Bike Paths and Boy Scouts

There are two items of interest in today’s Indianapolis Star, and both of them tend to underscore differences between my old home state and my new one.  

First up is an article detailing the sorry state of Indianapolis roads with respect to “bike-ability,” and local cyclists’ efforts to improve matters.  Indianapolis has within its city limits a grand total of 3.7 miles of bike lanes.  This doesn’t include the sixty miles of greenways accessible only to pedestrian and bike traffic – but those sixty miles are essentially cut off from anything else.  They are roads to nowhere, in effect, unless you conduct most of your activities along one of them.  In other words, these greenways are fine for a recreational ride, but are limited even for that purpose, and do almost nothing to accommodate bicycling as a means of transportation.  

The fact is, if you want to use your bike to get from Point A to Point B in Indianapolis, you are going to have to risk your neck to do it.  I struggled with this issue when I lived there.  The houses I occupied near Broad Ripple and Glendale were the most bike-friendly.  I could avoid the insane traffic by riding through parking lots, neighborhoods and on the occasional sidewalk, and still get to my favorite restaurant or store without getting flattened by an SUV.  

But when I moved to the last Indiana-based location of Three Dog Farm, I was socked in by Michigan Road.  To get to the safety of the White River Greenway, I had to ride several miles alongside the segment of the driving public that thinks it’s hilarious to swerve into a bike’s path and watch as the bike goes wobbling all over the place and eventually spits its rider out onto the shoulder of the road.  So I didn’t do it.  When I felt like biking into Broad Ripple, I’d hitch a ride with TS as far as the White River Greenway, then head in from there.

This sort of thing is not as much of a problem in Portland.  You can’t take two steps without hitting a greenway or a bike lane. (In deference to Full Moon, I will refrain from using my usual “you can’t swing a dead cat without” preface, which I admit is kind of odd anyway, coming from someone sympathetic to animal rights issues.)  People actually use their bicycles for transportation here.

And, wonder of wonders, Oregon is the only state whose obesity rate did not increase last year.

Becoming bike-friendly – or even merely less bike-a-phobic – is one of the things Indianapolis could do to dramatically increase the quality of life available there.  But Indy’s elected officials don’t seem to get this, and appear to scratch their heads and say “huh?” every time someone brings it up.  The addition of bike lanes would likely be inexpensive or “cost neutral,” with the federal and state grants available, according to Steve Talley, the City-County Council President.  If that’s the case, it would be crazy not to build them.  But as we all know, just because they’d be crazy not to do something doesn’t mean they’ll do it.

Next up is the reason why Trailhead Kid will not be participating in the Boy Scouts unless and until there is a radical change in their national policy.  Dave Wendling’s 6-year-old son wanted to join the Boy Scouts at his Lawrence Township School, and Mr. Wendling stepped up and volunteered to lead the group, when no one else would.  

Mr. Wendling went home and shared this news with his [male] partner who apparently gave him an odd look and reminded Dave that the Boy Scouts seem to have a few issues with gay folks.  So Mr. Wendling called the dad in charge of the recruitment meeting, who then called the national organization, and asked whether there was a problem.  There was.

Sorry, Dave.  You’re gay.  Buh-bye.  

Not only was Mr. Wendling not allowed to lead the group, he was not even allowed to attend an overnight event that was held at a public school.  Nice.

But Trailhead, you say, how can you possibly keep Trailhead Kid from being in the Boy Scouts?  It’s a time-honored tradition!  It’s outdoorsy!  And heck, they probably wouldn’t even enforce that rule in your local Portland groups.  So don’t you think it’s wrong to keep TK from joining when every other little boy will probably be doing it?

Nope.  Not a whit.  And here’s why:  What if every other kid was joining a group whose national organization had a rule against admitting black people?  Should I let my child join just because the local chapters didn’t enforce that rule?  

It’s my responsibility as a parent to teach my son how to treat other people, and to help him create an ethical framework for his life.  The Boy Scouts purport to assist with that aim.  But this exclusionary rule not only contravenes that goal, but aggressively undermines it.  And that’s sad, because everything else about the organization and its activities seems positive.  I have a number of friends who benefited from their affiliation with the group as boys.

But some of the people the Trailhead family loves most –who have been outstanding, loving examples for TK since he was born – are not considered “good enough” by this group.  I’d be some kind of hypocrite if I ignored that.  And that’s not what I want my kid to learn.