Hey folkx, we're here with a few thoughts after the U.S. election. In case you were concerned—we're not going anywhere! And we're saying it out loud.

The election has some immediate impacts, like an administration change, as well as regional transportation funding wins and the first openly transgender member of Congress!

Check in with us on Instagram, @AllBodiesOnBikes to let us know how you're doing 💗

Links mentioned in the show:

People for Bikes' Round up of Transportation wins in the 2024 election

Nashville, Tennessee passes $3.1B transit funding

Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender member of congress

Hi friends.

2

Ellen Schwartze: Hi friend..

3

We're sitting in a live special

edition election podcast from my couch.

4

Marley Blonsky: Yeah, we don't

typically live in the same place.

5

I for the time being, I'm in Arkansas.

6

Ellen Schwartze: Yep.

7

I know you have a lot of big ideas about

what you're doing with your life It

8

may or may not involve Arkansas or most

9

of this country.

10

I don't know.

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Marley Blonsky: I'm pretty sure that

it doesn't it's not gonna involve

12

Arkansas for much longer Okay, But

I don't know where it's going to be.

13

I think I'm going to go

nomadic, which is going

14

to

15

be really interesting.

16

Ellen Schwartze: You've been

saying that on your Instagram page,

17

which is very exciting for me.

18

At this point it's public.

19

Okay.

20

Marley Blonsky: Yeah.

21

But I don't know where that means yet.

22

Ellen Schwartze: It feels like when Ellen

Noble said, I'm coming out of retirement,

23

but it doesn't mean anything yet.

24

Yeah, exactly.

25

Marley Blonsky: Exactly.

26

Ellen Schwartze: Would that have

anything to do with the election?

27

Marley Blonsky: Yes and no.

28

Yeah.

29

Anywhere in the U.

30

S.

31

is going to be challenging for

a while but it would be, I'm

32

just feeling lonely down there.

33

The biking is absolutely incredible

but I just, I haven't found my people.

34

I've

35

made some really good friends

and I love them dearly.

36

But especially coming from

Seattle I want weirdos.

37

I want queers.

38

I want Jewish people.

39

I want just People of color.

40

I want just more diversity.

41

And Bentonville is like

the Stepford Wives.

42

It ain't

43

Ellen Schwartze: it?

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Marley Blonsky: No.

45

And I just don't fit in.

46

Ellen Schwartze: Yeah.

47

Marley Blonsky: Which

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Ellen Schwartze: is hard.

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It's really hard.

50

It is.

51

It's exhausting.

52

Yeah.

53

It gets to be exhausting.

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Marley Blonsky: Exactly.

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Yeah.

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Ellen Schwartze: We're here to talk a

little bit about the election and how

57

we see this affecting the next four

years, both of all bodies on bikes and

58

culture and cycling and lots of things.

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So we just had an election.

60

Yeah.

61

The next president will be Republican.

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Marley Blonsky: Can

you even call him that?

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I don't want to get this I guess

to start off, this is not going

64

to be a super political episode.

65

So if you turn this on, you're like, dang

it, I came here to hear Marlee and Ellen

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talk about bikes and uplifting things.

67

Maybe we start

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Ellen Schwartze: over.

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Marley Blonsky: We have that for you.

70

I don't think we need to start over.

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Ellen Schwartze: Okay.

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Marley Blonsky: Yeah.

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We're going to get into that.

74

We're going to talk about some

of the wins because there were

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some really good wins this cycle.

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But also just, a real conversation.

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I guess to start this out, the

most important thing is All

78

bodies on bikes is not changing.

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We are rooted in community.

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That is where we started and

that is where we will continue.

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And we are unequivocal in that we

are unwavering in our commitment

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to building that community to

supporting and cultivating inclusive

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spaces, and that's for everybody.

84

Transgender people, migrants, immigrants,

undocumented people we don't, that is

85

not something that is relevant to us.

86

And other marginalized people.

87

This is really coming together in

community is the core of All Bodies on

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Bikes, and that's not going to change.

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We're here for you, and we want

you to show up fully as yourself

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with every facet of who you are.

91

And a lot of things I've been

reading online these past, this past

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week has been about the importance

of community going forward.

93

And so we're just here to say,

to start out, all bodies on bikes

94

will continue to do this work.

95

Which gives me a lot of hope.

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Ellen Schwartze: I agree.

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That's a lot of what I'm anchoring into

post election is, and I think this is true

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of almost any election because, at this

point in time, about half the country is

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not going to like the outcome no matter

what it is, and so feeling that there

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is always going to be grief and losing,

quote unquote losing, and so feeling

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like one of the things you can do is

anchoring into your capital C community

102

and figuring out what that is and how you

can grow that and bring us closer together

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going forward no matter who you vote for.

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Marley Blonsky: Yeah.

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That being said, it's been a week.

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It's been a little bit

over a week at this point.

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I actually had surgery on election day.

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Ellen Schwartze: Okay.

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Marley Blonsky: So I was

blissfully tuned out.

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Ellen Schwartze: Were you

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Marley Blonsky: put

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Ellen Schwartze: completely under?

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Marley Blonsky: I was,

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I should have been put under the day

after, but it was on Tuesday when I had

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my knee surgery, I had my meniscus scoped

out and recovery is going really well,

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but I've really been focused on that.

117

Okay.

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Which has been a nice distraction.

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But it also has left me feeling

disconnected a little bit.

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How are you doing?

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Ellen Schwartze: I have been better.

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I have been better.

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It's the election didn't go.

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I don't think it's a

surprise to anyone listening.

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The election did not go the way

I would have preferred it to go.

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And it feels very devastating.

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I do have a ton of privilege that I will

acknowledge in that I, as a, as my own

128

individual self and my family will be.

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We will make it to the other

side of the next four years.

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And I get very concerned about people who

don't look like me and people who don't

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identify the same way that I do aren't

in the same economic bracket as I am.

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And so that weighs on me really heavily.

133

In a lot of ways, but like the day after

I would like, I think I was borderline

134

comatose and Took a lot of time to

think of what I wanted to do next.

135

I'm not a person at least in

this situation I am not a person

136

who is ready for the pollyanna.

137

We're gonna like here's how

here's the silver lining

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Marley Blonsky: Yeah,

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Ellen Schwartze: especially the

day after I was not ready for that,

140

but I am a person who I will need

to take action to feel like I'm

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more in control of the situation.

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And so I just did a lot of thinking on

what that is and landed on community.

143

Like what I'm trying to build in

Kansas City with Family Bike Ride,

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with all of the advocacy work and

all the ways I'm involved here, is

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ultimately about building that community.

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So I'm grateful to be involved with

All Bodies on Bikes in this way.

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And knowing that I can

be, this is a safe space.

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This is somewhere that is radically

inclusive and vocally inclusive.

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So I think I am seeing the way forward.

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I'm starting to see that path laid out.

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Marley Blonsky: Good, good.

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Yeah.

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And if anything, we learned a lot

during COVID about the healing

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power of the outdoors and nature.

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And so we can always go for a bike ride.

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No matter how tumultuous things get, or

how dumb the cabinet turns out to be,

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Ellen Schwartze: can I say that?

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I've heard it called a

drunk drawer, not a cabinet.

159

Oh,

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Marley Blonsky: wait, a junk drawer

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Ellen Schwartze: or a drunk drawer?

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Junk with a J, both might apply.

163

Yeah.

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Both might apply.

165

Yeah.

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And I think with the cabinet, I think a

lot of people are feeling the uncertainty

167

of the situation that we're going into.

168

Okay.

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I would put myself in that bucket.

170

Yeah, so whether, and again,

this is going to be true of any

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administration change, right?

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People are going to flip over

to the other administration.

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What does this mean?

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What does this look like

for bikes right now?

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We're losing Mayor Pete, who's in

charge of transportation right now.

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We love Mayor Pete.

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We love Mayor Pete.

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He's done a great job.

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Whether or not he had a background in

transportation before that, I don't know.

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Yeah, I don't know either.

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He's, but to be fair though,

as well as transportation,

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he's obviously he is a gay man.

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He is part of what we would consider

our All Bodies on Bikes community.

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If he, Mayor Pete, if you want to

hang on a bike ride, let us know.

185

Yeah.

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Sounds like you're gonna have

some free time coming up.

187

But what does the future of bikes

and transportation look like?

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We can't tell the future.

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We are not clairvoyant, but

we have some indications.

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Marley Blonsky: Yeah.

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And so there were some really big

wins for transportation specifically

192

for biking in this election.

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Before we get to that though,

there were some other big wins.

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Okay.

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So the first, and please correct

me if I say this incorrectly.

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But the first openly transgender

person was elected to Congress.

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Yes, Sarah McBride.

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It's a huge step.

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Ellen Schwartze: Huge.

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Yeah.

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And I think it's such a.

202

Interesting collision of

the country that we had.

203

So I am, I live in Missouri.

204

We approved we put abortion access

in the constitution and then voted

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Republican down ballot in this

same year as the first openly

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transgender person is now in Congress.

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And so it's just so wildly

interesting to me that these.

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competing ideals are going to

be in Congress at the same time.

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I think it's just very

illustrative of what's happening.

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Marley Blonsky: Yeah, and obviously

neither of us are political pundits, but

211

I've been listening to a lot of it, and

there's so much talk about the economy and

212

why people voted one way versus the other,

and, the, they didn't vote all one ticket.

213

But it's so fascinating.

214

It's,

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Ellen Schwartze: it's really fascinating.

216

And I think the, again, just

that the, is it a dichotomy?

217

Or juxtaposition?

218

Juxtaposition.

219

I like that better of having those

two things exist in the same election.

220

Is gonna, is really interesting to me in

that coming together as a community idea.

221

So where, at the way these elections

shook out to wildly polarized ideals are

222

coming together in the same room under

the same roof to make decisions together.

223

Marley Blonsky: Hopefully they can

come together and make some decisions.

224

Ellen Schwartze: They have to, I

guess they don't have to interact.

225

There's 535 people in Congress,

but they're still going

226

to be around each other.

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Yeah.

228

They will have to feign.

229

Is that even true anymore?

230

I guess you can put, whatever you

want if you're sitting in the stands.

231

But yeah, they're gonna they are literally

and figuratively under the same roof.

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Marley Blonsky: Yes.

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And hopefully we can find some common

understanding and some common ground

234

and work together for, clearly there's

a lot of folks who are struggling and I

235

think that's why the vote turned out the

way that it did because they saw hope.

236

in whatever was being offered.

237

And hopefully they can come together and

maybe, and this is where I turn into a

238

Pollyanna, of, oh, it won't be that bad.

239

And then I remember back to 2016

and it I think is going to be

240

worse than any of us imagine.

241

Ellen Schwartze: I think so.

242

When I, and I agree, but, and

as much as I just said, I'm not

243

ready for the silver lining yet.

244

The other thing that I think I've

acknowledged is progress is not linear.

245

That is, we have gotten through

this literally the same person

246

and, at the head of, I don't know

that I want to say in charge of.

247

Yeah.

248

At the head of this administration has

been at the head before there was, as

249

far as progressive policies were undone.

250

And so we've re two steps

forward, one step back.

251

In the grand scheme of progress, it

could be that you only get one step

252

forward, two steps back, but you might

still like over the course of the

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last, you, do we want to say 60 years?

254

If Ruby bridges turned 70 this

year, I learned she has an

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Marley Blonsky: Instagram.

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Ellen Schwartze: That's amazing.

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I didn't know that I've seen a

lot about her on Instagram, but

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I didn't know she had her own.

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She

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Marley Blonsky: has her own Instagram.

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Ellen Schwartze: So I feel like

there's that Ruby bridges is 70.

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This is all like.

263

Not in my I was not, I'm not 70, but my

parents feel like my mother in law is.

264

And so since she's been alive is a

lot of where this progress has made.

265

And think of the difference there.

266

Yeah.

267

The, the more macro you

can get, the better.

268

Obviously there's tons of progress

still left to be made, but that's

269

the thing that I anchor in when I

think of the fact that we've got

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four years of this administration.

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Which

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Marley Blonsky: is,

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It's gonna happen.

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It's happening.

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It's happening.

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Whether we like it or not.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

279

Should we talk about some of the wins that

happened specifically in transportation?

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I would love that.

281

Neither of us are transportation

wonks both advocates.

282

I think I'm adjacent to being a wonk.

283

I think you were very close.

284

I'm really close.

285

Yeah, I think I used to be and

then I've moved away from that and

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I would love to get back into it.

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Ellen Schwartze: I wonder what should

I call myself if it's not a wonk?

288

Marley Blonsky: I think you

should take on the wonk named.

289

You.

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We said that word too much

and now it sounds weird.

291

Anyway we got all of this from People

for Bikes, so if you're not familiar

292

with People for Bikes, they are an

incredible organization that does

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advocacy what's the word I almost said

litigating, but they don't litigate

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Lobbying.

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Lobbying on Capitol Hill in

favor of active transportation.

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Yeah.

297

And so they put together this, we'll put a

link to it so y'all can read because we're

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only going to have a couple of highlights

but there were some really big wins.

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Broad strokes in this

election, there was 27.

300

4 billion, with a B, billion Dollars.

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Dollars that was approved

nationwide in this election.

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Ellen Schwartze: Yeah,

for transportation stuff.

303

Marley Blonsky: Yes for

active transportation.

304

And a lot of that will trickle down to

biking, walking, connected communities.

305

It's You can't say it's all for biking

because a lot of it is built into,

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Ellen Schwartze: it's very holistic.

307

Yeah.

308

Yeah.

309

It's a lot of public transportation

first mile last mile stuff.

310

So it's been, it's cool.

311

They had a map.

312

That is what I think caught both of our

eyes where they highlighted each state

313

and how much money each state approved.

314

And these are typically like multi year,

multi decade in some cases, programs

315

that have been approved, but still 27.

316

4 billion is nothing to shake a stick at.

317

Yeah.

318

Yeah.

319

So we wanted to there's a couple

of things that are not surprises.

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So California had $11 billion approved.

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Marley Blonsky: Nope.

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Sorry.

323

Two.

324

Yes.

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Specifically, yes, there was 2

billion for Proposition four, which

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supports the construction, maintenance

and improvement of recreation

327

and active transportation trails.

328

Oh, nice.

329

Yeah.

330

Cool.

331

Marley Blonsky: Specifically to

combat the effects of climate change.

332

Aha.

333

So that's really cool there.

334

That is cool.

335

Yeah.

336

Washington where I used to live.

337

Again, not surprising that

they voted in favor of this.

338

Yeah.

339

But basically they rejected a measure

that will ensure that funds keep flowing

340

for this program called the Move Ahead

Washington Package, which provides 1.

341

3 billion for bike and ped

projects, which is really cool.

342

Ellen Schwartze: And they rejected

the measure to protect funds.

343

Marley Blonsky: It's really complicated.

344

Ellen Schwartze: So this is

just like a wording thing.

345

It's a wording thing.

346

Yeah.

347

So

348

Marley Blonsky: basically there's

a cap and trade emissions scheme in

349

Washington for climate change stuff.

350

And there was an initiative

to get rid of that.

351

Ellen Schwartze: Ah, the

352

Marley Blonsky: cap and trade

scheme is what is funding the

353

move ahead Washington package.

354

And so they voted to protect that

funding, which is really awesome.

355

Good job voters.

356

Cause that's confusing.

357

It is.

358

Yeah.

359

I

360

Ellen Schwartze: mean.

361

That's the, that's how ballots work.

362

Exactly.

363

But yeah.

364

So I wanted to talk about a

couple of Midwestern things.

365

Would you have expect, how much

money do you think Tennessee got?

366

I know that, I know the answer, but

367

Marley Blonsky: I, I wouldn't think

of Tennessee as being an active

368

transportation state and it doesn't

show up on all the radars, even

369

though I know there's lots of folks in

Memphis and Nashville doing good work.

370

It just hasn't been on my radar.

371

Ellen Schwartze: And so Nashville

specifically for past and or they

372

passed a tax, like a quarter cent

sales tax, and they're going to get, I

373

think it's 3 billion to implement their

public transportation, which includes

374

a whole bunch of bike and pet stuff.

375

Marley Blonsky: That's so awesome.

376

Yeah.

377

Yeah.

378

Very

379

Ellen Schwartze: cool.

380

And then the other one we wanted to

highlight was Ohio, which got 6 billion.

381

6

382

Marley Blonsky: billion for Ohio.

383

Ellen Schwartze: 6 billion for Ohio,

holistic, like for the full package.

384

And then a third of that is

almost specifically for bikes.

385

Marley Blonsky: Yeah, and the plans,

which is really cool, include building

386

500 miles of new bike paths, multi

use trails, and sidewalks with 150

387

miles planned in the next five years.

388

That's pretty

389

Ellen Schwartze: great.

390

Marley Blonsky: Yeah, 30 miles a year.

391

Ellen Schwartze: Yeah, 30 miles a year is

392

Marley Blonsky: great.

393

Yeah, if I got 30, I live in Bentonville,

so we can't use that as a comparison.

394

But when I lived in Seattle, if we

were getting 30 miles of new trail

395

across Washington, like that would

be revolutionary for so many people.

396

Ellen Schwartze: Same here.

397

Yeah.

398

In Missouri specifically,

that would be awesome.

399

I guess I immediately think of

Kansas city, the city where I live.

400

It's that would be, that would easily

stretch like a north south corridor.

401

Yeah, no problem.

402

Marley Blonsky: Yeah.

403

And I think that's the thing to

remember is Even a mile long segment

404

is

405

Marley Blonsky: going to

positively impact so many people.

406

And I think that's a way to think

about all of these big things that

407

are happening with selection is

they're going to impact real people,

408

both positively and negatively.

409

Ellen Schwartze: And a lot of times

it's the people who are marginalized

410

in some way, who are going to

best use some of this protected

411

infrastructure specifically.

412

So if we're, especially

if there's an effort to.

413

Focus on neighborhoods that are

have dangerous streets, or if we

414

can do traffic calming, if it's

high pedestrian networks that have.

415

That need the protected

infrastructure that often most

416

impacts a vulnerable population.

417

Yeah.

418

Pedestrians are like, inherently

the most vulnerable, but.

419

Frequently a pedestrian is

a pedestrian for a reason,

420

especially in a spot like Ohio.

421

Marley Blonsky: Exactly.

422

Yeah.

423

Yeah.

424

So there's, there is good news.

425

There is good news.

426

And I think, to wrap it up

and bring it back community.

427

Capital C community is really what's going

to get us through this next four years.

428

And who knows what's to come after

that, but I've been thinking a lot about

429

community because my threads is, if you're

not on threads and you're not following

430

me, you should follow me on threads.

431

Cause I have some

thoughts there sometimes.

432

Good for you.

433

Yeah.

434

I'm

435

Ellen Schwartze: not on threads.

436

Marley Blonsky: I used to be like, I

was a very early adopter of Twitter.

437

And so it's been a place

that I've used like online,

438

I guess community forum has been a big

part of my digital life for a long time.

439

So the transition to

threads has been good.

440

But I've been, there's a lot of folks

talking about building community there.

441

And it's just made me think about what

is a community and making sure that we

442

are truly building networks of support.

443

I think the word community, not to,

I'm going to get on a soapbox here.

444

I think it gets.

445

painted with a broad stroke of

this community, that community.

446

But I would argue that a community

is a very specific thing.

447

It's a group of people that care

about each other's well being.

448

And that could be, centered

around a common interest, that

449

could be centered around a place

of worship something like that.

450

I think about a bike ride or a group ride.

451

We've all been on group rides

that don't feel like a community.

452

You're just, you're all there because

you have a shared interest and

453

we're going to ride bikes together.

454

And then you've been on rides where

it does feel like a community.

455

You're taking care of each other.

456

You're waiting for each other.

457

You're checking on each other's wellbeing.

458

And I would urge us all to be

building that second model where

459

we're checking on each other.

460

We're gathering for dinners, coffee.

461

Checking in

462

Ellen Schwartze: on

463

Marley Blonsky: each

464

Ellen Schwartze: other.

465

Marley Blonsky: It's huge.

466

Ellen Schwartze: Wow.

467

Yeah.

468

Little things, like little text messages.

469

I loved after the election, I got

several people from various walks

470

of life, just I know we were in the

same camp, like just checking in.

471

That can go so long, even just

in like friendships in general.

472

Yeah.

473

If I can get on my little soapbox,

like the, how you doing text.

474

Even if there's not a administration

shift in your life, is really powerful.

475

Marley Blonsky: Yeah, that's

kept me going through these

476

last three years in Arkansas.

477

Of just people checking in on me and

saying, Hey, how you doing Marlee?

478

Are you okay?

479

And most, not most of the time, some

of the time I have not been okay.

480

And that really has been

what's kept me going.

481

I don't know, there's a lot of

uncertainty tariffs, who knows

482

what's happening with that.

483

Ellen Schwartze: Oh yeah, do you

want to talk a little, I think you're

484

closer to this, so can you talk

a little bit about how you could

485

see that impacting the bike world?

486

Marley Blonsky: Yeah so a lot of,

bikes are manufactured overseas.

487

Especially the big name brands,

Giant, Cannondale, a lot of those have

488

manufacturing facilities overseas.

489

And so if these tariffs are imposed

it's likely, and again, not an economist

490

but likely it's the end consumer

who usually ends up paying more.

491

Because of those tariffs.

492

So there's the potential that

things could increase in cost

493

manufacturing facilities might shift.

494

If we're imposing tariffs on

China, it's possible that factories

495

will move to other places.

496

I used to work in logistics and

a lot of that was happening.

497

There was a big shift away

from China into Vietnam.

498

It's an interesting global perspective.

499

But so that'll be something

to keep an eye on there.

500

Yeah.

501

Marley Blonsky: Definitely going to

impact the bike industry which is

502

already going, undergoing a little

bit, still going through COVID.

503

Okay.

504

Yeah.

505

Yeah.

506

The, and there's lots of good podcasts

about that, about the inventory

507

and how everybody was buying bikes.

508

And then.

509

They overstocked and then

glut of inventory anyway.

510

So

511

Ellen Schwartze: yeah.

512

Interesting.

513

Marley Blonsky: Okay.

514

Yeah.

515

But the crux of it, all bodies

on bikes is not changing.

516

We are here for you.

517

If you're feeling alone,

if you're feeling.

518

Reach out to us especially if you live

in one of the places where our chapters

519

are at, which we're launching five new

520

have more about that in future episodes.

521

But we want you to know that

we're here and we care about you.

522

Ellen Schwartze: We do

care about you a lot.

523

Yeah.

524

So let us know, reach out on Instagram.

525

Yeah.

526

Instagram is probably, is that

the easiest way to get Instagram?

527

The easiest.

528

Yeah.

529

Maybe let's actually, let's put up

a box and be like, we just launched

530

this episode and what did you think?

531

And tell us how you're doing.

532

Marley Blonsky: Yeah.

533

Yeah.

534

So let us know.

535

You can also always send us an email

podcast at all bodies on bikes.

536

com and that goes

directly to me and Ellen.

537

So yeah, thanks for sticking with us.

538

We know you don't tune into All Bodies

on Bikes to hear about election stuff.

539

It felt monumentous.

540

Yeah, it felt really important.

541

Yeah,

542

Ellen Schwartze: I'm glad we did it.

543

I'm glad we're chatting.

544

I'm glad you're here on my couch.

545

Thanks.

546

It feels good.

547

It feels like buildings.

548

It's just two of us, but it

counts towards community.

549

Marley Blonsky: It definitely

counts towards community.

550

Yeah.

551

Yeah.

552

All

553

Ellen Schwartze: Yeah.

554

Marley Blonsky: Good

chatting with you, Marley.

555

Good chatting with you, Ellen.

556

And be well, everybody.

557

And we will talk to you soon.

558

Ellen Schwartze: This has been a super

good Midwestern goodbye, by the way.

559

Like 17 times.

560

That's how it goes.

561

Bye.