Been back in the office only a few hours after a couple days off and—shit howdy—the stuff I missed. Take the board of directors coup at the Cascade Bicycle Club, throwing out director Chuck Ayers who has nearly tripled the group’s membership and is widely credited with converting the bicycle group into a political powerhouse. And the board did it because, well, they wouldn’t really say in their official blog post. But board chairman Chris Weiss went and trotted out his gripes over to the Puget Sound Business Journal. Here’s what he said:

Ayers’ departure also is related to public comments made by another employee, David Hiller, advocacy director for the Cascade Bicycle Club. Weiss said the board discussed the comments with Ayers, but they did not stop.

The most highly charged comments came in a January article posted by The Stranger news website about a proposal to toughen penalties for careless motorists culpable in accidents that kill cyclists or pedestrians.

“I’d love to hang these people up by their toenails at the edge of town and paint ‘killer’ across their chest and let them hang there until the buzzards peck their eyes out,” Hiller was quoted as saying by The Stranger.

Weiss said the comments caused heartburn for the board and were counterproductive to the club’s efforts to promote its cycling agenda.

That choice of words by Hiller (who is still at Cascade Bicycle Club)? Inflammatory. However, it’s one quote of thousands he’s given over the years and, in the context of our salty fish wrap, folks don’t bat an eye. But who will bat an eye? Who would use it to dismiss the Cascade Bicycle Club? The people who read the Puget Sound Business Journal. Many of those folks are the political rivals of bicyclists. Those big business interests are the pro-road, anti-transit factions that have ginned up the notion that people who support transit and bicycles hate cars. Those are not the allies of Cascade Bicycle Club—and they never will be the allies of Cascade Bicycle Club—and trying to air dirty laundry with them is basically throwing a bicyclist under a bus SUV. Sure, the new leadership may want to distance themselves, but airing dirty laundry and meekly apologizing to your enemies doesn’t build a base and provide political momentum. And building a base and momentum is what Ayers seemed to do so well.

13 replies on “The New Leadership at Cascade Bicycle Club”

  2. Personally, I don’t think Hiller’s statement went nearly far enough. If I was part of the new leadership, I would begin by apologizing for his timidity.

  3. Actually, I always thought Hiller was a jerk. I had the un-pleasure of being at a couple of events with him and as a tentative cyclist at best (exactly the kind you want to convert) he made me run screaming from the Cascade Bicycle Club and his ilk.

  5. Seems strange that the board was displeased with Hiller’s comments but Ayers is the one out of a job. I’m assuming it’s because the only staff that the board can hire/fire is the ED – and that Ayers refused to fire him. Now that a (former) board member is the acting ED, will Hiller’s departure be far behind?

  6. There’s nothing polite about summarily dumping Ayers like that. And it’s fucking shortsighted – the sharpest replacement candidates will shy away from the job, knowing they’d be signing up to get kicked away just as suddenly some day.

  7. Seems like the board is slandering Hiller especially when Hiller has been told by the board he cannot make any comments.

  8. All I know is that Ayers guy is radioactive — ask Barack Obama. What politician wants everything to depend on how you define “terrorist”?

    The bicycling hobbyists are much better off with somebody who isn’t paling around with any sort allegedly violent radicals, no matter how much they have supposedly mellowed out in their old age.

  9. 6 “..knowing they’d be signing up to get kicked away just as suddenly some day.”

    That’s part of the job description when one is an executive director. The ED must always report to the Board, and whenever their contract is up (or if there’s something serious happening) can be let go.

  11. “Those are not the allies of Cascade Bicycle Club—and they never will be the allies of Cascade Bicycle Club—and trying to air dirty laundry with them is basically throwing a bicyclist under a bus SUV.”

    I think this sentiment right here captures a lot about CBC’s current situation.

    Until recently, while certainly supporting commuter cyclists, CBC was essentially a cycling enthusiasts group that helped establish solid biking trails and events. In this context, they were in no way counter to the Seattle business culture and in fact, could have certainly been considered a complement to it. Having a strong cycling organization was just another positive aspect of getting young professionals to move out to Seattle. Its also a great way for these workers to blow off some steam: “work hard, play hard”.

    In the last decade, as cycling nation wide has begun to move from recreational to transportational, CBC has moved much more into advocacy and focusing its efforts on the priorities of the urban bike commuter.

    They have had a lot of political success in this arena, and many cyclists are happy about this (myself included). But, unfortunately these success have also come with the price. There has been a growing divide between the Puget Sound business community, and the “urban green” community as of late and in these tough economic times, I think its gotten much worse.

    In disagreement with you Dominic, I think this does not necessarily have to be the case. Denmark and Germany are both economic powerhouses in Europe and yet, they both have a huge emphasis on sustainability. I hate to admit it, but Portland also has a better understanding of how business and green living can complement and enhance each other. Unfortunately in Seattle right now, the discourse and rhetoric is completely divided and ultimately I think this will end up being problematic for everyone in the city.

    I can only speculate, but perhaps CBC hopes to bridge this cultural gap and the first step was through a public upheaval of leadership (not to mention the board chair giving quotes to the PSBJ).

    IMHO, it may not be an altogether bad thing…

  12. You know, if you were trying to impact global warming the most, you wouldn’t waste time on the efficient urbanites who live in condos and apartments and bike or bus or maybe drive 2 miles to work.

    You’d concentrate on getting the SUV-driving hour-long-commute suburbanites into slightly more efficient SUVs.

    Someone who drives 60 miles in a day, plus side trips for kids and shopping, in a 13 mpg SUV would have more impact if they got a 17 mpg SUV than someone who literally consumes 1/20th as much already.

    But, hey, that’s just reality.

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