Which To Fund: Six Cops For A Year Or A Five-Hour Bike Ride?

Mayor Villaraigosa fell off his bike, landed on his head, then alienated bicyclists by calling for mandatory helmet laws. They booed him. He really hates it when people boo him, so now he plans to blow $280,000 of your money, hoping to become their new best friend.

Specifically, he plans to spend $280,000 of your tax money to close down your streets to traffic on October 10, 2010, so a bunch of bicyclists can enjoy the pleasure of car-free cycling between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. that day.  The Daily News reports:

The event is estimated to cost more than $280,000. It is being covered with $140,000 from the city's special fund account, $85,000 from the Measure R local funds and $55,000 from the city's Environmental Affairs trust fund. Any remaining costs will be paid by private sponsors.

Let's consider the opportunity cost of this $280,000.

The starting salary of an LAPD officer is $45,226. So the tax money Villaraigosa is blowing on this five-hour ride would pay the salaries of six officer for a year ($280,000 / $45,226 = 6.19). At a time when the City is teetering on bankruptcy, he foregoes six officers for five hours of pedaling.

Does that make any sense to you? Me, neither. I'd rather have six more police officers for a year, or six more librarians.

But it makes sense to Tony, because tax dollars aren't there for the public interest. Rather, tax dollars are there for him to promote himself and his political career. He will spend whatever it takes to win over the crowd that booed him -- provided he's spending your money rather than his own. If he needs to fire a few librarians and hold off on more cops to get bicyclists to pose and smile with him, well, it's worth it, in Tony's world.

The fact that there are "private sponsors" tells us those sponsors, and the riders themselves, should pick up the tab for this exercise. I'm sure plenty of vendors of bicycles, bicycle accessories, "fitness snacks" etc., would love the opportunity to get up close and personal with hundreds and perhaps thousands of bike riders. Plus, the bike riders themselves would presumably be happy to spend $10 for the privilege of having the public streets all to themselves for five hours.

You say it's not worth it to the riders and vendors of bicycle gear to pay what it would cost? Fine. Then that means the activity is not worth it to taxpayers, either. Why are you and I picking up the tab for someone else's Sunday afternoon? When's the last time a group of bicyclists ever bought L.A.'s taxpayers two tickets to the movie and some popcorn?

Two more points:

First, you can be the $280,000 price tag does not include any calculation for the lost sales to the few surviving businesses along the route, or the value of time people in cars will have to waste waiting for bikes to go by.

Second, when Measure R was on the ballot, my recollection was that the money would be used to build subways and/or bus rapid transit. No one said anything about hiking the sales tax in the county to pay for Sunday bike rides.

Hey, I like bicycling as much as the next guy. In high school, I worked in a bike shop and even competed in bicycle races. Last year, my wife and I attended the Tour de France in lovely Perpignan, France.

But this isn't about bicycling. This is about setting priorities in public spending. Right now, we have a Mayor and City Council whose priority is not the public interest, but is instead currying favor with whatever special interest groups they think will advance their career. The only way to change that is by electing new people to office.