In a video interview posted Friday on the newspaper’s website, Dorothy Rabinowitz, an editorial board member for the Wall Street Journal, disparaged New York City’s recently launched bike-share program.
“Do not ask me to enter the mind of the totalitarians running this government of the city,” Rabinowitz said when asked what she thought was the motivation behind the program.
The program is privately funded, with Citi Bank serving as the chief sponsor. Rabinowitz argued that her sentiments represent “the majority of citizens,” saying that the blue bicycles that have dotted the city since the program launched last week have “begrimed” some of New York’s most scenic neighborhoods.
“Look, I represent the majority of citizens,” Rabinowtiz asserted. “The majority of citizens of this city are appalled by what has happened and I would like to say to people who don’t live in New York that this means something much more than the specifics of this dreadful program. It means: envision what happens when you get a government that is run by an autocratic mayor or other leader and a government before which you are helpless. We now look at a city whose best neighborhoods are absolutely begrimed, is the word, by these blazing blue Citi Bank bikes — all of the finest, most pictureesque parts of the city. It is shocking to walk around the city to see how much of this they have sneaked under the radar in the interest of the environment.”
h/t James Fallows
