9 hours Ago
Charleston is one of America’s deadliest cities for cyclists and walkers. Over the past 30 years or so, dozens of mobility advocates have fought to make walking and cycling safer, which also leads to better individual and community health. Successive city administrations have generally fought the proposals of these advocates, with both the city and the S.
C. Department of Transportation playing the long game. They know they’ll be around forever while the advocates either burn out or disappear.
The city’s approach has been to listen politely to the suggestion, go down to the basement and use some kind of random excuse generator (Liability! Too Expensive! DOT won’t let us!) before coming back up and patting the advocates’ heads as they're politely shown the door. Donald L. Sparks.
Provided There are so many of these passionate advocates who have over the years given up the game. Charles Fox, a nationally recognized bicycle events director, moved to the Virgin Islands. Robert Prioleau, a talented designer, moved to Asheville.
Peter Wilborn, a tireless advocate for cyclists’ legal rights, moved to Florida. Carl Miller, a former chair of the mayor’s bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee, moved to Portugal. Many more stayed in the community and just gave up.
Sadly, some have passed away. More than a decade ago, the passionate bicycle advocate and renaissance man, Edwin Gardner, was killed by a car while riding his bicycle less than half a mile from his downtown Charleston home. The talented Jane Lareau of the Coastal Conservation League passed away some years before.
And Lenny Greene, co-founder of Charleston Moves, died earlier this year. But last week Charleston lost its lion of an advocate, Tom Bradford. Tom and his wife, Susan Bass, retired to Charleston some two decades ago.
They had high-powered jobs in New York — he as a producer on the CBS News foreign desk, she at Citibank. They moved here partly, I think, because they knew they could effect change. Susan took on leadership roles as president of the French Quarter Neighborhood Association and served on various boards including the American College of the Building Arts and the College of Charleston’s Halsey Institute.
Tom, a former bicycle racer, jumped into the role of leading advocate for cyclists and pedestrians. He quickly became director of Charleston Moves and transformed it into a sophisticated, professional organization. The dedicated Katie Zimmerman continues in that role and has helped keep the momentum going.
Tom was the driving force behind “Battery2Beach,” an initiative that would provide safe and convenient bicycle access from The Battery to Folly Beach and Sullivan’s Island/Isle of Palms, and the Lowcountry Lowline (1.7 miles of abandoned railway corridor along the backbone of the Charleston peninsula). He fought to make the crossing over the Ashley River safe for cyclists and walkers, and more importantly he saw it was essential that the facility linked West Ashley with the region’s largest employer, the Medical University of South Carolina.
The city must not backpedal on this now. Tom had the quiet passion of a true leader. He inspired others by his tireless efforts and attention to both detail and the strategic vision.
Despite constant setbacks in these and other projects, he remained optimistic, and his optimism kept the projects alive. Indeed, when I visited him in Emory University Hospital in Atlanta several weeks ago, he displayed that optimism in his fight to regain his strength after battling a heart problem. But more so than the work he did to make the community a better place, he was perhaps the nicest and most interesting person I have ever met.
And if he said he would take on something, he went at it with gusto. He rarely asked for help but offered it at the drop of a hat. Tom was patient, knowing that these projects — while important and relatively inexpensive — ranked low on the political spectrum, but he thought that eventually, the city would come around and do the right thing.
The best way for the city to honor this remarkable person would be to finish the projects for which he advocated. The city has enough talented staff to make sure these are quickly done, and they don’t need expensive consultants from Charlotte to help. Tom Bradford will be missed.
But I hope his legacy will not. Don Sparks was co-founder of Charleston Moves, former vice president of the League of American Bicyclists, chair of the mayor’s bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee and the East Coast Greenway’s advocate of the year. His views are not necessarily those of these organizations.
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