Saturday, July 02, 2005

Virginia Politics Part 1

We messed up, Virginia. Bike-Walk Virginia offered us a chance to design and vote on VA license plate designs. I for one sat back, believing that all artists would come forward and give us great choices. Maybe one of the Dirt Rag designs would be my new license plate. Maybe someone would etch the perfect and uncomplicated silhouette of a double disk fixed gear. Perhaps someone would get hold of a Colnogo color scheme. Maybe a watermark of the now legendary VA race Tour du Pont, the stage race that many of the American favorites in the Tour de France once raced.

The original design Bike-Walk VA unveiled prompted people to call in asking for more choices. I actually liked the original design, especially now that I see what was eventually elected. It’s a tag with a road sign and the same old “share the road” slogan. Over 100 years of bike craftsmanship and history and VA votes for a road sign. I think people would be more willing to share the road with cyclists who are creative enough to come up with an attractive license plate design.

3 comments:

gwadzilla said...

liz-
I love your optimism
but I think that Viginia is more likely to have the image of a Gun, Robert E. Lee, or something equally southern and less ECO.
Utah has several plates.. one for the mountians and one for the desert....
maybe VA would offer a few options to let the driver speak their mind
-gwadzilla

gwadzilla said...

oh....
I see
the plates will not be changed across the board...
people can have specialized plates...
like a college alumni
a memeber of a civic organization
etc.
I get it
sorry
as I tend to talk
I Blogged before I thought

I have yet to see one of these plates
it is a good idea

Liz Schleeper said...

Yes, the cycling plate is one of many specialty plates in VA. The pic of the plate is in a hyperlink in the original post.

You know, a pic of a gun and Robert E. Lee actually appeals to me more than the chosen cycling one, just because I bet it would be more picturesque. At the same time it's painful to think that those are the images associated with Virginia.

You would probably be appalled if you knew all the stuff I learned about Lee growing up--much different image than you have but I am guessing they are both skewed.