New things bring a particular reaction in some people. The streets around me are lined densely with parked cars. They take up a lot of space, impair visibility, etc but people look past them. Add a shared bike on the corner of one block and because it is new/novel some think it's a messy outrage.

(I drive and use street parking. There are no scooters here, but I'd love to have them as part of the city's ecosystem in the future.)

I was in Atlanta last month, and outside of Midtown (Tech/GSU), I didn't see them anywhere else. Here, we have them in SM/Venice, in Westwood, in Culver City, in DTLA, etc.

I know bird is hq'ed in santa monica, so that would partly explain the numbers