11/26/02, Speaking Out - Almanac, Vol. 49, No. 14

Speaking Out

On the Mean Streets of Penn

Addressing the ongoing hotwheels debate on the mean streets of Penn, for weeks the pages of Almanac have been smattered with bike bashing articles. It is a sensitive situation. On the one side, oh my there has only been one side--the generation "I sold my bike at a garage sale in 1979." Are we not forgetting that Penn is full of students who have yet to buy their first internal combustion engine?

Students are young, mobile and poor. A bicycle allows for adventure and freedom. Creating a standard or policy in which students and local residents are regularly ticketed/fined or worse is not the answer.

Chief Rambo is between a rock and a soft place. I hope that the "administrative rock" does not persuade the chief into turning Penn into an episode of bike COPs. I can just see it now--I leave the office, get into my comfortable car, drive home, relax on the lazy-boy, flip on the TV, and there is Rambo on the mean streets of Penn, running down some freshman for riding across the Locust Walk bridge. Don't we have it bad enough with the parking problem?

--Wilson Stewart, PENNCAP Academic Counselor

Speaking Out welcomes reader contributions. Short, timely letters on University issues will be accepted by Thursday at noon for the following Tuesday's issue, subject to right-of-reply guidelines. Advance notice of intention to submit is appreciated. --Eds.

Almanac, Vol. 49, No. 14, November 26, 2002