Earth Day, Biking, and Herman

I have a new job with the City of Savannah, Director of Mobility and Parking. Which means that I have to get used to being both the most loved (projects like the River Street Streetcar) and the most hated (meter maids fall under me) person in Savannah all at one time. Incidentally, we call our meter maids parking enforcement officers because quite a few of them are male.

At least I get to have some focus on my second love, biking. Earth Day featured a lot of activities around biking, including getting the mayor and chairman of the County Commission on a bike.

Herman and I have talked about biking. He doesn’t think that he can learn how to use a bike. I am of the philosophy that anyone can learn to use a bike with the proper training and time. I think we forget just how important the bicycle can be to many in our community who find themselves locked out of society. For populations that can’t offered a car the bicycle is vital. Herman is actually very good with the public transit system in Savannah, a trait that he shares with many proteges in Citizen Advocacy. Herman’s mother is also not terribly thrilled with the idea of him on a bike. She’s helped to protect him for this long and isn’t going to let some driver not looking the right way hurt Herman now. this may be the sort of thing that we look at later down the line. It’s not that he can’t bike, its just that he’s been told about so many things that he can’t do to the point that he sometimes doesn’t believe he can do anything.