Anna Whistler, 17, a member of the environmental club at Bridgewater-Raritan High School in New Jersey, rode her bike to school last month and couldn't find a bike rack on the campus.
She asked officials where to park it.
"I thought for sure there was something," said Whistler, in a May 1 article in The Star Ledger. "They told me to park behind the Dumpster. That's where I ended up parking."
The environmental club students, after raising $2,000 over four years, wanted to give back to their school community and make the world a greener place by purchasing and installing a bike rack at the school.
Principal James Riccobono disagreed.
"In as much as the district provides courtesy busing to students who live within walking distance of the high school, because of the danger on Garretson Road, it does (not) make sense, in my opinion, to promote the riding of bicycles to school," the principal wrote in a letter distributed to the club on Earth Day.
Here in Newburyport, Seacoast Energy & Environmental Design activist Ron Martino is unhappy with Riccobono's perspective, viewing the principal as a barrier to be overcome.
Martino included a link to Streetsblog in an email he sent today to SEED's mailing list.
Granted, subsequent online searching reveals the New Jersey school is surrounded by busy streets that are links to sidewalk-free residential subdevelopments. Because of the lack of sidewalks and crosswalks, let alone smart growth policies, children and the environment are suffering. Welcome to urban sprawl and a need to allow vehicular drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians to share the roads.
Newburyport already has bike lanes and bike racks, so I don't see a restriction of biking policy at NHS happening any time soon.
On a related note, Swiss scientist, LSD researcher, and centenarian Albert Hofmann died last week, and in tribute of his 102 years, here is a video of the Bicycle Song, vectored from Morristown Pedal Pushers:
