My Letter to Thomas Barraga

17 Feb My Letter to Thomas Barraga

While writing my weekly round-up, I had asked you, our readers, to take action and write to Thomas Barraga (Thomas.Barraga@suffolkcountyny.gov) about his anti-bike response to a 17-year-old whose mother was injured in a collision with an automobile while bicycling.  I want to lead by example and publish the email I had sent to him so you know that I am walking the talk.

Dear Mr. Barraga,

 

I am writing to you in response to a recent letter you had sent to Matthew Cutrone in which you had discouraged this young man from biking in the Suffolk Community. He wrote to you about the safety conditions in your county as his mother was involved with a collision with a car while she was out on her bicycle. You had told Mr. Cutrone that “90 percent of [cyclists] eventually were hit by an automobile.” I find this to be very alarming as I believe that you are doing your public and community a disservice by pointing this out.

 

Instead of warning Mr. Cutrone of this negatively perceived statistic, why don’t you try to encourage a community to be open about multi-modal transportation? I live in the Los Angeles County, a very well know county which many people in the past had said it was too dangerous to ride in but here I am commuting since 2008 to and back from work. I have a 26 mile round trip and I choose to ride to work. If our county can do it, I am sure you can encourage similar behaviors in Suffolk.

 

As a member of the Legislative Branch of this United States of America, I would think that you would want to keep voters and future voters like Mr. Cutrone engaged and safe in your own county. I find your response counter-intuitive as I would think that you would want to make sure your community is safe to live in and travel within. Automobiles maybe the majority method of transportation right now but they are not the ONLY form of transportation. That is why there are rules on the road for both motorized and non-motorized options as bicycles.

 

I hope you reconsider your response and do the right thing to encourage people like Matthew Cutrone to seek other means of transportation. Our environment and our public safety is counting on it.

 

Regards,
Johnny Lam
www.milestonerides.com