Wheels, Scooters, and the Centuries-Old Fight for City Streets

Through the lens of Phoenix, a look back at bicycles in 1893, scooters in 2019, and how the similarities of both betray a bigger issue: The dangerous design of city streets, which favor cars, create conflict, and have long put people at risk.

2 minute read

August 31, 2019, 9:00 AM PDT

By lgraysonlindsey

In September of 1893, the City of Phoenix found itself in a headline-fueled feud with the United States Post Office, the two having been drawn “into a conflict under curious circumstances.” Indeed, the feud grew serious enough that at one point local postman W. E. Temple was cited and compelled to “address the [city] council at considerable length"—and this on a Friday night, even.

Mr. Temple’s testimony called for mail carriers to enjoy exception to a relatively new and particularly contentious local ordinance. He caught an empathetic ear in then Mayor Cole, who was joined in agreement by at least one councilman. The council majority, on the other hand, objected. They denied the request for exception and admonished Mr. Temple, sending him on his way.

In response to the council’s embarrassing rebuff, a visiting Postoffice Inspector observed that "the delivery service here is not necessarily a permanent affair” and wondered aloud whether misrepresentations had been made in the City’s original application for postal service.[1] The implication was troubling, not least because if anybody knew how to reliably deliver on a threat surely it would be the Post Office.

Phoenix, then a young city incorporated just twelve years prior, had upset the postmen, and the postmen, if they didn’t get their request, were ready to cut off the mail.

What did Mr. Temple want on behalf of the postmen? What did he petition for in his impassioned plea to the hard-nosed City Council? What led to this battle of politics and press, this almost-suspension of parcels and post? Well, it had a little to do with wheels and sidewalks, but more to do with city streets, who uses them, and how. And, as it turns out, it’s the same battle we’re fighting almost 130-years later, a controversy as routine to the newspapers of 1893 as it is to the Twitter streams of today.

Because progress isn’t nearly as linear or inevitable as we like to think, and, while tools and technology have changed, people pretty much haven’t. We are, for better or worse, the common dominator of written history.

So cinch up those clip-ins, and get ready. Because in an effort to better understand the present, we’re pedaling our way back into the past.

FULL STORY: Wheels, Scooters, and the Centuries-Old Fight for City Streets

Friday, August 30, 2019 in Urbn Developments

Transportation United States Arizona Bicycle E-Scooter Complete Street Bird Scooters Bicycles View More

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

Get top-rated, practical training for planners

Start Learning

Advertise with us

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.