Bike Allowance

I caught this in the Daily Camera Sunday.

When the Boulder City Council decided to offer its new city attorney a $2,000 "bicycle allowance" last week, it came as a surprise even to the recipient.

"It's not something I expected," said Jerry Gordon, who was appointed to the post on Tuesday. "I sometimes ride a bike to work, and I certainly will sometimes use a bike on weekends. But this is the world headquarters of serious bicyclists, and I don't consider myself in that group."

Right now, the three City Council employees -- the city manager, city attorney and the municipal court judge -- are eligible for the stipend, which only can be spent on a bike. The two-wheeled perkhas its origins in the misfortunes of a former city manager hired a decade ago.

When Ron Secrist accepted the job of city manager in 1998, he was surprised Boulder didn't provide an amenity every one of his other potential employers offered: a car allowance.

"No surprise: I was told that here, we don't provide automobiles for city employees," said Secrist, who now serves as president of the Boulder Community Hospital Foundation. "They said, 'No, we don't do that. We'll give you an Eco-Pass.'"

That's what I love about Boulder.