Today’s San Francisco Chronicle has a great article about the San Francisco Bike Coalition, citing it as an organization with ever-increasing political clout [link to article ^[1]]. But with clout comes backlash, and the article also gives an overview of some of the roadblocks San Francisco cyclists are currently facing as the SFBC attempts to move forward with the completion of the citywide bike network. The article even mentions one of the city’s loudest bicycle grinches, Rob Anderson, who heads the anti-bike group Ninety-Nine Percent. Anderson’s often nonsensical bike-hating rants can be read in his blog, District 5 Diary ^[2].

But back to the article:

“The bike coalition is at the cutting edge of urban environmentalism. It reduces our reliance on foreign oil, cuts down pollution, helps ease traffic congestion and makes the city more livable,” said Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who represents the Richmond District in a famously liberal city where politicians work hard to put green-friendly credentials on their resumes.

As the SFBC’s membership grows and more people park their cars permanently in favor of riding bicycles as their main mode of transportation, it will be interesting to see how the SFBC’s influence in city politics continues to evolve.