matt@icycle
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Francisco Rios was struck by van and killed on old - 2007/12/31 23:38
The cyclist killed 12/28/04 was Francisco Rios,"Cisco," and a friend and customer of I Cycle Bike Shop. Cisco was a really cool guy, twenty five years old. He rode a KHS mountain bike and we had just installed new cranks and tuned his brakes. He was the kind of guy who insisted on tipping the mechanic. He worked as a caterer. He was really interested in bicycles and talked about getting a part-time job at a bike shop because he loved bikes and riding and said cycling was his passion. I guess it's good that he died doing something he loved, but cycling should not be deadly and he had a lot more rides to do. I would like to know the circumstances of the collision. Francisco was not a reckless or careless guy. He was talking about moving to Washington State with his girlfriend and looking forward to living in a more cycling friendly place.
This sort of tragedy really makes me angry at ridiculously slow pace and incompetent job the City of Houston has done in implementing any sort of bikeway plan. We have heard over the years and years about a bike path going on the old MKT rail line though the Heights to connect the White Oak Bikeway to Downtown. Delays and bullshit and a lot of nothing are what we have so far. The bike lanes that the city put on the roadways are a complete and utter failure. The stripes are all but worn off and in many cases they painted right over huge cracks and potholes. The bike lanes don't lead anywhere anyone wants to go and start and stop with no apparent reason. All the trash and road debris is swept into the bike lane- the surest way to get a flat tire is to ride in the bike lane.
A fifteen year old kid was also recently killed on Huffmeister while riding home from a friend's house . These tragedies did not have to happen.
There are federal tax dollars available under the ISTEA Act to fund alternative modes of transportation, namely bicycle paths and sidewalks. The city has tax dollars at their disposal to build bike paths and yet they can't get off their asses and make it happen. Oh, they always have good reasons for the delays. Right of way issues, blame it on TXDOT, blame it on the railroad...
Leaders get thing done, there are always obstacles to progress but leaders overcome and make worthwhile things happen. Losers make excuses and delay and that's what we have when it comes to the City and a bicycle mobility plan. We have already paid for these projects through gasoline taxes. The money will be spent by other cities that have real leaders who are wise enough to build bikeways for their citizens who want to get out of cars and ride bikes for transportation. The City is in non-compliance with the pollution reduction plan mandated by the Clean Air Act. They have to ask for a waiver of their legal duty to reduce air pollution because they are too much of losers to meet their goals.
There are people who would like to ride a bicycle instead of drive a car for many trips around town. I talk to them every day at my bicycle shop. Many are afraid to ride a bicycle on the street in traffic- for good reason. Many people would love to make trips by bicycle on safe, separate from cars bikeways that actually go somewhere and are connected to a network that you can actually get around town on. I don't think I know anyone who would like to carpool or ride a Metro bus to get somewhere. We need a real comprehensive system of bikeways, separate from cars, throughout the city and we need it now. We need it so we don't have more Franciscos in the paper and we need it to have fewer kids choking on the pollution from all our cars. It's not rocket science- we can build some bike paths.
The city has built two massive stadiums in the time span between the unveiling of the supposed bikeway plan and now and yet the bikeway is mostly undone or badly done. Go ride the bike lane on Clay Rd. and tell me that's a great resource.
I'm asking every one I can to call the Mayor's office, call your councilmember, write a letter and tell them that you want the city to build some useable bikeways sooner rather than later. Tell them you would ride those paths instead of driving if they were safe and actually went somewhere.
Francisco Rios lived on W18th, less than a mile from the White Oak Bayou Bikeway that currently ends at 11th St. The MKT section of the future, maybe never, bike path should run pretty much parallel to where he was riding.If the City of Houston did what they promised to do years ago and built that Bikeway into Downtown, then Cisco would have been on it and still be alive today.
Rest in Peace Francisco Rios.
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