about why it's so important in this issue of my Movement Newsletter.

davesnydersf.substack.com/p/strong-loc...

After 12 weeks of publication, I can say I'm proud of my weekly newsletter. Here's issue #1 (rb.gy/lu5o1n), that includes my origin story as a bike advocate, and a picture of the Velorutionary Manifesto I co-wrote in 1990, and Le Manifeste Vélorutionnaire by Parisian activists in 1976!

Lincoln Square Media on Substack The National Lawyers Guild- Detroit & Michigan Chapter has this important PSA for protestors who get arrested. Shout out to Detroit attorneys Bill Goodman and Denise Heberle for this sound advice.

Helpful PSA. substack.com/@lincolnsqua...

All police will be allies of the administration explicitly soon enough when they are brought under federal control as called for in Project 2025.

Proud to see this flag flying above my street morning.

I was wrong about bike share when it first arrived. Now I realize it’s transformational. It’s time to double down and expand it! I discussed this in my latest newsletter.🚲 https://davesnydersf.substack.com/p/bike-share-is-transformational-its

Wow that chart is insane. Just 1% for biking and walking, 85% from electrifying cars and … riding mowers? Marin is so backwards.

Local bike advocacy is very effective resistance My dear fellow bicycle advocates, you're doing exactly the right thing.

My dear beloved fellow bicycle advocates: your intersectional and inclusive organizing at the local level is exactly the right work to be doing now. It's laying the foundation for a new society that we get to build after the fascists in power destroy this one. open.substack.com/pub/davesnyd...?

YouTube video by NFL The Tush Push Explained with Kyle Brandt & Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Because of the physics of it, it's impossible to stop. It's boring to watch and removes any drama about 4th & 1. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhIK...