First, the important one... Apparently there is some new land owned by the Nashville parks over in western Nashville near Percy Warner and Edwin Warner parks. And evidently mountain biking was not given a first or second thought when the use of the land was being discussed. This is a shame since mountain bikers are the primary off road user group that is not currently accommodated in that part of the city in those existing parks. So, now an effort is being made to make our voices heard. I sent my email yesterday to the parks planning commission. I hope you will send yours soon, too. Make sure that you mention that you are a resident of Davidson County (if you are) and that mountain bike trails would greatly increase the enjoyment and satisfaction that you personally, as a tax-paying citizen, would gain from mountain bikers being welcomed into the new park land.
You can go to http://www.nashville.gov/parks
The other issue circulating around the internet is a petition urging Google to add a "bike there" feature to their google maps. While I do believe this is definitely a worthy feature and I personally would probably find it useful, I think people need to remember that Google is a for-profit public company. Unlike the above effort, where it could be argued that I am a part owner of the Nashville parks, Google is about making money, and a few thousand signatures on a petition will not drive the decision-making for a feature. If in that petition you can demonstrate how this feature will help Google reach its sales goals or raise the market value of the Google stock, then they will probably hire you to implement the feature and expect to see your profitable prediction come to pass. As it is, what leg do we as cyclists, a relatively small segment of the Google user population, have to stand on? I, for one, do not intend to abandon my gmail account if they decide not to implement this "bike route" feature. When if gets down to it, I wouldn't be surprised if this feature is already implemented and all they have to do is flip a switch and turn it on. And I won't be surprised when they do, in fact, turn it on for public consumption. I would be slightly surprised if the petition receives mention in the announcement of the availability of the feature, and I would be greatly surprised if it came out that this petition does make any difference to Google at all.
People seem to think that Google is this great company that offers free services and is the god of all things internet. They have some cool products and do plenty of things to make my life easier, but it is still all in the name of making money. And much of it is at the expense of a lot of other companies' advertising budgets. A number of years ago, there was this other new software company that was making waves and was popular among computer users as the company that was opening up the technology so that users weren't bound to one way of doing things. Microsoft made it so that their software could be run on pc's from many different manufacturers, but look at Microsoft now. In some people's eyes (including the European Union) they are pure evil. (The ironic thing being that the document that EU wrote up to condemn Microsoft was probably typed and formatted using a Microsoft product.) So anyway.... Google is not synonymous with open source. Google is not a philanthropic organization. Google is not yours and mine and everyone else's. (The exception being if you have $448 dollars (per share) to throw down to gain some ownership - or maybe the 70+ Billion dollars required to acquire a controlling stake - assuming that much could be acquired.)
So anyway.... I like Google stuff, but I don't expect them to do me, personally, any favors.
That's today's soapbox. Cheers.
2 comments:
Nothing wrong with asking someone who makes a product, to make it work better for you. If they are interested, great, if not, that's ok. Nothing wrong with showing this said company how many people would be interested in such an addition to one of their products.
Would I get rid of my gmail acct in retaliation? Heck no, but I didn't see that mentioned or threatened anywhere if that I signed.
I hear you about not "expecting" something like this, but there is no harm in sharing the information that it would be a welcomed addition. Call it free customer survey information.
Google can do the research about whether it will give them a profit or show them in a better light. I use Google products because they work better for me than the competition. If there is something else out there that works better, I have no problem using it instead.
In an time where people are searching for ways to save on gas consumption, why not pass along ideas to help out?
Perception is reality. Why not encourage or suggest more people to ride a bike.
I sent a letter my letter to Jackie saying that I live in Knoxville and have considered moving back to Nashville, but as an outdoorsman, the lack of access to trails for bikes, makes Nashville an unnactrive choice for cyclist. I helped build the trails at Percy Warner Park as a volunteer in the late 80's and early 90's. Its sickening to think of how awesome that park is, yet access is only granted to the priveledged few who have a horse. Although I have enjoyed some great hikes and trail runs, Warner parks are the gem of Nashville and biking there should be allowed.
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