Bike Sharing: Menino's Bike News Overshadows Yoon's GreenPrint

Bostonist's inbox has been flooded by press releases from Sam Yoon's campaign office describing Yoon's "GreenPrint" for Boston. It's a series of proposals to add incentives for homeowners, business owners, and drivers to reduce their carbon footprint—by renovating existing buildings and using alternative transportation—that Yoon hopes will become central to his campaign. To kick things off, he proposed legislation in City Council today to add a tax incentive for businesses who are willing to build "green" roofs—roofs with soil and living flora that reduce winter heating requirements and storm runoff and clean the air to boot. It's a big proposal, destined for the front page of the Globe, right?

It would have been, except that Menino beat him to the punch. On the front page of today's Globe, below the fold, is a story about the city's plans to unveil the first citywide bike sharing program in the United States. It's a program spearheaded by Menino's "cycling czar," Nicole Freeman, and the Globe presents its details among a mishmash of familiar platitudes about how hard it is to bike in Boston. The gist:

Bike sharing is the next step. The city envisions making available between 1,000 and 3,000 bikes at stations 300 or 400 yards apart, located at subway and bus stops, main squares, tourist sites, and across city neighborhoods.

Riders would probably have the option of subscribing to the program for an annual fee, which would allow for discounts, or day passes.

Some think the whole idea sounds "sketchy."

Bike sharing is one of the planks of Yoon's GreenPrint. The story about his green roof tax incentives? Buried on the front page of the Business section and not even available from the front page of Boston.com.

Elsewhere, the battle between Yoon's and Menino's campaigns wasn't confined to dueling press releases; it actually involved shouting.