David, merely a poor attempt at satire. While I appreciate digging up "excess" pavement on CHR to provide car parking might be popular with many of The OC, I thought moving the statue of Hogarth to the A4 so more people in cars could view it would have given it away rather then be greeted with a "that's an interesting idea" response!I think The OC has done a sterling job in knitting together a constituency of the pro-car lot, pedestrians, independent retailers, bus users, the elderly & mobility impaired, kill joys and metathesiophobists (those who fear change, so you don't have to Google it like I did!) and united them against the cycle lane and cyclists in general.However, we're both well aware that the pro-car element of the lobby isn't against change at all, just any change that may disadvantage them or provide an advantage to another road user that could have gone to them instead.Hence why narrowing the pavement and kicking off cyclists from one side of Kew Bridge to provide an extra car lane was a sensible and well thought through strategy, but if it had been a bi-directional cycle lane you'd have had The OC lying in front of the bulldozers to protest an undemocratic assault on their civil liberties!While The OC has built an impressive lobbying force (simultaneously complaining that the ECL is part of the deep state with unlimited resources) that can raise tens of thousands to challenge the bike lane in court, the best the other side can do is £2.5K for some community flowers. Still, perhaps we'll hang onto Devonshire Road for a bit - and have the opportunity to prove that packing more people into the road by providing a nicer environment does positive things for footfall and spend, but not holding my breath! There are always winners and losers with any change and keeping a parking space for the dry cleaners may be the only thing keeping it going after being hammered by a 90% drop in demand during COVID, a move away from formal work wear, people working from home long term and the rise of the dry cleaning app competitors. That may trump the benefits felt by other businesses and the local area.I still find it a bit odd that positive changes intended to improve health, air quality and reduce congestion can be so polarising. Many cyclists own cars (87% of them in 2015, including myself) and the average cyclist earns more than average, so you'd have thought they would fit more naturally into a Tory coalition - rather than be demonised by it (at least locally).Maybe part of the problem is that people who ride bikes sometimes don't see it as an integral part of their identity (this will come as a surprise to some in The OC I suspect!), nor do they want to due to the vocal and negative connotations.
Ed Saper ● 1982d