He wants to abolish bike lanes. Does he belong on SLO County’s bicycle advisory board? | Opinion

He’s the newest member of San Luis Obispo County’s Bicycle Advisory Committee — and he wants to get rid of bicycle lanes.

“Bike lanes are dangerous to bicyclists, in my opinion,” Gary Kirkland told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, before launching into a description of a particular bike lane in Atascadero.

He isn’t necessarily wrong; poorly designed bike lanes can be dangerous, but abolishing all bike lanes — even the ones that work well — is extreme.

So is this: Kirkland believes that bicycles should be treated like motorcycles.

Oh, and he doesn’t believe in forcing people to pay taxes.

Now would be a good time to point out that Kirkland is a familiar figure in local politics.

He is president of the local Libertarian Party and ran three times for state Assembly, most recently in 2004.

At the time, his platform was “Free is the only way to live.”

His position on taxes was straightforward: “All taxes should be voluntary.”

Given his unorthodox views, his nomination to the bicycle committee drew some scrutiny.

Normally, such appointments are routinely approved without discussion, but this time Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg asked if she could question Kirkland.

“I really just want to know what your knowledge is regarding the needs of cyclists and your commitment to bicycling as a viable means of transportation,” she asked.

“I have a vested interest in bicycles,” he said. “I’ve been riding since I was about 7.”

Supervisor Jimmy Paulding followed up with a question about bike lanes, prompting a lengthy response from Kirkland.

The impromptu interview met with some resistance from Supervisor Debbie Arnold, who had nominated Kirkland.

It was the first time in her 11 years on the board that someone had asked to interview another supervisor’s nominee for a volunteer advisory position, she said.

“It’s kind of funny that any of my board colleagues would question my choice of having someone on an advisory board. So I want to share that because maybe I’ll start looking at everybody’s appointments and doing interviews on the fly.”

For the record, we applaud Supervisor Ortiz-Legg’s interest in finding out more about Kirkland.

Advisory committees do important work, and the entire board has a stake in ensuring that members are well-qualified to serve.

In this case, Kirkland convinced supervisors that he is an experienced cyclist and does care about the cycling community — even if his views aren’t exactly mainstream.

He was appointed by a unanimous vote.