November 16, 2024 • 22 mins
Hey folkx, we're here with a few thoughts after the U.S. election. In case you were concerned—we're not going anywhere! And we're saying it out loud.
The election has some immediate impacts, like an administration change, as well as regional transportation funding wins and the first openly transgender member of Congress!
Check in with us on Instagram, @AllBodiesOnBikes to let us know how you're doing đź’—
Links mentioned in the show:
People for Bikes' Round up of Transportation wins in the 2024 election
Nashville, Tennessee passes $3.1B transit funding
Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender member of congress
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Marley Blonsky (00:00):
Hi friends.
Ellen Schwartze (00:00):
Hi friend..
We're sitting in a live specialedition election podcast from my couch.
Marley Blonsky (00:06):
Yeah, we don't typically live in the same place.
I for the time being, I'm in Arkansas.
Ellen Schwartze (00:11):
Yep.
I know you have a lot of big ideas aboutwhat you're doing with your life It
may or may not involve Arkansas or most
of this country.
I don't know.
Marley Blonsky (00:20):
I'm pretty sure that it doesn't it's not gonna involve
Arkansas for much longer Okay, ButI don't know where it's going to be.
I think I'm going to gonomadic, which is going
to
be really interesting.
Ellen Schwartze (00:28):
You've been saying that on your Instagram page,
which is very exciting for me.
At this point it's public.
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (00:33):
Yeah.
But I don't know where that means yet.
Ellen Schwartze (00:36):
It feels like when Ellen Noble said, I'm coming out of retirement,
but it doesn't mean anything yet.
Yeah, exactly.
Marley Blonsky (00:41):
Exactly.
Ellen Schwartze (00:42):
Would that have anything to do with the election?
Marley Blonsky (00:44):
Yes and no.
Yeah.
Anywhere in the U.
S.
is going to be challenging fora while but it would be, I'm
just feeling lonely down there.
The biking is absolutely incrediblebut I just, I haven't found my people.
I've
made some really good friendsand I love them dearly.
But especially coming fromSeattle I want weirdos.
I want queers.
(01:05):
I want Jewish people.
I want just People of color.
I want just more diversity.
And Bentonville is likethe Stepford Wives.
It ain't
Ellen Schwartze (01:13):
it?
Marley Blonsky (01:14):
No.
And I just don't fit in.
Ellen Schwartze (01:16):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (01:16):
Which
Ellen Schwartze (01:16):
is hard.
It's really hard.
It is.
It's exhausting.
Yeah.
It gets to be exhausting.
Marley Blonsky (01:20):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (01:22):
We're here to talk a little bit about the election and how
we see this affecting the next fouryears, both of all bodies on bikes and
culture and cycling and lots of things.
So we just had an election.
Yeah.
The next president will be Republican.
Marley Blonsky (01:40):
Can you even call him that?
I don't want to get this I guessto start off, this is not going
to be a super political episode.
So if you turn this on, you're like, dangit, I came here to hear Marlee and Ellen
talk about bikes and uplifting things.
Maybe we start
Ellen Schwartze (01:52):
over.
Marley Blonsky (01:52):
We have that for you.
I don't think we need to start over.
Ellen Schwartze (01:55):
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (01:55):
Yeah.
We're going to get into that.
We're going to talk about someof the wins because there were
some really good wins this cycle.
But also just, a real conversation.
I guess to start this out, themost important thing is All
bodies on bikes is not changing.
We are rooted in community.
That is where we started andthat is where we will continue.
And we are unequivocal in that weare unwavering in our commitment
(02:17):
to building that community tosupporting and cultivating inclusive
spaces, and that's for everybody.
Transgender people, migrants, immigrants,undocumented people we don't, that is
not something that is relevant to us.
And other marginalized people.
This is really coming together incommunity is the core of All Bodies on
Bikes, and that's not going to change.
(02:39):
We're here for you, and we wantyou to show up fully as yourself
with every facet of who you are.
And a lot of things I've beenreading online these past, this past
week has been about the importanceof community going forward.
And so we're just here to say,to start out, all bodies on bikes
will continue to do this work.
(03:01):
Which gives me a lot of hope.
Ellen Schwartze (03:03):
I agree.
That's a lot of what I'm anchoring intopost election is, and I think this is true
of almost any election because, at thispoint in time, about half the country is
not going to like the outcome no matterwhat it is, and so feeling that there
is always going to be grief and losing,quote unquote losing, and so feeling
like one of the things you can do isanchoring into your capital C community
(03:24):
and figuring out what that is and how youcan grow that and bring us closer together
going forward no matter who you vote for.
Marley Blonsky (03:30):
Yeah.
That being said, it's been a week.
It's been a little bitover a week at this point.
I actually had surgery on election day.
Ellen Schwartze (03:39):
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (03:39):
So I was blissfully tuned out.
Ellen Schwartze (03:42):
Were you
Marley Blonsky (03:42):
put
Ellen Schwartze (03:42):
completely under?
Marley Blonsky (03:43):
I was,
I should have been put under the dayafter, but it was on Tuesday when I had
my knee surgery, I had my meniscus scopedout and recovery is going really well,
but I've really been focused on that.
Okay.
Which has been a nice distraction.
But it also has left me feelingdisconnected a little bit.
How are you doing?
Ellen Schwartze (04:04):
I have been better.
I have been better.
It's the election didn't go.
I don't think it's asurprise to anyone listening.
The election did not go the wayI would have preferred it to go.
And it feels very devastating.
I do have a ton of privilege that I willacknowledge in that I, as a, as my own
individual self and my family will be.
We will make it to the otherside of the next four years.
(04:25):
And I get very concerned about people whodon't look like me and people who don't
identify the same way that I do aren'tin the same economic bracket as I am.
And so that weighs on me really heavily.
In a lot of ways, but like the day afterI would like, I think I was borderline
comatose and Took a lot of time tothink of what I wanted to do next.
(04:46):
I'm not a person at least inthis situation I am not a person
who is ready for the pollyanna.
We're gonna like here's howhere's the silver lining
Marley Blonsky (04:55):
Yeah,
Ellen Schwartze (04:55):
especially the day after I was not ready for that,
but I am a person who I will needto take action to feel like I'm
more in control of the situation.
And so I just did a lot of thinking onwhat that is and landed on community.
Like what I'm trying to build inKansas City with Family Bike Ride,
with all of the advocacy work andall the ways I'm involved here, is
(05:17):
ultimately about building that community.
So I'm grateful to be involved withAll Bodies on Bikes in this way.
And knowing that I canbe, this is a safe space.
This is somewhere that is radicallyinclusive and vocally inclusive.
So I think I am seeing the way forward.
I'm starting to see that path laid out.
Marley Blonsky (05:37):
Good, good.
Yeah.
And if anything, we learned a lotduring COVID about the healing
power of the outdoors and nature.
And so we can always go for a bike ride.
No matter how tumultuous things get, orhow dumb the cabinet turns out to be,
Ellen Schwartze (05:54):
can I say that?
I've heard it called adrunk drawer, not a cabinet.
Oh,
Marley Blonsky (05:57):
wait, a junk drawer
Ellen Schwartze (05:59):
or a drunk drawer?
Junk with a J, both might apply.
Yeah.
Both might apply.
Yeah.
And I think with the cabinet, I think alot of people are feeling the uncertainty
of the situation that we're going into.
Okay.
I would put myself in that bucket.
Yeah, so whether, and again,this is going to be true of any
administration change, right?
(06:19):
People are going to flip overto the other administration.
What does this mean?
What does this look likefor bikes right now?
We're losing Mayor Pete, who's incharge of transportation right now.
We love Mayor Pete.
We love Mayor Pete.
He's done a great job.
Whether or not he had a background intransportation before that, I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know either.
He's, but to be fair though,as well as transportation,
(06:41):
he's obviously he is a gay man.
He is part of what we would considerour All Bodies on Bikes community.
If he, Mayor Pete, if you want tohang on a bike ride, let us know.
Yeah.
Sounds like you're gonna havesome free time coming up.
But what does the future of bikesand transportation look like?
We can't tell the future.
We are not clairvoyant, butwe have some indications.
Marley Blonsky (07:02):
Yeah.
And so there were some really bigwins for transportation specifically
for biking in this election.
Before we get to that though,there were some other big wins.
Okay.
So the first, and please correctme if I say this incorrectly.
But the first openly transgenderperson was elected to Congress.
Yes, Sarah McBride.
It's a huge step.
Ellen Schwartze (07:20):
Huge.
Yeah.
And I think it's such a.
Interesting collision ofthe country that we had.
So I am, I live in Missouri.
We approved we put abortion accessin the constitution and then voted
Republican down ballot in thissame year as the first openly
(07:41):
transgender person is now in Congress.
And so it's just so wildlyinteresting to me that these.
competing ideals are going tobe in Congress at the same time.
I think it's just veryillustrative of what's happening.
Marley Blonsky (07:56):
Yeah, and obviously neither of us are political pundits, but
I've been listening to a lot of it, andthere's so much talk about the economy and
why people voted one way versus the other,and, the, they didn't vote all one ticket.
But it's so fascinating.
It's,
Ellen Schwartze (08:10):
it's really fascinating.
And I think the, again, justthat the, is it a dichotomy?
Or juxtaposition?
Juxtaposition.
I like that better of having thosetwo things exist in the same election.
Is gonna, is really interesting to me inthat coming together as a community idea.
So where, at the way these electionsshook out to wildly polarized ideals are
(08:33):
coming together in the same room underthe same roof to make decisions together.
Marley Blonsky (08:37):
Hopefully they can come together and make some decisions.
Ellen Schwartze (08:39):
They have to, I guess they don't have to interact.
There's 535 people in Congress,but they're still going
to be around each other.
Yeah.
They will have to feign.
Is that even true anymore?
I guess you can put, whatever youwant if you're sitting in the stands.
But yeah, they're gonna they are literallyand figuratively under the same roof.
Marley Blonsky (08:59):
Yes.
And hopefully we can find some commonunderstanding and some common ground
and work together for, clearly there'sa lot of folks who are struggling and I
think that's why the vote turned out theway that it did because they saw hope.
in whatever was being offered.
And hopefully they can come together andmaybe, and this is where I turn into a
Pollyanna, of, oh, it won't be that bad.
(09:21):
And then I remember back to 2016and it I think is going to be
worse than any of us imagine.
Ellen Schwartze (09:27):
I think so.
When I, and I agree, but, andas much as I just said, I'm not
ready for the silver lining yet.
The other thing that I think I'veacknowledged is progress is not linear.
That is, we have gotten throughthis literally the same person
and, at the head of, I don't knowthat I want to say in charge of.
Yeah.
At the head of this administration hasbeen at the head before there was, as
(09:50):
far as progressive policies were undone.
And so we've re two stepsforward, one step back.
In the grand scheme of progress, itcould be that you only get one step
forward, two steps back, but you mightstill like over the course of the
last, you, do we want to say 60 years?
If Ruby bridges turned 70 thisyear, I learned she has an
Marley Blonsky (10:08):
Instagram.
Ellen Schwartze (10:08):
That's amazing.
I didn't know that I've seen alot about her on Instagram, but
I didn't know she had her own.
She
Marley Blonsky (10:12):
has her own Instagram.
Ellen Schwartze (10:13):
So I feel like there's that Ruby bridges is 70.
This is all like.
Not in my I was not, I'm not 70, but myparents feel like my mother in law is.
And so since she's been alive is alot of where this progress has made.
And think of the difference there.
Yeah.
The, the more macro youcan get, the better.
Obviously there's tons of progressstill left to be made, but that's
(10:35):
the thing that I anchor in when Ithink of the fact that we've got
four years of this administration.
Which
Marley Blonsky (10:41):
is,
It's gonna happen.
It's happening.
It's happening.
Whether we like it or not.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Should we talk about some of the wins thathappened specifically in transportation?
I would love that.
Neither of us are transportationwonks both advocates.
I think I'm adjacent to being a wonk.
I think you were very close.
I'm really close.
Yeah, I think I used to be andthen I've moved away from that and
I would love to get back into it.
Ellen Schwartze (11:01):
I wonder what should I call myself if it's not a wonk?
Marley Blonsky (11:03):
I think you should take on the wonk named.
You.
We said that word too muchand now it sounds weird.
Anyway we got all of this from Peoplefor Bikes, so if you're not familiar
with People for Bikes, they are anincredible organization that does
advocacy what's the word I almost saidlitigating, but they don't litigate
Lobbying.
Lobbying on Capitol Hill infavor of active transportation.
(11:25):
Yeah.
And so they put together this, we'll put alink to it so y'all can read because we're
only going to have a couple of highlightsbut there were some really big wins.
Broad strokes in thiselection, there was 27.
4 billion, with a B, billion Dollars.
Dollars that was approvednationwide in this election.
Ellen Schwartze (11:44):
Yeah, for transportation stuff.
Marley Blonsky (11:46):
Yes for active transportation.
And a lot of that will trickle down tobiking, walking, connected communities.
It's You can't say it's all for bikingbecause a lot of it is built into,
Ellen Schwartze (11:56):
it's very holistic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a lot of public transportationfirst mile last mile stuff.
So it's been, it's cool.
They had a map.
That is what I think caught both of oureyes where they highlighted each state
and how much money each state approved.
And these are typically like multi year,multi decade in some cases, programs
that have been approved, but still 27.
4 billion is nothing to shake a stick at.
(12:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we wanted to there's a coupleof things that are not surprises.
So California had $11 billion approved.
Marley Blonsky (12:27):
Nope.
Sorry.
Two.
Yes.
Specifically, yes, there was 2billion for Proposition four, which
supports the construction, maintenanceand improvement of recreation
and active transportation trails.
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Cool.
Specifically to combat the effects of climate change.
Aha.
So that's really cool there.
That is cool.
Yeah.
Washington where I used to live.
Again, not surprising thatthey voted in favor of this.
(12:48):
Yeah.
But basically they rejected a measurethat will ensure that funds keep flowing
for this program called the Move AheadWashington Package, which provides 1.
3 billion for bike and pedprojects, which is really cool.
Ellen Schwartze (13:00):
And they rejected the measure to protect funds.
Marley Blonsky (13:03):
It's really complicated.
Ellen Schwartze (13:04):
So this is just like a wording thing.
It's a wording thing.
Yeah.
So
Marley Blonsky (13:07):
basically there's a cap and trade emissions scheme in
Washington for climate change stuff.
And there was an initiativeto get rid of that.
Ellen Schwartze (13:15):
Ah, the
Marley Blonsky (13:16):
cap and trade scheme is what is funding the
move ahead Washington package.
And so they voted to protect thatfunding, which is really awesome.
Good job voters.
Cause that's confusing.
It is.
Yeah.
I
Ellen Schwartze (13:27):
mean.
That's the, that's how ballots work.
Exactly.
But yeah.
So I wanted to talk about acouple of Midwestern things.
Would you have expect, how muchmoney do you think Tennessee got?
I know that, I know the answer, but
Marley Blonsky (13:39):
I, I wouldn't think of Tennessee as being an active
transportation state and it doesn'tshow up on all the radars, even
though I know there's lots of folks inMemphis and Nashville doing good work.
It just hasn't been on my radar.
Ellen Schwartze (13:49):
And so Nashville specifically for past and or they
passed a tax, like a quarter centsales tax, and they're going to get, I
think it's 3 billion to implement theirpublic transportation, which includes
a whole bunch of bike and pet stuff.
Marley Blonsky (14:03):
That's so awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very
Ellen Schwartze (14:06):
cool.
And then the other one we wanted tohighlight was Ohio, which got 6 billion.
6
Marley Blonsky (14:11):
billion for Ohio.
Ellen Schwartze (14:12):
6 billion for Ohio, holistic, like for the full package.
And then a third of that isalmost specifically for bikes.
Marley Blonsky (14:19):
Yeah, and the plans, which is really cool, include building
500 miles of new bike paths, multiuse trails, and sidewalks with 150
miles planned in the next five years.
That's pretty
Ellen Schwartze (14:29):
great.
Marley Blonsky (14:30):
Yeah, 30 miles a year.
Ellen Schwartze (14:31):
Yeah, 30 miles a year is
Marley Blonsky (14:32):
great.
Yeah, if I got 30, I live in Bentonville,so we can't use that as a comparison.
But when I lived in Seattle, if wewere getting 30 miles of new trail
across Washington, like that wouldbe revolutionary for so many people.
Ellen Schwartze (14:43):
Same here.
Yeah.
In Missouri specifically,that would be awesome.
I guess I immediately think ofKansas city, the city where I live.
It's that would be, that would easilystretch like a north south corridor.
Yeah, no problem.
Marley Blonsky (14:55):
Yeah.
And I think that's the thing toremember is Even a mile long segment
is
going to positively impact so many people.
And I think that's a way to thinkabout all of these big things that
are happening with selection isthey're going to impact real people,
both positively and negatively.
Ellen Schwartze (15:13):
And a lot of times it's the people who are marginalized
in some way, who are going tobest use some of this protected
infrastructure specifically.
So if we're, especiallyif there's an effort to.
Focus on neighborhoods that arehave dangerous streets, or if we
can do traffic calming, if it'shigh pedestrian networks that have.
That need the protectedinfrastructure that often most
(15:35):
impacts a vulnerable population.
Yeah.
Pedestrians are like, inherentlythe most vulnerable, but.
Frequently a pedestrian isa pedestrian for a reason,
especially in a spot like Ohio.
Marley Blonsky (15:46):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So there's, there is good news.
There is good news.
And I think, to wrap it upand bring it back community.
Capital C community is really what's goingto get us through this next four years.
And who knows what's to come afterthat, but I've been thinking a lot about
community because my threads is, if you'renot on threads and you're not following
(16:07):
me, you should follow me on threads.
Cause I have somethoughts there sometimes.
Good for you.
Yeah.
I'm
Ellen Schwartze (16:10):
not on threads.
Marley Blonsky (16:12):
I used to be like, I was a very early adopter of Twitter.
And so it's been a placethat I've used like online,
I guess community forum has been a bigpart of my digital life for a long time.
So the transition tothreads has been good.
But I've been, there's a lot of folkstalking about building community there.
And it's just made me think about whatis a community and making sure that we
(16:36):
are truly building networks of support.
I think the word community, not to,I'm going to get on a soapbox here.
I think it gets.
painted with a broad stroke ofthis community, that community.
But I would argue that a communityis a very specific thing.
It's a group of people that careabout each other's well being.
And that could be, centeredaround a common interest, that
(16:57):
could be centered around a placeof worship something like that.
I think about a bike ride or a group ride.
We've all been on group ridesthat don't feel like a community.
You're just, you're all there becauseyou have a shared interest and
we're going to ride bikes together.
And then you've been on rides whereit does feel like a community.
You're taking care of each other.
You're waiting for each other.
You're checking on each other's wellbeing.
(17:17):
And I would urge us all to bebuilding that second model where
we're checking on each other.
We're gathering for dinners, coffee.
Checking in
Ellen Schwartze (17:27):
on
Marley Blonsky (17:27):
each
Ellen Schwartze (17:27):
other.
Marley Blonsky (17:28):
It's huge.
Ellen Schwartze (17:29):
Wow.
Yeah.
Little things, like little text messages.
I loved after the election, I gotseveral people from various walks
of life, just I know we were in thesame camp, like just checking in.
That can go so long, even justin like friendships in general.
Yeah.
If I can get on my little soapbox,like the, how you doing text.
Even if there's not a administrationshift in your life, is really powerful.
Marley Blonsky (17:50):
Yeah, that's kept me going through these
last three years in Arkansas.
Of just people checking in on me andsaying, Hey, how you doing Marlee?
Are you okay?
And most, not most of the time, someof the time I have not been okay.
And that really has beenwhat's kept me going.
I don't know, there's a lot ofuncertainty tariffs, who knows
what's happening with that.
Ellen Schwartze (18:08):
Oh yeah, do you want to talk a little, I think you're
closer to this, so can you talka little bit about how you could
see that impacting the bike world?
Marley Blonsky (18:16):
Yeah so a lot of, bikes are manufactured overseas.
Especially the big name brands,Giant, Cannondale, a lot of those have
manufacturing facilities overseas.
And so if these tariffs are imposedit's likely, and again, not an economist
but likely it's the end consumerwho usually ends up paying more.
(18:36):
Because of those tariffs.
So there's the potential thatthings could increase in cost
manufacturing facilities might shift.
If we're imposing tariffs onChina, it's possible that factories
will move to other places.
I used to work in logistics anda lot of that was happening.
There was a big shift awayfrom China into Vietnam.
It's an interesting global perspective.
But so that'll be somethingto keep an eye on there.
(18:58):
Yeah.
Definitely going to impact the bike industry which is
already going, undergoing a littlebit, still going through COVID.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The, and there's lots of good podcastsabout that, about the inventory
and how everybody was buying bikes.
And then.
They overstocked and thenglut of inventory anyway.
(19:19):
So
Ellen Schwartze (19:20):
yeah.
Interesting.
Marley Blonsky (19:21):
Okay.
Yeah.
But the crux of it, all bodieson bikes is not changing.
We are here for you.
If you're feeling alone,if you're feeling.
Reach out to us especially if you livein one of the places where our chapters
are at, which we're launching five newchapters in 2025, early 2025, which we'll
have more about that in future episodes.
But we want you to know thatwe're here and we care about you.
Ellen Schwartze (19:45):
We do care about you a lot.
Yeah.
So let us know, reach out on Instagram.
Yeah.
Instagram is probably, is thatthe easiest way to get Instagram?
The easiest.
Yeah.
Maybe let's actually, let's put upa box and be like, we just launched
this episode and what did you think?
And tell us how you're doing.
Marley Blonsky (19:58):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So let us know.
You can also always send us an emailpodcast at all bodies on bikes.
com and that goesdirectly to me and Ellen.
So yeah, thanks for sticking with us.
We know you don't tune into All Bodieson Bikes to hear about election stuff.
It felt monumentous.
Yeah, it felt really important.
Yeah,
Ellen Schwartze (20:15):
I'm glad we did it.
I'm glad we're chatting.
I'm glad you're here on my couch.
Thanks.
It feels good.
It feels like buildings.
It's just two of us, but itcounts towards community.
Marley Blonsky (20:23):
It definitely counts towards community.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All
Ellen Schwartze (20:25):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (20:26):
Good chatting with you, Marley.
Good chatting with you, Ellen.
And be well, everybody.
And we will talk to you soon.
Ellen Schwartze (20:30):
This has been a super good Midwestern goodbye, by the way.
Like 17 times.
That's how it goes.
Bye.
Hi friends.
Ellen Schwartze (00:00):
Hi friend..
We're sitting in a live specialedition election podcast from my couch.
Marley Blonsky (00:06):
Yeah, we don't typically live in the same place.
I for the time being, I'm in Arkansas.
Ellen Schwartze (00:11):
Yep.
I know you have a lot of big ideas aboutwhat you're doing with your life It
may or may not involve Arkansas or most
of this country.
I don't know.
Marley Blonsky (00:20):
I'm pretty sure that it doesn't it's not gonna involve
Arkansas for much longer Okay, ButI don't know where it's going to be.
I think I'm going to gonomadic, which is going
to
be really interesting.
Ellen Schwartze (00:28):
You've been saying that on your Instagram page,
which is very exciting for me.
At this point it's public.
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (00:33):
Yeah.
But I don't know where that means yet.
Ellen Schwartze (00:36):
It feels like when Ellen Noble said, I'm coming out of retirement,
but it doesn't mean anything yet.
Yeah, exactly.
Marley Blonsky (00:41):
Exactly.
Ellen Schwartze (00:42):
Would that have anything to do with the election?
Marley Blonsky (00:44):
Yes and no.
Yeah.
Anywhere in the U.
S.
is going to be challenging fora while but it would be, I'm
just feeling lonely down there.
The biking is absolutely incrediblebut I just, I haven't found my people.
I've
made some really good friendsand I love them dearly.
But especially coming fromSeattle I want weirdos.
I want queers.
(01:05):
I want Jewish people.
I want just People of color.
I want just more diversity.
And Bentonville is likethe Stepford Wives.
It ain't
Ellen Schwartze (01:13):
it?
Marley Blonsky (01:14):
No.
And I just don't fit in.
Ellen Schwartze (01:16):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (01:16):
Which
Ellen Schwartze (01:16):
is hard.
It's really hard.
It is.
It's exhausting.
Yeah.
It gets to be exhausting.
Marley Blonsky (01:20):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (01:22):
We're here to talk a little bit about the election and how
we see this affecting the next fouryears, both of all bodies on bikes and
culture and cycling and lots of things.
So we just had an election.
Yeah.
The next president will be Republican.
Marley Blonsky (01:40):
Can you even call him that?
I don't want to get this I guessto start off, this is not going
to be a super political episode.
So if you turn this on, you're like, dangit, I came here to hear Marlee and Ellen
talk about bikes and uplifting things.
Maybe we start
Ellen Schwartze (01:52):
over.
Marley Blonsky (01:52):
We have that for you.
I don't think we need to start over.
Ellen Schwartze (01:55):
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (01:55):
Yeah.
We're going to get into that.
We're going to talk about someof the wins because there were
some really good wins this cycle.
But also just, a real conversation.
I guess to start this out, themost important thing is All
bodies on bikes is not changing.
We are rooted in community.
That is where we started andthat is where we will continue.
And we are unequivocal in that weare unwavering in our commitment
(02:17):
to building that community tosupporting and cultivating inclusive
spaces, and that's for everybody.
Transgender people, migrants, immigrants,undocumented people we don't, that is
not something that is relevant to us.
And other marginalized people.
This is really coming together incommunity is the core of All Bodies on
Bikes, and that's not going to change.
(02:39):
We're here for you, and we wantyou to show up fully as yourself
with every facet of who you are.
And a lot of things I've beenreading online these past, this past
week has been about the importanceof community going forward.
And so we're just here to say,to start out, all bodies on bikes
will continue to do this work.
(03:01):
Which gives me a lot of hope.
Ellen Schwartze (03:03):
I agree.
That's a lot of what I'm anchoring intopost election is, and I think this is true
of almost any election because, at thispoint in time, about half the country is
not going to like the outcome no matterwhat it is, and so feeling that there
is always going to be grief and losing,quote unquote losing, and so feeling
like one of the things you can do isanchoring into your capital C community
(03:24):
and figuring out what that is and how youcan grow that and bring us closer together
going forward no matter who you vote for.
Marley Blonsky (03:30):
Yeah.
That being said, it's been a week.
It's been a little bitover a week at this point.
I actually had surgery on election day.
Ellen Schwartze (03:39):
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (03:39):
So I was blissfully tuned out.
Ellen Schwartze (03:42):
Were you
Marley Blonsky (03:42):
put
Ellen Schwartze (03:42):
completely under?
Marley Blonsky (03:43):
I was,
I should have been put under the dayafter, but it was on Tuesday when I had
my knee surgery, I had my meniscus scopedout and recovery is going really well,
but I've really been focused on that.
Okay.
Which has been a nice distraction.
But it also has left me feelingdisconnected a little bit.
How are you doing?
Ellen Schwartze (04:04):
I have been better.
I have been better.
It's the election didn't go.
I don't think it's asurprise to anyone listening.
The election did not go the wayI would have preferred it to go.
And it feels very devastating.
I do have a ton of privilege that I willacknowledge in that I, as a, as my own
individual self and my family will be.
We will make it to the otherside of the next four years.
(04:25):
And I get very concerned about people whodon't look like me and people who don't
identify the same way that I do aren'tin the same economic bracket as I am.
And so that weighs on me really heavily.
In a lot of ways, but like the day afterI would like, I think I was borderline
comatose and Took a lot of time tothink of what I wanted to do next.
(04:46):
I'm not a person at least inthis situation I am not a person
who is ready for the pollyanna.
We're gonna like here's howhere's the silver lining
Marley Blonsky (04:55):
Yeah,
Ellen Schwartze (04:55):
especially the day after I was not ready for that,
but I am a person who I will needto take action to feel like I'm
more in control of the situation.
And so I just did a lot of thinking onwhat that is and landed on community.
Like what I'm trying to build inKansas City with Family Bike Ride,
with all of the advocacy work andall the ways I'm involved here, is
(05:17):
ultimately about building that community.
So I'm grateful to be involved withAll Bodies on Bikes in this way.
And knowing that I canbe, this is a safe space.
This is somewhere that is radicallyinclusive and vocally inclusive.
So I think I am seeing the way forward.
I'm starting to see that path laid out.
Marley Blonsky (05:37):
Good, good.
Yeah.
And if anything, we learned a lotduring COVID about the healing
power of the outdoors and nature.
And so we can always go for a bike ride.
No matter how tumultuous things get, orhow dumb the cabinet turns out to be,
Ellen Schwartze (05:54):
can I say that?
I've heard it called adrunk drawer, not a cabinet.
Oh,
Marley Blonsky (05:57):
wait, a junk drawer
Ellen Schwartze (05:59):
or a drunk drawer?
Junk with a J, both might apply.
Yeah.
Both might apply.
Yeah.
And I think with the cabinet, I think alot of people are feeling the uncertainty
of the situation that we're going into.
Okay.
I would put myself in that bucket.
Yeah, so whether, and again,this is going to be true of any
administration change, right?
(06:19):
People are going to flip overto the other administration.
What does this mean?
What does this look likefor bikes right now?
We're losing Mayor Pete, who's incharge of transportation right now.
We love Mayor Pete.
We love Mayor Pete.
He's done a great job.
Whether or not he had a background intransportation before that, I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know either.
He's, but to be fair though,as well as transportation,
(06:41):
he's obviously he is a gay man.
He is part of what we would considerour All Bodies on Bikes community.
If he, Mayor Pete, if you want tohang on a bike ride, let us know.
Yeah.
Sounds like you're gonna havesome free time coming up.
But what does the future of bikesand transportation look like?
We can't tell the future.
We are not clairvoyant, butwe have some indications.
Marley Blonsky (07:02):
Yeah.
And so there were some really bigwins for transportation specifically
for biking in this election.
Before we get to that though,there were some other big wins.
Okay.
So the first, and please correctme if I say this incorrectly.
But the first openly transgenderperson was elected to Congress.
Yes, Sarah McBride.
It's a huge step.
Ellen Schwartze (07:20):
Huge.
Yeah.
And I think it's such a.
Interesting collision ofthe country that we had.
So I am, I live in Missouri.
We approved we put abortion accessin the constitution and then voted
Republican down ballot in thissame year as the first openly
(07:41):
transgender person is now in Congress.
And so it's just so wildlyinteresting to me that these.
competing ideals are going tobe in Congress at the same time.
I think it's just veryillustrative of what's happening.
Marley Blonsky (07:56):
Yeah, and obviously neither of us are political pundits, but
I've been listening to a lot of it, andthere's so much talk about the economy and
why people voted one way versus the other,and, the, they didn't vote all one ticket.
But it's so fascinating.
It's,
Ellen Schwartze (08:10):
it's really fascinating.
And I think the, again, justthat the, is it a dichotomy?
Or juxtaposition?
Juxtaposition.
I like that better of having thosetwo things exist in the same election.
Is gonna, is really interesting to me inthat coming together as a community idea.
So where, at the way these electionsshook out to wildly polarized ideals are
(08:33):
coming together in the same room underthe same roof to make decisions together.
Marley Blonsky (08:37):
Hopefully they can come together and make some decisions.
Ellen Schwartze (08:39):
They have to, I guess they don't have to interact.
There's 535 people in Congress,but they're still going
to be around each other.
Yeah.
They will have to feign.
Is that even true anymore?
I guess you can put, whatever youwant if you're sitting in the stands.
But yeah, they're gonna they are literallyand figuratively under the same roof.
Marley Blonsky (08:59):
Yes.
And hopefully we can find some commonunderstanding and some common ground
and work together for, clearly there'sa lot of folks who are struggling and I
think that's why the vote turned out theway that it did because they saw hope.
in whatever was being offered.
And hopefully they can come together andmaybe, and this is where I turn into a
Pollyanna, of, oh, it won't be that bad.
(09:21):
And then I remember back to 2016and it I think is going to be
worse than any of us imagine.
Ellen Schwartze (09:27):
I think so.
When I, and I agree, but, andas much as I just said, I'm not
ready for the silver lining yet.
The other thing that I think I'veacknowledged is progress is not linear.
That is, we have gotten throughthis literally the same person
and, at the head of, I don't knowthat I want to say in charge of.
Yeah.
At the head of this administration hasbeen at the head before there was, as
(09:50):
far as progressive policies were undone.
And so we've re two stepsforward, one step back.
In the grand scheme of progress, itcould be that you only get one step
forward, two steps back, but you mightstill like over the course of the
last, you, do we want to say 60 years?
If Ruby bridges turned 70 thisyear, I learned she has an
Marley Blonsky (10:08):
Instagram.
Ellen Schwartze (10:08):
That's amazing.
I didn't know that I've seen alot about her on Instagram, but
I didn't know she had her own.
She
Marley Blonsky (10:12):
has her own Instagram.
Ellen Schwartze (10:13):
So I feel like there's that Ruby bridges is 70.
This is all like.
Not in my I was not, I'm not 70, but myparents feel like my mother in law is.
And so since she's been alive is alot of where this progress has made.
And think of the difference there.
Yeah.
The, the more macro youcan get, the better.
Obviously there's tons of progressstill left to be made, but that's
(10:35):
the thing that I anchor in when Ithink of the fact that we've got
four years of this administration.
Which
Marley Blonsky (10:41):
is,
It's gonna happen.
It's happening.
It's happening.
Whether we like it or not.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Should we talk about some of the wins thathappened specifically in transportation?
I would love that.
Neither of us are transportationwonks both advocates.
I think I'm adjacent to being a wonk.
I think you were very close.
I'm really close.
Yeah, I think I used to be andthen I've moved away from that and
I would love to get back into it.
Ellen Schwartze (11:01):
I wonder what should I call myself if it's not a wonk?
Marley Blonsky (11:03):
I think you should take on the wonk named.
You.
We said that word too muchand now it sounds weird.
Anyway we got all of this from Peoplefor Bikes, so if you're not familiar
with People for Bikes, they are anincredible organization that does
advocacy what's the word I almost saidlitigating, but they don't litigate
Lobbying.
Lobbying on Capitol Hill infavor of active transportation.
(11:25):
Yeah.
And so they put together this, we'll put alink to it so y'all can read because we're
only going to have a couple of highlightsbut there were some really big wins.
Broad strokes in thiselection, there was 27.
4 billion, with a B, billion Dollars.
Dollars that was approvednationwide in this election.
Ellen Schwartze (11:44):
Yeah, for transportation stuff.
Marley Blonsky (11:46):
Yes for active transportation.
And a lot of that will trickle down tobiking, walking, connected communities.
It's You can't say it's all for bikingbecause a lot of it is built into,
Ellen Schwartze (11:56):
it's very holistic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a lot of public transportationfirst mile last mile stuff.
So it's been, it's cool.
They had a map.
That is what I think caught both of oureyes where they highlighted each state
and how much money each state approved.
And these are typically like multi year,multi decade in some cases, programs
that have been approved, but still 27.
4 billion is nothing to shake a stick at.
(12:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we wanted to there's a coupleof things that are not surprises.
So California had $11 billion approved.
Marley Blonsky (12:27):
Nope.
Sorry.
Two.
Yes.
Specifically, yes, there was 2billion for Proposition four, which
supports the construction, maintenanceand improvement of recreation
and active transportation trails.
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Cool.
Specifically to combat the effects of climate change.
Aha.
So that's really cool there.
That is cool.
Yeah.
Washington where I used to live.
Again, not surprising thatthey voted in favor of this.
(12:48):
Yeah.
But basically they rejected a measurethat will ensure that funds keep flowing
for this program called the Move AheadWashington Package, which provides 1.
3 billion for bike and pedprojects, which is really cool.
Ellen Schwartze (13:00):
And they rejected the measure to protect funds.
Marley Blonsky (13:03):
It's really complicated.
Ellen Schwartze (13:04):
So this is just like a wording thing.
It's a wording thing.
Yeah.
So
Marley Blonsky (13:07):
basically there's a cap and trade emissions scheme in
Washington for climate change stuff.
And there was an initiativeto get rid of that.
Ellen Schwartze (13:15):
Ah, the
Marley Blonsky (13:16):
cap and trade scheme is what is funding the
move ahead Washington package.
And so they voted to protect thatfunding, which is really awesome.
Good job voters.
Cause that's confusing.
It is.
Yeah.
I
Ellen Schwartze (13:27):
mean.
That's the, that's how ballots work.
Exactly.
But yeah.
So I wanted to talk about acouple of Midwestern things.
Would you have expect, how muchmoney do you think Tennessee got?
I know that, I know the answer, but
Marley Blonsky (13:39):
I, I wouldn't think of Tennessee as being an active
transportation state and it doesn'tshow up on all the radars, even
though I know there's lots of folks inMemphis and Nashville doing good work.
It just hasn't been on my radar.
Ellen Schwartze (13:49):
And so Nashville specifically for past and or they
passed a tax, like a quarter centsales tax, and they're going to get, I
think it's 3 billion to implement theirpublic transportation, which includes
a whole bunch of bike and pet stuff.
Marley Blonsky (14:03):
That's so awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very
Ellen Schwartze (14:06):
cool.
And then the other one we wanted tohighlight was Ohio, which got 6 billion.
6
Marley Blonsky (14:11):
billion for Ohio.
Ellen Schwartze (14:12):
6 billion for Ohio, holistic, like for the full package.
And then a third of that isalmost specifically for bikes.
Marley Blonsky (14:19):
Yeah, and the plans, which is really cool, include building
500 miles of new bike paths, multiuse trails, and sidewalks with 150
miles planned in the next five years.
That's pretty
Ellen Schwartze (14:29):
great.
Marley Blonsky (14:30):
Yeah, 30 miles a year.
Ellen Schwartze (14:31):
Yeah, 30 miles a year is
Marley Blonsky (14:32):
great.
Yeah, if I got 30, I live in Bentonville,so we can't use that as a comparison.
But when I lived in Seattle, if wewere getting 30 miles of new trail
across Washington, like that wouldbe revolutionary for so many people.
Ellen Schwartze (14:43):
Same here.
Yeah.
In Missouri specifically,that would be awesome.
I guess I immediately think ofKansas city, the city where I live.
It's that would be, that would easilystretch like a north south corridor.
Yeah, no problem.
Marley Blonsky (14:55):
Yeah.
And I think that's the thing toremember is Even a mile long segment
is
going to positively impact so many people.
And I think that's a way to thinkabout all of these big things that
are happening with selection isthey're going to impact real people,
both positively and negatively.
Ellen Schwartze (15:13):
And a lot of times it's the people who are marginalized
in some way, who are going tobest use some of this protected
infrastructure specifically.
So if we're, especiallyif there's an effort to.
Focus on neighborhoods that arehave dangerous streets, or if we
can do traffic calming, if it'shigh pedestrian networks that have.
That need the protectedinfrastructure that often most
(15:35):
impacts a vulnerable population.
Yeah.
Pedestrians are like, inherentlythe most vulnerable, but.
Frequently a pedestrian isa pedestrian for a reason,
especially in a spot like Ohio.
Marley Blonsky (15:46):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So there's, there is good news.
There is good news.
And I think, to wrap it upand bring it back community.
Capital C community is really what's goingto get us through this next four years.
And who knows what's to come afterthat, but I've been thinking a lot about
community because my threads is, if you'renot on threads and you're not following
(16:07):
me, you should follow me on threads.
Cause I have somethoughts there sometimes.
Good for you.
Yeah.
I'm
Ellen Schwartze (16:10):
not on threads.
Marley Blonsky (16:12):
I used to be like, I was a very early adopter of Twitter.
And so it's been a placethat I've used like online,
I guess community forum has been a bigpart of my digital life for a long time.
So the transition tothreads has been good.
But I've been, there's a lot of folkstalking about building community there.
And it's just made me think about whatis a community and making sure that we
(16:36):
are truly building networks of support.
I think the word community, not to,I'm going to get on a soapbox here.
I think it gets.
painted with a broad stroke ofthis community, that community.
But I would argue that a communityis a very specific thing.
It's a group of people that careabout each other's well being.
And that could be, centeredaround a common interest, that
(16:57):
could be centered around a placeof worship something like that.
I think about a bike ride or a group ride.
We've all been on group ridesthat don't feel like a community.
You're just, you're all there becauseyou have a shared interest and
we're going to ride bikes together.
And then you've been on rides whereit does feel like a community.
You're taking care of each other.
You're waiting for each other.
You're checking on each other's wellbeing.
(17:17):
And I would urge us all to bebuilding that second model where
we're checking on each other.
We're gathering for dinners, coffee.
Checking in
Ellen Schwartze (17:27):
on
Marley Blonsky (17:27):
each
Ellen Schwartze (17:27):
other.
Marley Blonsky (17:28):
It's huge.
Ellen Schwartze (17:29):
Wow.
Yeah.
Little things, like little text messages.
I loved after the election, I gotseveral people from various walks
of life, just I know we were in thesame camp, like just checking in.
That can go so long, even justin like friendships in general.
Yeah.
If I can get on my little soapbox,like the, how you doing text.
Even if there's not a administrationshift in your life, is really powerful.
Marley Blonsky (17:50):
Yeah, that's kept me going through these
last three years in Arkansas.
Of just people checking in on me andsaying, Hey, how you doing Marlee?
Are you okay?
And most, not most of the time, someof the time I have not been okay.
And that really has beenwhat's kept me going.
I don't know, there's a lot ofuncertainty tariffs, who knows
what's happening with that.
Ellen Schwartze (18:08):
Oh yeah, do you want to talk a little, I think you're
closer to this, so can you talka little bit about how you could
see that impacting the bike world?
Marley Blonsky (18:16):
Yeah so a lot of, bikes are manufactured overseas.
Especially the big name brands,Giant, Cannondale, a lot of those have
manufacturing facilities overseas.
And so if these tariffs are imposedit's likely, and again, not an economist
but likely it's the end consumerwho usually ends up paying more.
(18:36):
Because of those tariffs.
So there's the potential thatthings could increase in cost
manufacturing facilities might shift.
If we're imposing tariffs onChina, it's possible that factories
will move to other places.
I used to work in logistics anda lot of that was happening.
There was a big shift awayfrom China into Vietnam.
It's an interesting global perspective.
But so that'll be somethingto keep an eye on there.
(18:58):
Yeah.
Definitely going to impact the bike industry which is
already going, undergoing a littlebit, still going through COVID.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The, and there's lots of good podcastsabout that, about the inventory
and how everybody was buying bikes.
And then.
They overstocked and thenglut of inventory anyway.
(19:19):
So
Ellen Schwartze (19:20):
yeah.
Interesting.
Marley Blonsky (19:21):
Okay.
Yeah.
But the crux of it, all bodieson bikes is not changing.
We are here for you.
If you're feeling alone,if you're feeling.
Reach out to us especially if you livein one of the places where our chapters
are at, which we're launching five newchapters in 2025, early 2025, which we'll
have more about that in future episodes.
But we want you to know thatwe're here and we care about you.
Ellen Schwartze (19:45):
We do care about you a lot.
Yeah.
So let us know, reach out on Instagram.
Yeah.
Instagram is probably, is thatthe easiest way to get Instagram?
The easiest.
Yeah.
Maybe let's actually, let's put upa box and be like, we just launched
this episode and what did you think?
And tell us how you're doing.
Marley Blonsky (19:58):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So let us know.
You can also always send us an emailpodcast at all bodies on bikes.
com and that goesdirectly to me and Ellen.
So yeah, thanks for sticking with us.
We know you don't tune into All Bodieson Bikes to hear about election stuff.
It felt monumentous.
Yeah, it felt really important.
Yeah,
Ellen Schwartze (20:15):
I'm glad we did it.
I'm glad we're chatting.
I'm glad you're here on my couch.
Thanks.
It feels good.
It feels like buildings.
It's just two of us, but itcounts towards community.
Marley Blonsky (20:23):
It definitely counts towards community.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All
Ellen Schwartze (20:25):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (20:26):
Good chatting with you, Marley.
Good chatting with you, Ellen.
And be well, everybody.
And we will talk to you soon.
Ellen Schwartze (20:30):
This has been a super good Midwestern goodbye, by the way.
Like 17 times.
That's how it goes.
Bye.
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