We always hope that our stories will provoke thought and discussion, but I can’t remember the last time someone was physically threatened over something we published.

Today I heard from Randall White, chairman of the Fort Worth Avenue TIF board, who has taken a firm stand against the city’s plan to widen Beckley at Commerce and was interviewed on this topic in our February story, "Road Block". It featured a photo of White on his bicycle, with cars passing by on the Commerce Street bridge. He and others quoted in the story promote the ideas of "New Urbanism" and designing roads to suit more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly development.

Sign up for our newsletter!

* indicates required

Today White received an anonymous letter in his mailbox from someone who had torn out the lead page, and next to his photo, White told me, were "instructions scrawled in ink that I be hit by cars that whiz past me in the photo." The letter was mailed yesterday, White says, and "definitely has a who-the-hell-do-you-think-you-are tone. The threat’s about preserving SOP [standard operating procedure] or, maybe, it’s someone else’s personal issues."

Luckily, he quips, "it’s been decades since I’ve had any lovers who would feel spurned, so we can rule that out."