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Bicycle advocate, leader or hypocrite?

September 3, 2018

City manager Derek Johnson driving Mayor Heidi Harmon and her bike home from a council meeting.

San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon appears to want everyone to bike – except her. [Cal Coast Times]

While Harmon attempts to push city residents towards a “driver-less future,” she does not regularly ride her bicycle to city meetings. On Facebook, Harmon has expressed a goal of reducing car travel in the city by 60 percent.

During a speech she gave late last year on climate change, Harmon promoted leading by example.

“I really like that picture on the top, it is the entire city council riding their bikes to council,” Heidi said. “So that is another thing that climate champions do right, lead by doing. We really try to set a good example.”

SLO City Council standing near bike rack outside City Hall: Andy Pease, Heidi Harmon, Dan Rivorie, Carlyn Christianson and Aaron Gomez.

On four occasions, reporters watched Harmon leave city meetings in gas fueled vehicles, including evening and afternoon meetings. Harmon either drove a car or hitched a ride for her and her bicycle from the city manager.

On May 15, Harmon left the City Council meeting, walked out to the bike rack and chatted to several council members for about 15 minutes. Harmon then walked her bike around to the back of the building, where City Manager Derek Johnson was waiting.

Johnson attached Harmon’s bicycle to the back of his truck, and drove the mayor to her home in Laguna Lake Mobile Estates.

Harmon did not return requests for comment.

Update: This story was updated to include that Harmon was watched leaving meetings both in the daytime and in the evening.


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Hilarious!!! Stalking???

So what was it when the Trib staked out city council members’ homes to see if they pulled in their trash cans?


You all are pathetic.


19

Hey Heidi: if it’s too dangerous for you at night, isn’t it too dangerous for the rest of us, too????? Love this “do as I say, not as I do” mentality.


23

Looking at the pictures I don’t even see a headlight on any of the bikes, could be there but I can’t see any lights or helmets. Another good reason not to bike on Madonna road.

But lets cast insults instead of facing a city’s real issues and voters (at least not in this case).

But then what do I know, 30 years in the city, never voted right wing.


-8

Good news everyone! Heidi must of read this article as someone sent out a donate to the campaign email including “I am being stalked” ” right wing blog” ” I reported it to the police” Etc The best part is announcing, she is taking the high road (holding the victim card).


It looks just like a Adam Hill email, paragraphs, insults and all.


Ms Harmon You could has spoken on how dangerous the east west bike path over 101 is and how it needs to be reworked to make it safer for family’s with children. This is a perfect example of bad cross town bike pathing that needs fixing.

Note, I ride a bike and voted for you in the election years ago, but you want to call me right wing (never)? Call this place a blog (you don’t understand that word)?

Insulting local voters, good job Ms Mayor.


18

The world is running out or resources like gasoline and clean air.


We cannot all drive cars. Some will have the privilege and some will not.


They will tell you all to conserve, so that they do not have to make the same sacrifices. Equality is not in our future.


-8

With what is happening in SLO who really cares if the mayor is riding her bike home at night or not? I wouldn’t ride at night either. But at the same time I would not have put on the “photo op” of riding my bike to a night meeting in the beginning. It’s just another case of political BS. The people of SLO should really be more concerned that their city is being ruined right in front them and that there efforts to save the city could certainly be directed more towards the facts than political antics. Even if there were bike paths in the city one would have to be insane to ride at night with all of the bars that are being established. Reality would have to declare that every drinking establishment in SLO is putting dozens if not hundred’s of drivers under the influence on the roads daily. That big wide white line between the traffic lane and bike path is not going to prevent anything. It’s time to move on to much more important issues.


18

Exactly


3

LOL so she “carpooled” home with someone. And btw, I’ve ridden my bike at night in SLO and was almost hit on two different occasions by cars, so I don’t blame her for hitching a ride home after dark. Maybe if people were more “bike aware” and we had better, protected bike lines we could all feel safe enough to ride our bikes in this lovely city.


-2

I ride a “naked” motorcycle, i.e. no structural protection. You got to ride fully aware of the situation around you. AND bicycle people, if the bike lane is well maintained, ride there and single file please. Your body is nothing against steel.


12

Then why is she telling everybody to bike, if it’s to dangerous to get home? Double standards. 


7

I give her credit for taking the opportunity to have here bike hauled at night. Additionally, Id say it’s ok to love her for the individual she is, then I hear her fully-auto assault speeches, I’m thinking divorce and then I exhale with the relief of my better fate. Surely she is entitled to her passion for the world as she sees it, but my answer to her would be like that of Spock on Star Trek, “that’s not logical.” I understand that passion is not usually synonymous to logical but when it affects the future of a city, it require the ability to implement orderly growth (logical) not self validation.


23

Come on CCN! What’s next, she flushes her toilet twice a day? She used a plastic bag? Her flatulence is an air quality issue? No, really? How low can you go?

And as to the rest of the “bitchers” here on CCN? Y’all must not have a clue to just how “harry” walkin’ down Madonna Rd. can be at night, let alone ridin’ a bicycle up or down it.

The next thing we’ll read is how Derek Johnson is part of Harmon’s “Deep State” conspiracy to make us all moonbeamers, right? And for giving a woman a ride home at night; something in less partisan political straight jacket times would have been applauded and seen as the responsibility of a gentleman, jeeeeez!

Get back to coverin’ her incompetence, her over-the-top inexperience at her job, everything relative to her mayorship and leave her common sense and personnel decisions off the football field of politics, especially with your Trumpian readership that are all-pros at kickin’ that ball around…

One other thing! The picture was taken when? By whom? Did you notice that there is what appears to be rain drops on this paparazzi cub reporter’s windshield, also it appears the roads are wet (according to AccuWeather 1/2 an inch of rain fell that day)? Any of you notice any of that? Nahhhhh! When it comes to political partisanship, especially from the right, you can’t even get out of the rain without some deep dark undertone of conspiracy bein’ discovered…


-21

C’mon, all the Progressives know Heidi doesn’t poop. She’s a magic unicorn here to fix everything!


6

Actually, the local “conservatives” need to read this post.


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