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Maybe it’s not about whether you’re a 1985er or whether you think Mayor Adrian Fenty is a jerk. Maybe the upcoming mayoral race will come down to who likes to pedal, and who doesn’t.
One of the things that Hizzoner really values is his bike, and under his tenure, D.C. has become a more two-wheeler friendly city. That’s probably why, in the Washington City Paper/Kojo Nnamdi Show public opinion poll, 64 percent of those who’ve biked to work in the last 30 days prefer Fenty to challenger Vincent Gray, who draws 21 percent of the bike commuter vote. Twelve percent were undecided, while Leo Alexander got 3 percent!
It’s a shout-out Fenty likely deserves. Smart bikes, additional bike lanes, and that snazzy Union Station bike-garage-thingy are all pretty cool.
Of course, for those who insist that the election will boil down to racial politics, amounting to a referendum for or against gentrification, breaking down the bike stats by race shows that 62 percent of those who reported they’ve taken their Schwinn to work recently are white (only 24 percent are black).
One caveat: Only eight percent of those surveyed fit even our very loose definition of bike rider. So the margin of error within that eight percent is pretty high.