"Madison committee to consider paying employees to bike to work."

Ha. That's very funny to me because just this morning, as Meade was driving me to work, we were observing the people on bikes and I said, "It's almost all young white males. All these bike lanes and other amenities, paid for with our tax money? It's almost all for white males. Oh, how it would pain Madison liberals to admit it!"

And now, here are these Madison liberals planning to give cold cash money to the white males.

The Sustainable Madison Committee will begin a discussion Monday on the potential for reimbursing city employees for giving up their parking spots in favor of biking, walking or taking a bus to work.

Oh, it's only for giving up your parking space? Then I guess you collect even if you've got a husband who drives you in, so it's not just about biking.

[T]he idea makes fiscal sense because the city provides employees with parking spaces that could command market prices, providing cash that could provide employees with an incentive to bike — or walk or bus — as well as give the city additional revenue.

At the university, we're expected to pay for parking spaces, so anyone — like me — who forgoes parking gets an economic benefit. If city workers get free parking, then why not let each worker collect the value of the space he gives up? But they're not just saying that.

"You create a system where you as an employer encourage folks to be healthier, and therefore they're more productive at work," [says Tom Klein, Dane County director of the Bike Federation of Wisconsin]. "Research suggests they take fewer sick days than people who don't bike or walk to work."

Some folks are just older or have pre-existing conditions and cannot bike. You're advocating discriminating against them? And what of those who have children that they need to drop off at day care on the way to work and pick up on the way home? What of those with family responsibilities who need to do errands and shop for food? It's easy for young, healthy, single people to think it's great to nudge others to ride bikes to work, but there are good reasons to drive cars, especially in a cold climate. When I first arrived in Madison, I biked to work. But the first day there was ice, the first time I braked, I instantly hit the pavement. There's no way anyone but the strongest, least risk-averse youths can bike year 'round. To pay money to those who do discriminates against women, parents, the un-young, the disabled, and the careful.

It's sexist, ageist, ableist, and ridiculous.