Here we are with a few weeks to go before bike-share launches in NYC, and the volume of nonsense floating around is staggering. The tabloids think public bikes are a menace to life on Earth, and the respectable press barely has a better grip on reality. Thank goodness there’s Streetsblog, right?

Today we’re launching our spring pledge drive, and if you value the work we do please make a contribution to Streetsblog so we can keep bringing you the latest in livable streets.

Before you know it, New Yorkers are going to elect a new mayor, and we can’t take the city’s recent progress on street safety and surface transit for granted. Whoever’s in City Hall in 2014, Streetsblog needs to be there making the case for safer walking and biking and more effective transit. And we need you to help us.

Streetsblog depends on reader contributions to sustain our coverage of NYC transportation and planning issues. Without the generous support of our audience, we wouldn’t be able to fact-check those ridiculous bike-share stories, call out NYPD’s traffic safety apathy, or dive into the nitty-gritty of parking reform and other issues that no one else is covering.

For some extra motivation, we also have a very fine folding bike to give away at the end of the pledge drive. Everyone who makes a gift of $50 or more (or a monthly gift of $5 or more) will be entered into the drawing to take home this beauty, courtesy of Dahon:

Thanks to all our donors for making Streetsblog possible. Please make a tax-deductible gift to help us raise $40,000 by June 1 and keep us going through 2013 and beyond.

— Ben