Complaining, whining, moaning, being a jerk. Sure, we all do it. And does it get us anywhere?
YES IT DOES!
First, let’s go back in time to February of this year.
I’d like to bike to @WholeFoodsProv but it looks like they don’t want me there pic.twitter.com/SzLSxFO1Ds
— Car Free in PVD (@carfreepvd) February 16, 2014
Good times there, right? I’ve seen snow piled up on a bike rack before, but this was particularly egregious. Every car parking spot in the lot was cleared. Not a spot of snow to get in the way of people parking their cars. So where to put that snow? Well, let’s just dump it on top of the bike rack. Evidently, fellow Providence bike-twitterer, @papabybike was displeased as well. But instead of just dropping a snarky tweet like me, he went in and talked to the manager about it. After a few other tweets, I hear through the grapevine that this particular Whole Foods was planning to install a new bike rack in April. Well it’s April now, and what do you know? Check it out:
Now that is some quality bike parking! Sure, there’s only 4 hoops, but there’s lots of room in between them and it looks like it will easily accommodate 8 bikes parked there at once. In fact, there’s so much room, you could park a cargo bike there!
photo credit: @papabybike
Other Providence bike twiterrers were pleased to see the rack as well.
photo credit @goldenmeanie
I realize that this blog is full of snark, cynicism and negativity, but I’ll try to suspend that for a moment and just say THANK YOU, to the management of this particular Whole Foods for taking the time to install a bike rack that looks like it was actually designed by people who ride bikes. It may have taken a while, but they got it right.
Now, what do we have to do to get Eastside Marketplace to install a decent bike rack?
That rack is so bad, the NEXT bike doesn’t even want to lock to it. I mean, I’ve seen better bike parking in a video game that’s based on the idea of stealing cars and running over people with them.
Car-Free in PVD 
Thanks so much for all the biking posts. I’ve been especially enjoying your outrage over bike racks and wanted to share my particular affliction. While not in Providence, it’s not too far away. I ride to the South Attleboro train station from Pawtucket and for years now have been befuddled by the rack there. Only once in a blue moon do I see a bike locked to it, and only kids bikes because nothing else would fit. Even 26″ wheels are too high.
http://dantera.blogspot.com/2014/04/south-attleboro-train-station-bike-rack.html
Hey Lemur, sorry for taking so long to respond, I haven’t been checking the blog for a while. That’s an egregiously bad bike rack, I’ll have to pay it a visit some time. In the meantime, I’ll tweet a link to your picture of it. Thanks for reading.