[Philadelphia Inquirer] After 30 years of being largely privately financed, the professional bike race that features the Manayunk Wall was formally taken over by the city, which assumed its financial liabilities.
The cost to taxpayers? So far, $1.029 million – about $600,000 spent for this year’s race and an additional $400,000-plus rolled over to cover the expenses for the June 5, 2016, race.
That commitment is five times the tab to taxpayers in 2014 when the race was in private hands. The previous year, promoters ran it with no taxpayer help.
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Can I ask a serious question? How the fuck can a bike race possibly cost $600,000? If you handed me $600,000 and told me to plan a bike race while actively trying to spend as much money as possible, I think I MIGHT be able to spend $100 (that’s $20 for bottled water and $80 for Valium). Maybe $10 here or there to buy some caution tape and a finish line ribbon and an extra 50¢ or so to print out numbers for the riders. That’s seriously it. To spend $600,000, I’d have to plan a bike race, then buy myself a Lamborghini and have it shipped to Mars.
Of course, as usual, the bicyclists don’t care at all. As is typical for them, they simply do whatever they want and pass the consequences onto the average citizen. Whether they’re actively blocking traffic, killing war hero combat dogs, running down pedestrians on the sidewalk, or wasting over a million taxpayer dollars, they don’t care about how they make you suffer. They just don’t care at all. And why should they? When their “privately funded” bike race couldn’t carry on any longer, the government stepped in a volunteered to foot the bill. Even when bicyclists completely fail in their useless endeavors, someone is standing by to bail them out.
It’s clear that bicyclists have infiltrated the highest levels of city government in Philadelphia. Frankly, if I lived there, I’d get out while I still can. Because mark my words, if this trend is allowed to continue, it’s only a matter of time before the entire city budget is being funneled straight into the pockets of the bicyclist lobby. Do you want to live in a city where every day is one giant bike race? Where an endless horde of lawless, spandex-clad spokesters terrorize the streets? I know I wouldn’t. If you choose to stay, I respect your bravery. But I can’t be held responsible for what might happen. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
h/t to reader Doug for the story
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I HATE BICYCLISTS 
WTF!!!! That is insane! I bet the state is mostly democrat run and that is always where these inconsiderate lycra lout bicyclists have gotten in to high levels of government, California is a shining example of that. The states that are tipped more republican ( some state reps are rino’s though ) are a bit more resistant to the bicycle lobby/advocate whatever you want to call them.
That is insane. I wonder how Philadelphia’s pension funding level is. I’ve heard the State of Pennsylvania’s isn’t in the greatest of shape.
Here in Chicago they’ve spent tens of millions on bicycle trails, bike lanes and parks while the pension problem continues. I think a lot of that stuff is stupid anyway. But it wouldn’t really bother me if our financial house was in order.
You are making a statement based off of pure ignorance, who in their right mind would listen to this utter BS without really putting thought into it? One roll of generic cation tape costs $6-$10; a normal criterium, 1 mile ish, will not be rolled completely with one insignificant roll of caution tape. And you know what? Cycling races bring it a lot of money to local businesses, and individual companys pay money to advertise. Need I say more?
First you need hay bales for rider safety in the event of a crash, which seriously and surprisingly enough are rented from people; there is also tape for the riders that is much more than generic caution tape, which is often paid for by advertisers; there are also metal fences which may be covered by advertisers, and the fencing is very often used many times by the race series producers which drag them places in a trailer, so they are free; the numbers cost much more than $0.50, they are a special kind of paper made by fibers woven into the paper like duct tape; there are also prizes for racers, why race if you don’t get anything out of it, other then glory of course.
Rider registration also pays for a good amount of things needed for the race, so total race costs are $1000 for maximum sized local races like Philadelphia criteriums. So piss off and learn the facts. They numbers put up by the biased reporter was of anything actually money to improve infrastructure like roads and things which help the locals. You were saying a completely idiotic statement, how about you do a rave and not be a fat whiny, ass. If you have any questions just ask…