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We are just starting to get the main push here in Grand Rapids, Mi. The Yuppies from Chicago, the burbs of Detroit, and from Ohio are flooding into the city.

Things have been calm so far, but now that they are spilling into the “traditional” black majority areas, I can see that it’s about to hit the fan! Will be interesting to see how the hipsters fare! There is also some friction in the old Polish neighborhoods north of me, but people there are far older and seem to be glad to get a big payout for their long paid for homes.

I honestly dont find the bike lanes to be as big a deal as some make them because in my neighborhood they ARE used, but the city is trying to push them into places where riding a bike = your car got repo’d, without really getting input from people that live there that are now finding their on-street parking being swept away.

As you mention about your own neighborhood, a viable biking infrastructure can be a significant boost to the attractiveness of a neighborhood and a boost to housing values. If presented in a cooperative rather than adversarial way, this can be a selling point even for people who never get on a bike. It doesn't take much, especially if accommodations are built in from the beginning.

Simple things like sidewalks, wide shoulders, and regular street grids solve a lot of problems. If you accept the principle that pedestrians should be able to move freely around their own neighborhoods, the same infractructure will generally work for bikes as well. What has to be changed is the assumption that people should be forced to drive virtually everywhere, including across the street.