Bill, First I would like to thank you for your input on this topic, and for your recent column entitled "I'm not on your side". I found it to be quite a valuable tool for bicycle advocates who are considering contacting the media about an issue of concern. I would also like to thank Chris Rickert for picking up this story in the first place.
That being said, I do think there is some merit to Darin's second point: "That the reporter has been let off the hook for suggesting that no one bothered to contact them about the problem - at the very least, the city of Madison passed along those complaints." While it may be true that the complaint systems between the city-county are flawed, that to me should have been a major part of the story. Instead, Rickert uses language suggesting that the bicyclist should have known to complain to the county: "But Adler was barking up the wrong tree when he complained to the city. While the areas around Fish Hatchery are generally considered city of Madison territory, Dane County is responsible for plowing the road, also known as County Highway D, from Wingra Drive south to near Oregon." It is not reasonable to expect a person to know which unit of government has jurisdiction over a particular road surface in Madison. I think it is reasonable for three things to have occured when Adler used the "Report a problem" website to complain about the plowing problem: 1) The City of Madison should have forwarded the information to the appropriate Dane County agency. 2) The Dane County angency should have forwarded the information on to appropriate county staff. 3) The City of Madison should have replied to Adler to let him know that the most direct way to get the problem addressed is to contact the county. > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Bikies] Fish Hatchery road > From: "Bill Lueders" <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, February 12, 2009 1:02 pm > To: <[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected] > You're surprised about my reacting to a blanket condemnation of drivers as > cowards? Life is full of surprises. > Here's another: I just reread Chris Rickert's State Journal story and I don't > find it "ridiculous." It's not our job as reporters to accuse people of being > disingenuous simply for making statements you disagree with. (See > http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=24951.) Especially > since your indignation with the article is premised on a subtle distortion of > what it says. [snip] _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
