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It's time to make cycling safer: Ontario's doctors
by Beth McKechnie 11 Aug '11

11 Aug '11

It’s Time to Make Cycling Safer: Ontario’s Doctors*Toronto, August 10, 2011*- The most recent report on cycling injuries revealed that in 2009, there were 26,000 emergency department visits and over 1,300 hospitalizations in Ontario. With increasing interest in cycling across the province, Ontario’s doctors are urging the provincial government to make cyclists’ safety a priority. Dr. Stewart Kennedy, President of the Ontario Medical Association, released a comprehensive and in-depth report, “Enhancing Cycling Safety in Ontario<https://www.oma.org/Resources/Documents/OMACyclingPaper09-08-2011.pdf>,” before he cycled through downtown Toronto to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Big Bike event. The report included a number recommendations aimed at increasing cyclists’ safety. Among the recommendations, Ontario’s doctors are calling for: - The provincial government to develop policy and programs, including funding, to facilitate safe cycling, and for municipal governments to redouble their efforts to build much-needed cycling infrastructure; - Connected networks of roads with paved shoulders in rural settings, to allow for the much needed separation between cyclists and fast-travelling vehicles on rural roads; - The Ontario Drivers’ Manual to be revised to include a comprehensive section on vehicle-bicycle interaction, and furthermore that the Ontario’s Drive Test include this in the examination of new drivers; - Ongoing delivery of bicycle safety education for young children through such programs as Can-Bike, and that such training be mandatory for all Ontario primary school students; and - Education material for both drivers and cyclists that emphasizes intersection-specific dangers. A safer environment for cycling is crucial to creating a healthier population. Ontario’s doctors want to make sure that Ontarians feel safe when riding their bicycles. For the complete list of recommendations from “Enhancing Cycling Safety in Ontario” please visit www.oma.org * Quotes *“Two-thirds of Canadians are inactive, putting them at greater risk of chronic disease. Cycling is a great a way to stay fit and a way for people of all ages to add essential physical activity to their daily lives and improve their health.” *Stewart Kennedy, MD, President of the Ontario Medical Association *“The debate about bicycle infrastructure is so often politically driven, but should really be about the health of the population and safety of those who choose to cycle. Ontario’s doctors are committed to working with the province and municipalities to create a safer Ontario for our cyclists.” *Stewart Kennedy, MD, President of the Ontario Medical Association Quick Facts * - Annually more than 2,000 cyclists are injured in vehicle-bicycle collisions alone; - 68 per cent of car-bike collisions happen at intersections and these most frequently involve children riding off of the sidewalk; and - In the past five years cycling fatalities from these collisions have averaged 20 per year. For more information please contact: OMA Media Relations at (416) 340-2862 or toll-free at 1-800-268-7215 ext. 2862 www.oma.org @Ontariosdoctors <http://twitter.com/#%21/OntariosDoctors>

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I like this Mayor's stance on parking in bike lanes
by Erik Dickson 10 Aug '11

10 Aug '11

If only... http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/mayor-lithuania-crushes-car-tank- parking-bike-lane-204422571.html Regards, Erik Dickson WE'VE MOVED Suite 1120 201 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 3K6 ph: (204) 927-3444 ext. 242 fax: (204) 927-3443 web: www.scatliff.ca blog: http://scatliff.tumblr.com Please consider our environment before printing this message.

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Bicyclist harassment outlawed by LA City Council
by Beth McKechnie 08 Aug '11

08 Aug '11

Bicyclist harassment outlawed by Los Angeles City Council New law makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bicycle-law-20110721,0,3219222.story By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times July 21, 2011 The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday passed a pioneering new law intended to protect bicyclists from harassment by motorists. The ordinance, which backers described as the toughest of its kind in the nation, makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically, and allows victims of harassment to sue in civil court without waiting for the city to press criminal charges. Its passage comes one day after a 63-year-old bicyclist was struck and killed by a car on a downtown street — an incident that bicycle advocates say underscores the dangers cyclists face. The new law is the latest bicycle-friendly measure to hit L.A., where an increasingly vocal community of activists has been calling for more protections. Several of them showed up at City Hall on Wednesday to share stories of harassment; they described motorists who threw objects, shouted insults and tried to run them off the road. As the number of cyclists on L.A. streets has swelled — local census data from 2008 show that about 13,000 commute to work on bikes, a 48% increase over the last eight years — so too have conflicts between motorists and bicyclists. Some motorists have accused cyclists of flouting traffic laws, while cyclists have complained that they are treated like second-class citizens. The new law allows cyclists to sue in civil court and collect up to three times their damages, plus attorney's fees. Ross Hirsch, a lawyer who helped craft the law, said the potential for high compensation will make attorneys more likely to take on cyclists as clients. Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said no other city offers bicyclists an equivalent civil recourse. "It's a groundbreaking move," he said. L.A. lawmakers have garnered national attention with several bike-friendly measures in the last two years. In 2011, the Los Angeles Police Department<http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/police/los-angeles-police-de…>convened a bicycle task force and launched new training that acquaints officers with laws that protect cyclists, including traffic codes that relate to bicycle lanes and rights of way. And earlier this year, the city passed an ambitious new bicycle master plan<http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-2385-S2_MISC_07-11-2011.pdf>that calls for the paving of more than 200 miles of new bicycle routes every five years. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/bill-rosendahl-PEPLT007508.topic>, who championed that plan and wrote the new anti-harassment law, said, "It's about time cyclists have rights." He became an advocate for the community in 2008 after two cyclists pedaling on a curvy road in his Brentwood district were seriously injured when a driver slammed on his brakes in front of them. The motorist, physician Christopher Thompson, was convicted of numerous charges, including assault with a deadly weapon. At the state level, legislators are considering a law that would require drivers to give cyclists at least 3 feet of space while passing. Senate Bill 910 is cosponsored by the city of Los Angeles, and it has won the support of local politicians, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/antonio-villaraigosa-PEPLT007500.topic>, who recently launched a "Give Me Three!" safety campaign. Villaraigosa knows how dangerous riding a bicycle can be. Last summer, he bruised his head and shattered his elbow when he was jolted off his bike by a turning taxicab. *kate.linthicum(a)latimes.com* Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times <http://www.latimes.com/>

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Feel Good Story: Winnipeg Bike Valet
by Anders Swanson 08 Aug '11

08 Aug '11

I though you would be interested in seeing a picture of people in Bombers' jerseys holding their bikes and waiting in line at a bike valet: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Relax-car-culture-its-gonna-b… I spoke to David on Saturday and he told me that his numbers of bikes parked at Bomber's games have doubled since starting up just a year ago. Only 120 or so, but he keeps having to bring more racks and steal more space to make room at the site. (Although 120 may seem like an insignificant # compared to overall attendance, the # is growing rapidly....and 120 bikes represents alot of parking spaces, no matter what way you look at it. (Using the standard size on wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_space>, it seems to works out to 21,600 sq. ft. (or half an acre) of asphalt saved.) ..now if we can just find a way to weld tailgates on all bikes, we'd be set. Regards, Anders For more info, or to volunteer, please visit: http://www.bicyclevaletwinnipeg.ca/

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Mark your calendar! Aug 17 webinar: Designing Bridges for Active Transportation
by Beth McKechnie 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

Bike to the Future and Green Action Centre invite you to join us for this webinar being presented by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP): * *Location:* EcoCentre boardroom (303 Portage Ave, 3rd floor)* * * ** ** *Designing and Retrofitting Bridges for Active Transportation* *Wednesday, August 17 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Central Time *** Bridges are highly visible and symbolic pieces of infrastructure; they act as gateways and when done right can showcase a city's commitment to creating great places for bicycling and walking. With national attention on the USA's degrading and deficient infrastructure, bridge repair and rehabilitation will be a major engineering focus in coming years. This represents a historic opportunity to incorporate bicycle and pedestrian facilities in bridge design for future generations. Engineers, planners, advocates, and agency staff at all levels of government should attend this webinar to get up to speed on the policy, planning and design issues specific to building bridges that meet goals for supporting and increasing active transportation. Attendees will learn: • to identify the role of bridges in bicycle and pedestrian networks as critical links for accessibility between trip generators and popular destinations; • to define bicycle and pedestrian issues that arise during bridge rehabilitation in order to increase bicycling and walking mode share and safety; • to identify facility designs that safely manage transitions from different facility types, as well as how to select the appropriate cross section (i.e. how to divide space among different roadway users); • to recognize that bridge rehabilitations often involve multiple jurisdictions, and to discuss the complexities and lessons learned from working with numerous agencies and stakeholders. Examples will be taken from Massachusetts' accelerated bridge retrofit program in the Charles River Basin. Click on this link<http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=jessie@greenactioncentre.ca&job=426763&ymlin…>to learn the background about LivableStreets Alliance's Charles River Better Bridges Campaign. Click here<http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=jessie@greenactioncentre.ca&job=426763&ymlin…>to read the League of American Bicyclists' policy report, *Bridging the Gaps in Bicycling Networks: An advocate's guide to getting bikes on bridges*. Presenters are Jacqueline Douglas, Director, LivableStreets Alliance, and Nick Jackson, the Regional Office Director for Toole Design Group in Boston. -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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Bikeshare makes for a nice ride in Minneapolis
by Beth McKechnie 03 Aug '11

03 Aug '11

Bikeshares are popping up across North America, with Montreal's Bixi<https://montreal.bixi.com/>being the first. Here's a short video on the success of Minneapolis's system called Nice Ride <https://www.niceridemn.org/> (purchased from Bixi), which is now one year old. One thing to keep in mind is that bikeshares work best in cities with significant amounts of bike infrastructure (bike lanes, separated on-road bike paths, pathways, etc). http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-08-01-bikeshare-makes-for-a-nice-ride-in-m… cheers, Beth

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NYC Spring Bike Counts Show Steady Growth of 14 Percent
by Beth McKechnie 02 Aug '11

02 Aug '11

Spring Bike Counts Show Steady Growth of 14 Percent by Noah Kazis <http://www.streetsblog.org/author/noah-kazis/> on July 28, 2011 http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/28/spring-bike-counts-show-steady-growth… *The growth of cycling in New York City shows no signs of letting up.* The Department of Transportation’s latest count of cyclists entering the center of the city posted a 14 percent increase this spring<http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c7…>compared to last spring. If the trend holds up for the rest of 2011, it will mark the fifth consecutive year<http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/commuter_cycling_indicator_and_da…>of double digit growth. “More and more New Yorkers are choosing to get around town by bicycle, and by creating more bike lanes, we’re giving New Yorkers the option to safely choose to bike,” said Mayor Bloomberg in a statement. “It’s the City’s responsibility to adjust to trends in commuting and ensure our streets are safe for everyone on the road, and by improving our street network and strengthening enforcement of traffic laws, we’ve made our streets safer than ever – for everyone.” As noted by Andrea Bernstein at Transportation Nation<http://transportationnation.org/2011/07/28/breaking-new-york-city-biking-is…>, the new numbers were released by the mayor’s office, not the Department of Transportation. That, along with Bloomberg’s statement, is an encouraging sign that the mayor is embracing the increase in cycling as a major achievement — perhaps in recognition of the broad public support for expanding the bike network<http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/28/bike-lanes-more-popular-than-god/> . According to the DOT count, the number of commuter cyclists this spring rose 62 percent compared to the spring of 2008. Since 2000, the number has increased by 262 percent. Until now the city has released the annual screenline counts all at once each fall. DOT says they will now release the counts more frequently. One thing to look for in the next release: How the Manhattan Bridge bike detour<http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/18/wanted-better-protection-for-thousand…>, which includes several harrowing blocks on the Bowery, is affecting bike commuting over that bridge and the nearby Brooklyn Bridge. The screenline count, which the city has been collecting for decades, has its advantages and disadvantages. By counting the number of cyclists crossing the East River bridges, on the Hudson River Greenway at 50th Street, and at the Staten Island Ferry, the city captures a certain set of trips that doesn’t necessarily reflect the full citywide picture<http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/04/27/how-many-new-yorkers-bike-each-day/> . Census data actually showed cycling decreasing<http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/10/01/did-nyc-bike-commuting-decrease-in-20…>citywide in 2008 and 2009, but the Census has its own flaws. It only tracks people’s primary commuting mode, hiding non-work trips and people who commute by bike less than half the time. The numbers DOT announced today, in contrast, count actual, observed bike trips.

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Transportation and social justice: The sentence is in on the Raquel Nelson case
by Beth McKechnie 02 Aug '11

02 Aug '11

Transportation and social justice: The sentence is in on the Raquel Nelson case by Sarah Goodyear <http://www.grist.org/people/Sarah+Goodyear> 26 Jul 2011 1:13 PM http://www.grist.org/transportation/2011-07-26-the-raquel-nelson-case-and-t… Could the Raquel Nelson case be a turning point in the way pedestrian rights are seen in this country? I write this shortly after the sentencing in Nelson's case. In case you haven't heard of her, Nelson is the Atlanta-area single mother who was convicted of vehicular homicide after her 4-year-old son was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver who later admitted to drinking and being on painkillers. Nelson and her three children, ages 9, 4, and 2, were trying to get from a bus stop to their apartment complex directly across a busy road, and there was no crosswalk or pedestrian signal to protect them. It was a shocking, and fatal, case of bad street design<http://www.grist.org/infrastructure/2011-07-20-when-design-kills-the-crimin…>. Such autocentric design is only too common around the country<http://www.grist.org/sprawl/2011-07-21-pedestrians-and-transit-riders-theyr…>; in this case, it was compounded by a mystifyingly aggressive prosecution. Today, in Cobb County State Court, Nelson was sentenced to 12 months probation and 40 hours community service<http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/mom-gets-choice-in-1042791.html>. Crucially, the judge also offered her an alternative: A new trial that would clear her of wrongdoing in the heartbreaking case. I'm waiting for word on which course she chooses. No matter what, the sentence is far better than the three years in prison she could have gotten. But why was Nelson in that courtroom to begin with? Nelson's conviction earlier this month on the vehicular homicide charge<http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html>, and the relatively light sentence received by the driver in the case (he got off with just hit-and-run charges, resulting in six months served and probation) attracted outrage from around the country. Advocacy groups like Transportation for America (T4A) took up the cause immediately. T4A's David Goldberg wrote a powerful blog post on the case<http://t4america.org/blog/2011/07/18/prosecuting-the-victim-absolving-the-p…>, following up on reporting by Tanya Snyder at Streetsblog Capitol Hill<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/07/14/mother-convicted-of-vehicular-homicide…> . Over at Change.org, Eliza Harris of Orlando, Fla<http://twitter.com/#%21/@myurbangen>., started a petition in support of Nelson<http://www.change.org/petitions/cobb-county-ga-release-grieving-mother-of-h…>that also called for a crosswalk in the place where her son, A.J., was killed. Yesterday morning, the petition had about 58,000 signatures. By the time the sentencing happened, that number had jumped to about 140,000. That big boost in the last 24 hours before Nelson's sentencing is probably due in large part to her appearance on the *Today *show<http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-07-25-mother-facing-jail-in-sons-jaywalkin…>. And this is what gives me hope: that a mainstream outlet like the *Today*show, with its mass audience and its incredible reach, even saw this as a story. Could it be that this country might finally be waking up to the idea that access to affordable, reliable, safe transportation is a serious public concern -- a matter of civil rights and full enfranchisement in our society? Today, Wired's Autopia blog ran a piece entitled "Transportation as a Civil Rights Issue<http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/07/transportation-as-a-civil-rights-issue/>." It follows up on a report from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights <http://www.civilrights.org/transportation/> about transportation equity as a central issue of social justice: The way the Conference sees it, access to transportation is key to connecting the poor, seniors and those with disabilities to jobs, schools, health care and other resources. It is essential to widening opportunities for all. Many of us take our mobility for granted, but getting around can be a real challenge for millions of Americans. This is a key issue as Congress considers the surface transportation reauthorization bill, which essentially maps out federal transportation spending and priorities for the next six years. "Smart and equitable transportation systems connect us to jobs, schools, housing, health care services -- and even to grocery stores and nutritious food," Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Conference, said in testimony presented to the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee<http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2011/04/1198-transportation-equity.html>. "But millions of low-income and working-class people, people of color and people with disabilities live in communities where quality transportation options are unaffordable, unreliable, or nonexistent." Transportation systems, and streets, need to be not only smart and equitable They also need to be safe. According to the Leadership Conference's report, Hispanic pedestrians suffer a death rate 62 percent higher, and African Americans almost 70 percent higher, than non-Hispanic whites. Several months ago, I spoke to Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink<http://www.grist.org/article/2010-10-29-angela-glover-blackwell-talks-about…>about the connection between transportation and social justice. When I ran into her recently at the Ford Foundation forum on "The Just City<http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-07-15-building-better-cities-so-people-can…>," I told her how often I have had occasion to reference our conversation. Here's what she told me then: [M]ost of the civil rights struggle in this country has centered around transportation, in one way or another, starting with *Plessy v. Ferguson *[in 1896]*.* That had to do with access to train cars. Then we have Rosa Parks sitting down on a bus. We had the Freedom Riders trying to do something to show that black people ought to be able to ride a bus across jurisdictions, they ought to be able to ride through the South on a bus without having to go to the back of the bus. The whole urban renewal, which people often call "black removal," because that's what happens, in the 60s, was a fight around highways coming in, going right through communities that had been vibrant, often destroying the financial district in an African-American community. So if you go all the way from *Plessy v. Ferguson* right up to the urban renewal, you will see that the fights have often been around transportation, and how transportation decisions have been made. It seems to me that the Raquel Nelson case has taken a place, however small, in this historic tradition. Maybe that's too optimistic. But at least it's a beginning. Sarah Goodyear is Grist's cities editor. She's also on Twitter<http://twitter.com/buttermilk1> . Mother convicted in son’s street-crossing death speaks out on Today show [VIDEO] http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-07-25-mother-facing-jail-in-sons-jaywalkin…

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Safe, Healthy and Active Transportation Toolkit
by Beth McKechnie 31 Jul '11

31 Jul '11

*Safe, Healthy and Active Transportation Toolkit (U.S.)* http://safestates.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=263#BuiltEnviron… The Safe, Healthy, and Active Transportation Toolkit is comprised of select resources [U.S.] designed to provide public health professionals (particularly those in injury and violence prevention), planners, and others with presentations, seminal articles, case studies, fact sheets, and other sources of information that can be used to support and advance Smart Growth, livability, and improved built environment efforts. The goal of this toolkit is to provide resources and evidence for those that want to reach out to their fellow colleagues in the areas of transportation, land use, and public health to make a stronger case for why *health is a transportation issue*. -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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G&M: What makes a Canadian community great?
by Beth McKechnie 30 Jul '11

30 Jul '11

What makes a Canadian community great? SIRI AGRELL — URBAN AFFAIRS REPORTER Published Thursday, Jun. 30, 2011 11:00PM EDT http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/what-makes-a-cana… When Kerry Jang was growing up, his community was defined by boundaries. His East Vancouver neighbourhood was the indisputable territory of the working class, his Chinese heritage a classification no one seemed willing to hyphenate, even though his parents were second-generation Canadians. “I think their community was pretty much defined by the Chinese community in Vancouver,” he says. “It was very much just keep your head down.” Since then, his world and the notion of community have expanded exponentially. For Mr. Jang, like most Canadians, the term has taken on connotations beyond ethnic background or physical environment, and now refers to the banding together of like-minded individuals. But fundamentally, it’s still about where we live. Now 49, Mr. Jang still lives in East Van, where gentrification has created an urban mosaic of different types, colours classes and castes. Like his neighbours and his neighbourhood, he defies easy categorization. He is a psychiatrist and city councillor, an activist and a father. But when he talks about community now, it isn’t about boundaries, but about how to make where he lives even better. “People confuse neighbourhood engagement with NIMBYism,” he says. “The big change in Vancouver that I’ve seen is that people are actually more involved in solving a problem instead of just opposing something.” Fifteen years ago, a Harvard academic named Robert Putnam wrote about the death of community in an essay called Bowling Alone, later expanded into a much discussed book. In it, he cited American statistics that showed a drastic and steady decline in participation at the neighbourhood level. People weren’t joining their local choral societies and football clubs any more, he found, and they weren’t voting or canvassing for votes, reading their local paper or volunteering at the neighbourhood school. There was no longer a sense of community beyond the actual physical lines that separate one neighbourhood from another. Across Canada, it’s hard to imagine that anyone is still bowling alone. In the time since Mr. Putnam’s findings were published, the urban tide has turned, at least up here, and created a flood of interest in all things local. Recently, when The Globe and Mail asked readers to nominate the best communities in Canada, no one sent us messages about fancy houses or high-tech infrastructure, or places they are living out their comfortable lives in isolation. People who brag about their neighbourhoods today talk about a place where people know one another, where they are loved. These are places, we are told, where you can walk to the bookstore and the grocery store, to your kid’s school and your own office. These are places where green space is not just found around the large “P” marking the nearest multistory parking lot, but where a connection to nature is part of the urban plan. These places are easy to get around, but are not one size or one style. Some are urban, some are rural and some occupy the tree-lined spaces in between. In these communities there is a mix of people of different backgrounds, different ages, different jobs, all of whom take part in the same rituals, from summer festivals<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/what-makes-a-cana…>to evening strolls. Julia Deans, chief executive officer of CivicAction, Toronto’s city-building organization, remembers growing up in a time when community development was dominated by wealthy, Anglo-Saxon families such as the Bassetts and Eatons. “They really led the community investment and put in place some of the big institutions that have served us as a community since,” she says. Now, she sees the city’s institutions being built by people with such names as Singh and Chang, reflecting a changing population and its needs. “We’re building a new kind of community that equally reflects where the new power and leadership fits,” she explains. *WALKABILITY IS KEY* Even if Canadian communities are populated by a different mix of people today, what those people want has not changed, says John Tory, a former Toronto mayoral candidate and CivicAction chair. “If I go back to thinking about what mattered when I was a little boy, it was the park at the end of our street, where we had a hockey rink in the winter, and the local churches, where we had Cub Scouts, and the public school where I went,” he says. “If you think about what was important, it was that sense that you lived in a safe place with nice places to go and play. I don’t think it’s much different now.” What has changed, says Ken Greenberg, an urban planner and author of Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder, is the map of where those places can be found. Gone is the idea that quality neighbourhoods must be built around large suburban yards or that anywhere worth living has a two-car garage. “There’s a big difference between passing someone in the driving lane of an arterial and passing them on the sidewalk, where you make eye contact,” he explains. Today, the focus in urban planning boils down to one word: walkability. A strong community is one where you can walk to all the things you need: the grocery store, school, public park and pub, whether you’re in the heart of the city or a small town. “To me, the key is to have that combination of things in close proximity and in variety, not to have things that are homogeneous,” Greenberg says. Lenore Swystun, a Saskatoon-based community planner and urban consultant, believes the country is also shifting back to a sense that neighbourhoods must includes a shared outdoor space where communing with nature and one another goes hand in hand. “Whether you’re in an urban environment or a remote rural environment, that call back to the natural landscape is very profound,” she says. “It’s going back home, so to speak.” *COMMUNITY IS INCLUSIVITY* But in Canada, building a real sense of community will always be more complicated than marking off green space and strolling to the local farmer’s market. Where we live is all tangled up with who we live among, and for neighbourhoods to work, everyone must be welcome to participate. Leslie Spillett of the Winnipeg-based, First Nations non-profit Ka Ni Kanichihk, says her group is trying to build a sense of community that allows native people to feel good about who they are while also bonding them to the rest of the country. “For me, healthy community is being fully accepted for everything we have brought to this country and what we continue to contribute, but also fully accepting ourselves as well,” she says. In Nova Scotia, 24-year-old Swantje Jahn is trying to make her city more accepting of newcomers through her work as the community engagement co-ordinator for the Halifax Refugee Clinic. The office helps about 25 new arrivals each year, many of whom were persecuted, and arrived with no real experience of what a home can be. The city is too small to have ethnic enclaves, says Ms. Jahn: “There is no Chinatown here.” And so she works to create new communities by introducing her clients to the people of Halifax and vice versa. Next week, she will hold a baby shower for a newcomer from Iraq, the gifts provided by local moms motivated by a shared experience that transcends nationality. “We have so many differences, but at our core, we all want the same thing: We all want to belong,” Ms. Jahn says. “That’s what community is.” *What are some great recent initiatives in community planning?* *Greeting Fluency:* How often do you say good morning to your neighbours? Ever do it in their native tongue? This initiative of former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan and his organization, Global Civic, encourages citizens to learn a few words of greeting and has identified nine basic phrases, such as “‘hello,” “thank you,” and “how are you?” Greeting Fluency provides instructional videos in Cantonese, Punjabi and Tagalog, and is meeting provincial education officials in a bid to bring the program into schools. Mr. Sullivan says that anyone who makes the effort is “really showing respect” – and will see how difficult it is for “people coming here and learning English.” *Awesome Cities:* Created in Boston in 2009, the Awesome Foundation awards monthly $1,000 grants to neighbourhood projects and their creators. Chapters have sprung up in Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Edmonton, Montreal and Calgary. Awesome Calgary was founded by Lori Stewart, a former eBay<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/what-makes-a-cana…>executive who worked on Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s election campaign. Last month, her group heard pitches on projects ranging from an outdoor demo space for a local circus school to a poetry event and a community walk. The budding acrobats and jugglers won out. *Project Neutral:* In Toronto, two neighbourhoods are vying to become carbon neutral. The pilot program is pitting Riverdale against the Junction (in the friendliest way possible) to see which community can be the first to drastically reduce its carbon footprint. A project of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, the project hopes that neighbourhood allegiances can be used to get people involved in making a radical change. *Sustainable subdivisions:* With just 400 residents, Hafford, Sask., is a small town with big ambitions. Located near the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve, the community developed a plan in 2007 to become one of the most sustainable towns in Canada. The off-grid community is the first in the province to have a growth boundary. “We don’t need to grow, we want to nurture that small sense of place,” said Lenore Swystun, the community planner who helped develop Hafford’s sustainability plan with funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. “It’s a visionary community.”

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Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design
by Beth McKechnie 30 Jul '11

30 Jul '11

*Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design* (NYC, 2010) History has shown that environmental design can play a crucial role in improving public health. Today, architects, urban designers, and planners can help address one of the most urgent and widespread epidemics of our time, obesity and its related diseases, by implementing the strategies contained in the Active Design Guidelines. Just as design professionals are increasingly embracing green building as an objective, so too should they consider the potential effects of their designs on public health and wellbeing. With the publication of the Guidelines, the City of New York signals its commitment to integrating active design principles into projects being developed in the metropolitan area. http://www.8-80cities.org/Articles/Active%20Design%20Guidelines%20NYC.pdf

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Bicycle traffic jams? Daily volumes on Montreal paths soaring
by Beth McKechnie 30 Jul '11

30 Jul '11

Bicycle traffic jams? Daily volumes on Montreal paths soaring By Michelle Lalonde, The Gazette June 14, 2011 http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/Bicycle+traffic+jams+Daily+volumes+Mo… MONTREAL - It was no surprise to anyone who drives or cycles regularly in Montreal’s central neighbourhoods to learn that the proportion of adult cyclists using bicycles for transportation in this city has more than doubled in the past decade, as a recent Vélo Québec report showed. But the sheer number of cyclists using the most popular paths daily — such as Rachel, Brébeuf, Milton and de Maisonneuve Blvd. — has experts calling for measures to curb a problem that many of us took to our bikes to avoid: congestion. “We are reaching capacity on a lot of these facilities,” said Luis Miranda-Moreno, assistant professor at McGill University’s Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. Miranda Moreno was part of a team of researchers from McGill, Harvard School of Public Health and Montreal’s Public Health department, who recently presented a study at a road-safety conference in Halifax, N.S., that tried to compare cyclist injury risk on bike paths and bike lanes compared with streets with no special cycling facilities. The researchers used automatic bicycle counters installed under asphalt, pneumatic counters or manual counters to determine average daily bicycle volumes and injury rates on Montreal streets with and without cycling facilities. The study concluded that cyclists are safer on streets with bike paths or lanes than on comparable streets without these facilities, but could not determine whether physically separate bike paths or painted lanes are safer. But among the more startling statistics in that study were the average daily bicycle volumes on some of Montreal’s more popular path segments. For example, on an average day during the cycling season, which this study defined as April through November, 4,982 cyclists used the Rachel bike path between Parc LaFontaine and Marquette St.; 4,252 used the Brébeuf path between Rachel and Laurier; 3,797 used Milton between Hutchison and University; 3,047 used De Maisonneuve between Atwater and Bleury Miranda-Moreno stressed that these are daily averages, including counts on rainy and cold days as well as sunny ones. “What amazed me was to look at the maximum daily volumes of some of these streets, like Milton, which in August and September is reaching maximum daily volumes of 6,000 cyclists,” he said. “In the biking season, you probably have double the number of pedestrians and cyclists on this street than people in cars, yet cars are taking up 80 per cent of the street,” he said. Miranda-Moreno said Montreal should establish a “bike boulevard” on streets like Milton, a concept that other Canadian cities with less bike traffic than Montreal are already embracing. On a bike boulevard, cyclists can use the full width of the road. Local vehicular traffic and deliveries are allowed, but speed limits are very low, and the heavy presence of cyclists plus other traffic-calming measures discourage motorists from using these routes. Quebec City, for example, will make a bike boulevard this summer on Père Marquette St. between Laval University and the National Assembly. Vancouver is also experimenting with the concept. Now that the numbers are showing that Montrealers are clearly onside with cycling for transportation, Miranda-Moreno said the city obviously needs to expand its bike lane/bike path network. But he noted that doesn’t mean cyclists need physically separated paths on every street. “Just like the road network has highways, arterials and local roads, the cycling network needs to be continuous and it should have cycle tracks (physically separated bike paths) on very busy streets, painted lanes and bicycle boulevards on some streets, and on quiet local streets you don’t need anything,” he said. Suzanne Lareau, who heads the Vélo Québec cycling advocacy group, said this study is “another clear signal that the cycling network is well-used and getting saturated.” She said more cycling paths and lanes are obviously required, especially on or near these well-travelled routes: de Maisonneuve Blvd. east of Berri St.; an east-west link between the Cherrier path and the Milton/Prince Arthur lanes; St. Laurent Blvd.; St. Denis St.; de la Commune St. in the Old Port between McGill and Berri streets. *Call for new measures* Some of the most popular Montreal bike paths, like the ones along Berri and Brébeuf Sts., are getting more than 7,000 users on some days. Cycling safety experts say it’s time for the city to consider some measures to avoid congestion of cyclists at intersections and improve safety: — Install priority turn signals for cyclists — Synchronize traffic lights to cycling speeds on heavily cycled routes — Raise or paint intersections where bike paths cross major arteries to improve visibility — Install bike boxes, where cyclists can fan out across the roadway, side by side, ahead of the vehicle stop line — If a bike route is saturated, build a safe alternative on a nearby parallel street — Do not allow parking beside bike paths near intersections mlalonde(a)montrealgazette.com

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Webinar: Results of 2011 National Walking Survey (Thurs, July 28, 2-3 pm, EcoCentre)
by Beth McKechnie 27 Jul '11

27 Jul '11

Bike to the Future and Green Action Centre invite you to join us to view the following webinar presented by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) in collaboration with America Walks... *Results of the 2011 National Walking Survey* *Thursday, July 28 • 2:00 to 3:00 pm CDT **•** EcoCentre boardroom (3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave) ***<http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=markc@biketothefuture.org&job=426760&ymlink=…> Results are in for the America Walks National Walking Survey. Thanks to the 7,000+ people participating, America Walks has learned a great deal about those who are avid walkers and those who are not. Survey results yielded some unexpected information. Learn about and discuss the results with the academic team behind the survey. Bring your questions and join the lively exchange. The survey was planned and conducted by William Milczarski, a professor in the Department of Urban Affairs & Planning at Hunter College, the City University of New York, and Peter Tuckel, a professor in the Department of Sociology at Hunter College, the City University of New York. The survey team has conducted a number of studies on pedestrian safety and traffic issues and is currently writing a book on the growing popularity of walking in the United States. Presenters are William Milczarski, Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, Hunter College; and Peter Tuckel, Department of Sociology, Hunter College.

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Biking To The Supermarket Made Easy
by Erik Dickson 23 Jul '11

23 Jul '11

Now if only the shopping cart disconnects from the frame to be used inside the store!

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Exciting legislation regarding TDM in CA
by Beth McKechnie 20 Jul '11

20 Jul '11

Interesting progress on a commuting-related bill in California that was circulated on the TDM listserv. (Okay, I find it exciting but maybe not everyone does!) cheers, Beth "California Senate Bill 582, authored by state Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), is now on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk and awaiting the Governor’s signature after passing both houses of the state Legislature last week. The bill, which was jointly sponsored by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), aims to reduce both traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions by establishing a four-year pilot program under which local air districts and metropolitan planning organizations could require employers with 50 or more employees (or, at the agencies’ discretion, 20 or more employees) to adopt commute benefit policies that offer workers one of the following: * the option to pay for their transit, vanpooling or bicycling expenses with pretax dollars, as allowed by federal law; * a transit or vanpool subsidy of $75 per month; * a free shuttle or vanpool operated by or for the employer; or * any employer-chosen alternative to these options that can be demonstrated to provide an equal or greater benefit." -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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What do you think? - I can't park my bike outside or it will get stolen
by Beth McKechnie 19 Jul '11

19 Jul '11

Hi everyone, Thought you might be interested in commenting on the latest green 'myth' posted on the Green Action Centre website as part of our mythbusting series. Often you'll hear people say they don't want to bike to work or a destination where they have to park their bike for any length of time as it will get stolen. What do you think? http://greenactioncentre.ca/2011/you-cant-park-your-bike-outside-it-will-ge… cheers, Beth -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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Free transit for life - if you give up your car
by Stacy Matwick 19 Jul '11

19 Jul '11

Spanish city lets you trade in your car for a lifetime pass on public transit by Sarah Laskow 13 Jul 2011 1:26 PM - Grist http://www.grist.org/list/2011-07-13-spanish-city-lets-you-trade-in-your-ca… cheers Stacy Matwick Information Centre International Institute for Sustainable Development 161 Portage Ave. E., 6th floor Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 0Y4 Voice: (204)958-7755 Fax: (204)958-7710 Email: smatwick(a)iisd.ca<mailto:smatwick@iisd.ca> IISD Research Library web page: http://www.iisd.org/ic SD-Cite: IISD Research Library database: http://sd-cite.iisd.org<http://sd-cite.iisd.org/> GENERata web-magazine: http://www.iisd.org/generata/ "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read" Groucho Marx

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After School Recreation Project Announcement
by Beth McKechnie 18 Jul '11

18 Jul '11

Recreation Connections Manitoba and Green Action Centre are pleased to announce the pilot sites for After The School Bell Rings: A Manitoba After School Recreation Project have been selected. *Please refer to attached announcement for more information!*****

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Winter Weather Warrior contest
by Beth McKechnie 18 Jul '11

18 Jul '11

Though no one is probably thinking about winter during this hot sunny weather, here's an interesting approach used to encourage cold weather riding. -cheers, Beth *December 15, 2010* Capital Bikeshare Winter Weather Warrior Contest Capital Bikeshare encourages greater use of the system during the frigid winter months by launching a contest. http://www.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/About+DDOT/News+Room/Snow+Announcements/Capital+B… (Washington, DC) Today Capital Bikeshare launched the details of its Winter Weather Warrior contest, designed to encourage greater use of the system during the frigid winter months. All Capital Bikeshare annual and monthly members are eligible to participate in the contest which begins January 1 and lasts through February 28. The member with the greatest number of trips in the two month span will be awarded with a three year extension of their membership, two annual memberships to give away to family or friends, a $100 Hudson Trail gift card and a $25 Starbucks gift card. Additional contests will take place to honor other cold-weather riders, including monthly “Long Haul Rider” and “Most Saddle Time” contests. All members who ride every day during the two month period will be given a prize for perfect attendance. Photo contests and random drawings will also be announced throughout the duration of the contest. All Capital Bikeshare members interested in participating must opt in to the contest. By opting in, members agree to be listed by name on the weekly leader board, and on both Facebook and Twitter if they win any of the various contests. For more details about the contest or to opt in, visit www.godcgo.com/winterweatherwarrior.aspx.

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Exhaust-ing ride for cyclists: Air pollutants trigger heart risk
by Beth McKechnie 15 Jul '11

15 Jul '11

Exhaust-ing ride for cyclists: Air pollutants trigger heart risk In big cities around the world, cyclists breathe an array of pollutants from exhaust-spewing cars. A new study has now found a link between cycling on high traffic roads and heart risks. Even healthy cyclists had harmful changes in their heart rates. Experts say cyclists should stick to their two-wheels, however, pointing to simple solutions to reduce exposure. By Brett Israel Environmental Health News July 6, 2011 http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/exhaust-ing-ride-for-cyclis… NEW YORK – Even by this city's standards, the Garment District is an imposing place to ride a bike. A never-ending parade of delivery trucks rumbles along 8th Avenue between 34th and 42nd streets, leaving a wake of gritty exhaust for cyclists to feel, smell and breathe. After riding in the Garment District, Robert "Rocket" Ruiz, a 13-year veteran of the bike messenger business, would often look into the bathroom mirror and see his face covered in grime. "I remember having to wash my face three or four times a day," said Ruiz, now the head dispatcher for Quik Trak Messenger Service. "There's nothing but tar and smoke on your face." Ruiz, a star on the Travel Channel's bike messenger show "Triple Rush," said he once had to miss a day of work to see a doctor because of exhaust burning his eyes. Pedaling behind pollutant-spewing cars and trucks may not seem as scary as being hit by one, but scientists say it can pose invisible dangers. Now, for the first time, cycling in heavy traffic has been linked to a heart health risk, Canadian researchers reported last month. A new study found cyclists in Ottawa, Ontario, had heart irregularities in the hours after their exposure to a variety of air pollutants on busy roads. Pedaling behind pollutant-spewing cars and trucks may not seem as scary as being hit by one, but scientists say it can pose invisible dangers."Our findings suggest that short-term exposure to traffic may have a significant impact on cardiac autonomic function in healthy adults," the scientists from Health Canada, Environment Canada and the University of Ottawa wrote in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study does not suggest that bikers would be better off driving, experts say. Rather, the findings intensify the scrutiny on cyclists' pollution exposure, and point to simple solutions for a cleaner ride, such as avoiding busy roads like 8th Avenue whenever possible. "It's something that actually concerns a lot of people that do cycle," said Michael Brauer, a cyclist and atmospheric scientist at the University of British Columbia who was not involved in the new study. "People want to understand their risk. They're just thinking all the time, 'Is this good for me? Is this bad for me? I'm doing my part, but there's this car that's throwing this exhaust in my face.' " For the study, 42 healthy, non-smoking cyclists wore heart monitors before, during and after cycling for one hour on high- and low-traffic roads between May and September last year. Instruments on the bikes' panniers measured exposure to air pollution. [image: 2011-0706cyclingmom] Brett IsraelStudy results point to simple solutions for a cleaner ride, such as avoiding busy roads whenever possible. Short-term exposure to heavy traffic significantly decreased heart rate variability in the cyclists for up to three hours after they finished cycling. Experts say reduced heart rate variability is associated with a higher risk of heart attacks. "A very healthy person is like a Ferrari," said Arden Pope, an expert in the health effects of air pollution and professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. "Step on the gas and it really goes fast. Step on the brakes and it really slows down. The human heart, you want it to be like that too." But with lower heart rate variability, the heart is behaving more like a minivan than a Ferrari, Pope said, meaning that it is less able to respond to stress. Researchers are not sure how air pollution alters heart rate variability, Pope said. One idea is that particles in the lungs cause inflammation, which throws off the body's ability to carry out its automatic functions. No respiratory effects were found in the cyclists. The researchers did not find any significant changes in their lung function, probably because all the cyclists were healthy, and most had no asthma or other respiratory problems. Around the world, researchers have found that whenever fine particles increase in the air, deaths and hospitalizations from asthma, heart attacks and other cardiopulmonary problems increase, too. Hours to weeks of exposure to particles that are smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, which peak during rush hours, can trigger cardiovascular effects, according to the American Heart Association. Researchers are not sure how air pollution alters heart rate variability. One idea is that particles in the lungs cause inflammation, which throws off the body's ability to carry out its automatic functions.For the Canadian cyclists, when their exposure to certain pollutants, including ultrafine particles, nitrogen dioxide or ozone, increased, their heart rate variability decreased, according to the study. Sheer proximity to tailpipes is one reason why cyclists have a high exposure to the tiny particle pollutants, which are emitted by vehicles along with thousands of other chemicals. Diesel buses and trucks are among the worst offenders. "The closer you are to the source of the fresh exhaust, the worse it is," said Patrick Ryan, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of Cincinnati, who studies the health effects of traffic-related pollution. Near the tailpipe, these particles are small enough to lodge deep in the lungs, triggering heart attacks and hospitalizations from lung diseases such as asthma. Tiny particles can also cross the blood-brain barrier, potentially harming the nervous system. Farther away from the tailpipe, these particles clump together, growing too large to lodge deeply, Ryan said. That's why even a small separation from cars, created by physical barriers to traffic – something that's missing for most of 8th Avenue – is important for cyclists. Two white stripes of paint, with a few feet of cycling space between them, is all that is reserved for bikers on this crowded street. Trucks commonly idle on the bike lane. Heavy traffic creates a wind tunnel that traps pollution on the road, according to a study by the California Air Resources Board. A 2010 study of cyclists in the Netherlands showed that hard-pedaling, deep-breathing cyclists on busy roads inhale more of this dirty air. In many cases, they also spend more time exposed to it compared to someone driving the same distance. "Those things add up and they give cyclists that cycle in traffic a high exposure," Brauer said. [image: 2011-0706cyclingpan]Todd Mecklem/flickr<http://www.flickr.com/photos/toddmecklem/4994420417/> Cyclists brave not only traffic, but rain and oil-slicked roads in Portland, Ore. But whether that exposure ups a cyclist's risk for heart or breathing problems has been less well established. One small study of Netherlands cyclists found a weak link between exposure to ultrafine particles and soot and airway inflammation. The new study of Canadian cyclists does not mean that people should lock up their bikes and hop back into the driver's seat, said Brauer. Another study has shown that drivers have higher respiratory problems than cyclists because of their higher exposure to volatile organic chemicals in vehicle exhaust. "In stop-and-go traffic, [drivers] have more exposure than a cyclist who stays 15 feet or more from the tailpipes," said Rebecca Serna, executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, a cycling advocacy group. The health benefits of cycling far outweigh the risks from air pollution and traffic collisions relative to car driving, according to one estimate by researchers in the Netherlands, where cycling is king. Taking cars off the road also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and traffic accidents. "In general, you're better off cycling than not," Brauer said. "The physical activity benefits outweigh negative impacts. But you'd like there to be no impacts." Exposure to dirty air adds to the perception problem that cycling is unsafe, said C.H. Christine Bae, an urban planner at the University of Washington in Seattle, who specializes in how bike facilities affect air pollution exposure. The Canadian study authors have a simple solution. Avoid busy streets. "In general, you're better off cycling than not. The physical activity benefits outweigh negative impacts. But you'd like there to be no impacts." *– Michael Brauer, cyclist and atmospheric scientist, University of British Columbia*"When possible it may be prudent to select cycling routes that reduce exposure to traffic and/or to avoid cycling outdoors or exercise indoors on days with elevated air pollution levels," the research team wrote. Others agree. "Our recommendations to cyclists would be to avoid busy as streets as much as possible," said Dimitri Stanich, a spokesman for California's Air Resources Board. Of course, cyclists might want to avoid busy streets for a number of reasons – fewer distracted drivers being one. But the busiest streets also have the dirtiest air, with ultrafine particle and soot exposure highest on busy roads, according to a recent study. Bike routes should aim to minimize time spent on these high-traffic roads, the Canadian researchers wrote. This would reduce exposures of riders who may be more susceptible to the immediate health risks of traffic-related air pollution, such as the elderly, children, and pregnant mothers. A study of bike lanes in Portland, Ore., showed that lanes separated by planters, not just by white paint, actually decreased cyclists' air pollution exposure. A Belgian study of traffic pollution found that cycling as little as several feet off the road gave measurable differences in exposure. Getting cyclists out from behind the cars helps, too. In Portland, when traffic stops at a red light, cyclists have a designated area at the front of the line of cars, called a bicycle box, which helps them navigate turns and flee the tailpipe fumes. [image: 2011-0706waitingspace] Spacing Magazine<http://www.flickr.com/photos/spacing/1121822878/>Solutions like this bicycle box in Portland help cyclists flee tailpipe fumes. "Little things like that can help a lot to reduce exposure to cyclists," Bae said. If a little is good, more is better. Brauer says the preliminary results of his lab's work suggest that bike lanes are best when built one block from a major traffic artery. Despite the emerging research, Bae said that she does not know of any cities that consider cyclists' pollution exposure when designing bike lanes. Including Vancouver, where Brauer cycles, many of the cities that built bike lanes one block away from a major road thought about cost, not pollution. "Most were done by accident, because they were cheaper," Brauer said. "But they actually give you an air pollution benefit."

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The Herald: AT supporters want greenway included in road project
by Beth McKechnie 13 Jul '11

13 Jul '11

[As someone who thoroughly enjoyed cycling out to the Winnipeg Folk Festival this past weekend via NE Pioneers Greenway, Raleigh and the Floodway trail, I wholeheartedly agree with the need for this AT bridge over the Perimeter. It's extremely dangerous trying to run/cycle across multiple lanes of heavy traffic going 110+ kph! No matter how many times we do it, it's just as scary every time. -Beth] Active transportation supporters want greenway included in road project By: Adrian Alleyne Posted: 07/13/2011 http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/herald/Active-transportati… Some local active transportation advocates want to see the Northeast Pioneers Greenway extended as part of a series of proposed roadway improvements near Lagimodiere Boulevard and the Perimeter Highway. The provincial government has proposed making changes to the intersection to ease traffic congestion in the area. Sigrun Bailey and Louise Balaban, co-chairs of the River East Neighbourhood Network - Trail Committee, said the improvements would be an ideal opportunity to extend the trail further north to Birds Hill Provincial Park. The avid cyclists said what they would like to see is a bridge built that would allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross the Perimeter at Raleigh Street, similar to the one that was recently built near Birds Hill. A bridge would allow individuals to travel uninterrupted along the greenway and connect to the Floodway Trail System that leads to Birds Hill. "We’re trying to get a safe facility for non-motorized transportation," said Bailey, who lives in North Kildonan. "It’s also a health issue, getting people active." The province’s plans include construction of a full interchange at the intersection at an estimated cost of $80 to $100 million. "Basically we would be building an interchange that would allow motorists in all directions to go through that intersection of roadways without stopping," said Don McRitchie, a spokesperson for Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation. McRitchie cautioned that any extension of the greenway would have to be a shared initiative between the city and the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul. Bailey said it would be a mistake not to include the active transit trail in the province’s plans. "They’re not considering active transportation, which is ludicrous," she said. "They’re forcing people to be in their cars." Balaban said the proposed bridge would make the intersection safer for both cyclists and pedestrians. "You can’t ride your bike on the shoulder with semitrailers going by at 80 km/h," said Balaban, an East Kildonan resident. "We need to have a trail all the way to Birds Hill." Coun. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan), said plans are already in place for the greenway to be extended to Glenway Avenue once the construction of Chief Peguis Trail is complete. However, he said extending it to Birds Hill likely isn’t something the city could consider at this time. Bailey said she fears there might never be another opportunity to extend the greenway. "They all say they’re for it, but I’m afraid it will slip between the cracks," she said. "It’s a win-win for everybody, so everyone should chip in." adrian.alleyne(a)canstarnews.com

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Active Transportation Canada - New Posts July 12, 2011
by Beth McKechnie 13 Jul '11

13 Jul '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Michael Haynes <activetransportation(a)rogers.com> Date: Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 10:51 AM Subject: Active Transportation Canada - New Posts July 12, 2011 Dear Listserv Members: More than 20 new items have been posted on the Active Transportation-Canada Website. A complete list of titles may be found in the "Blog Archive" box, located on the right margin of the Website. Some sample new items: 1. Ottawa - Bike lanes earn rave reviews on first morning commute<http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Bike+lanes+earn+rave+reviews+first+mo…> 2. Product review: Top five skateboarding helmets for ultimate protection and safety <http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ycn-8779805> 3. Moncton - Bike Battles continue<http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/1422093> Active Transportation Canada URL: http://activetransportation-canada.blogspot.com A "Search" function is available on the site. You will find this at the bottom of the page. With more than 1,000 items posted on Active Transportation - Canada, there are links available to dozens of studies and hundreds of news items from communities across Canada and the world. If anyone has a problem reading this message, please let me know. I welcome suggestions for posts, so if you have news items featuring your community, please share them with the other subscribers from Canada, the US, and Australia on Active Transportation-Canada. Thank you. Michael Haynes Director TransActive Solutions

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America's Top Cities for Bike Commuting: Happier, Too
by Beth McKechnie 13 Jul '11

13 Jul '11

America's Top Cities for Bike Commuting: Happier, Too By Richard Florida Jun 22 2011, 11:41 AM ET http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/06/americas-top-cities-for-bik… *A nationwide analysis shows that towns where people bike to work are richer, fitter, and more successful in many other ways * Riding a bike through a city, David Byrne wrote in his book *Bicycle Diaries<http://books.google.com/books?id=5Ar9V-4z9PwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Bicycl…> *, "is like navigating the collective neural pathways of some vast global mind." Biking, he adds, "facilitates a state of mind that allows some but not too much of the unconscious to bubble up. As someone who believes that much of the source of his work and creativity is to be gleaned from those bubbles, it's a reliable place to find that connection." Cycling is one of my own great passions. I like nothing more than to get on my road bike and just go. My bike is not just a great way to get around, it's a great way to get to know cities. It's also a good way to stay in shape, as witnessed by this post<http://www.livingstreetsalliance.org/2011/05/americas-fittest-cities/>at the Living Streets Alliance blog, which noted the uncanny overlap between the places listed in my post<http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/05/americas-fittest-cities/239…>on America's Fittest Cities and the cities where the greatest percentages of people who bike to work live. That got me wondering what other characteristics of metropolitan areas might be associated with higher levels of cycling. With the help of my colleague Charlotta Mellander, I took a quick look at the numbers. We used data from the American Community Survey<http://www.census.gov/acs/www/>(ACS) on the share of people by metro area who commute to work by bike. Nationally, less than one (0.6) percent of Americans ride their bikes to work. But the share of bike commuters varies quite a bit across metros. The gallery below lists ACS figures for the top 15 metros with the largest shares of bike commuters. (These data cover entire metros; data for core or center cities may be higher.) At the top of the list are Eugene, Oregon, and Fort Collins, Colorado, where more than 5 percent of commuters bike to work. College towns dominate the list—Boulder, Colorado, Madison, Wisconsin, Santa Cruz, California, Iowa City, Iowa, Gainesville, Florida, and State College, Pennsylvania, among others. But bigger metros like Portland, Oregon, Honolulu, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose (Silicon Valley) also rank highly. (Source: American Community Survey, Share of Commuters Who Bike to Work) <http://www.census.gov/acs/www/> Top Cities for Biking Flickr/Kris Hurst 15 :: Iowa City, IA *Share of Commuters who Bike to Work*: 2.22% *Median Household Income*: $49,535 *Creative Class*: 32.46% <http://www.census.gov/acs/www/> All of this raises the question: What is it about these metros and others where cycling to work is more prevalent? So Mellander and I compared these figures on bike commuting to key social and economic characteristics of metros. Though all we are looking at are associations—our analysis does not infer causality and other factors may come into play—some of the findings are rather intriguing. First off, metros where more people cycle to work are more affluent. Metros with a greater share of bike commuters have higher average wages (with a correlation of .5). They have higher levels of education or human capital (a correlation of .5) and more knowledge-based economies as well. Cycling to work is positively associated with the share of creative class jobs (.3) and negatively associated with working class jobs (-.4). They're more diverse. The share of commuters who cycle to work to work is positively associated with higher levels of immigrants (.3) and even more so with higher concentrations of gays and lesbians (.4). <http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/richard_florida/Florida_biking2…> Cycling to work also goes together with happiness. The percentage of cycling commuters is positively associated with levels of happiness and well-being, which we measure via Gallup surveys (with correlation of .5). As for fitness, the hunch by the folks at the Living Streets Alliance was right. Metros with a higher percentage of cycling commuters boast higher rates of fitness on the American College of Sports Medicine's<http://www.acsm.org/> American Fitness Index™<http://www.americanfitnessindex.org/docs/reports/2011_afi_report_final.pdf> (with a correlation between the two of .5). Biking metros are richer, better-educated, and more fit than non-biking places. They're happier, and, as exemplified by Mr. Byrne, more creative too. *Richard Florida is Senior Editor at **The Atlantic and Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto. * **

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Reminder: Transportation Master Plan Open House today, 4-8 pm, The Forks Atrium
by Beth McKechnie 06 Jul '11

06 Jul '11

[Friendly reminder about today's Open House at The Forks from 4-8 pm] *WINNIPEG TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN* *PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE * ** ** The City of Winnipeg staff and consultant team invite you to attend the second Open House for the Transportation Master Plan (TMP). Drop by to view the main comments received from the public and stakeholders meetings and review the key directions and opportunities for the following transportation components: - Transit - Roads - Goods Movement - Active Transportation - Transportation Demand Management - Funding, Financing, and Governance We would like to hear from you on this important stage of the process!**** ** ** WINNIPEG TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN OPEN HOUSE**** Date: Wednesday, July 6, 2011 **** Time: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM**** Where: The Forks Market Atrium (at the base of the Forks Tower)**** Format: Drop in anytime – no formal presentation. **** ** ** Staff will be on hand to answer questions and collect feedback you may have. **** ** ** Visit the following Website to view or download the latest version of the TMP Newsletter: http://transportation.speakupwinnipeg.com**** ** ** Please forward this email to anyone that you feel would be interested in attending. Thank You!**** ** **

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Bicycling our way into work and out of the Great Recession
by Beth McKechnie 05 Jul '11

05 Jul '11

Bicycling our way into work and out of the Great Recession by Elly Blue <http://www.grist.org/people/Elly+Blue> 5 Jul 2011 10:29 AM * http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-07-05-bicycling-our-way-into-work-and-out-… * *This is the tenth and last column in the Bikenomics<http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-02-28-how-bicycling-will-save-the-economy>series. A new ten-part series will begin in two weeks, exploring some of the different reasons people don't bike for transportation and ways these obstacles to bicycling can be overcome. * Conversations about transportation bicycling tend to revolve around work, particularly commuting. This is a good thing. We need to get to work; more of us need to get to work by bike; and more bicycling means a healthier economy<http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-02-28-how-bicycling-will-save-the-economy>, a better workplace<http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-05-09-how-employers-can-encourage-happy-he…>, and even more jobs<http://www.grist.org/article/2011-01-14-building-bike-infrastructure-create…>. * * But the commutes in these conversations are an endangered species, part of a type of work and lifestyle that's fading fast: the 9-to-5 lifetime career with health benefits and pension, a commute from suburbs to central city, and a hot meal waiting for you when you get home<http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-06-20-bicyclings-gender-gap-its-the-econom…> . The way we work has been changing for a long time, and our transportation needs and options along with it. With the recent recession, fewer people are working as much or for as much money, or as regularly -- or at all. More of us are, in a word, poor. We're the ones who need bicycling the most.* *Yet the broke and the tenuously employed aren't always reached by bicycle transportation advocacy, education, and services. When they are, the messages being promoted are not always relevant or welcome. The mainstays of bike advocacy organizations are the three E's: engineering, enforcement, and education -- with a fourth E, encouragement, becoming increasingly popular. Encouragement is a kind of marketing. It's about selling the benefits of transportation bicycling as though it were a product.* *It's appealing because, to a large extent, it works, imbuing everyday transportation bicycling with a certain cool cachet. Marketing, being what it is it, tends to be best executed by businesses and blogs selling everything from imported, upright city bikes <http://clevercycles.com/2007/06/26/dutchness/> to the concept of cycling fashion <http://www.velovogue.com/> to the aesthetic and lifestyle <http://momentumplanet.com/articles/this-is-the-bike-lifestyle>associated with both of these. But lately, advocacy organizations and even government agencies are investing in encouragement initiatives and seeing a lot of success. A recent example is the charming animated video made by the Cascade Bicycle Club called "Will you ride with Sophie <http://www.cascade.org/sophie/>?" that extols the environmental, social, and personal virtues of choosing to bike instead of drive, even for just a few trips a week. And that's the crux of it, what makes encouragement so appealing to some and so frustratingly divisive to others: When you're broke, you simply don't have the same choices. The risks you are willing to take are informed by different factors. What one person might feel as a stirring call to action, another might just as easily see as unwelcome and out-of-touch moralizing. It's understandable, of course, that the pursuit of encouragement, as well as the other E's, is informed by the concerns of the advocates themselves. Part of the heritage of bicycle advocacy in the U.S. is recreational riding -- an activity that suggests a decent enough income to have a nice bike in the garage and the leisure, skills, and confidence to go out and ride it whenever one chooses. U.S. bike advocacy is also imbued with a heavy focus on individual responsibility as more important -- or perhaps more readily achievable -- than social and infrastructure change, as exemplified by the until-recently prominent vehicular cycling movement<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling> . Such initiatives tend to reach out to the people who ride -- or don't -- out of choice rather than economic necessity, whose only barrier to getting on a bike is motivation. When you're already broke, you don't need to be encouraged to adopt someone else's lifestyle. You need solutions that arise from your own circumstances and community. That means that simply choosing to hop on a bike isn't actually that straightforward. Even as your car is sucking your savings dry and pummeling your credit, at least it's the devil you know. People living in low-income households are less likely to have access to a working bicycle (only 29 percent of households making less than $15,000 do, according to the NHTSA's most recent survey <http://www.nhtsa.gov/>). Aside from the cost and learning curve of acquiring, outfitting, and maintaining a reliable everyday bicycle, if you're broke your neighborhood is also less likely to be graced<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/unhealthy-neighbo…>by bike lanes, calmed traffic, and other facilities that are lauded for their ability to raise property values<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/nov/05/bike-st…>. You're also less likely to have easy, central access to grocery stores and other amenities. Bicycling has a reputation as being dangerous, making it even less appealing to those who lack health insurance. There's also a social stigma attached -- car ownership is a widely acknowledged symbol of success and adulthood. Moreover, the pursuit of the three original Es -- education, engineering, and enforcement -- demands some further sensitivity if undertaken in the context of economic inequality. When you're low-income, you may simply not have access to the amenities of bicycle advocacy that others of us take for granted. Your concerns are less likely to be solicited or lobbied for. Education initiatives and materials about cycling laws and safety, what to do if you crash, and even how to ride at all are less likely to reach you and may not even exist in a language you read fluently. And engineering and enforcement are as likely to work against you as they are to protect and serve your interests. [image: Runs on fat] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491/>Photo: Carlton Reid <http://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491/>These concerns are hardly universal, but they're a sampling of what advocates need to ask and engage about if they are serious about making bicycling more widely accessible and attractive. Of course, relatively elite bike advocacy organizations didn't invent bicycling, and have much to learn from others who have already been doing it a long time. Among people in the U.S. who already ride, residents of socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods are already riding for transportation rather than recreation. Bicycling is particularly embraced<http://la.streetsblog.org/2011/06/01/bicycling-is-for-everyone-the-connecti…>by recent immigrants from countries where bicycle transportation has long been the norm. There are a lot of bike organizations out there that are already driven by the needs of low-income people and communities. Earn-a-bike programs<http://oaklandlocal.com/posts/2011/06/oakland-bike-programs-give-youth-chan…>around the country empower participants with a free bicycle and the skills and knowledge to maintain and ride it well.* *Tamales y Bicicletas<http://www.browningthegreen.org/>is a Minneapolis group run by and for Latino youth to build job skills and work for environmental justice. Ciudad de Luces/City of Lights<http://ciudaddeluces.wordpress.com/>is a Los Angeles program that provides free bike lights and bike safety and maintenance education to working-class Latino immigrants. In Madison, Wisc., police work with bike advocates and businesses to install free bike lights instead of writing costly tickets<http://frontporchcoffeetalk.blogspot.com/2011/05/be-bright-helps-madison-cy…>to those caught riding unlit at night. As our economy shifts and bicycling becomes a more urgent economic imperative both individually and socially, advocates need to start seriously rethinking how their work can better serve the people who need it most. Initiatives that presuppose motivation as a primary to barrier for bicycling, or climate and public health concerns as a primary driver of transportation choices, will necessarily be limited in their reach, and run the risk of alienating people who, if listened to and engaged with, could be powerful allies. I propose a fifth E for the bicycle advocacy toolkit: Economics. Not marketing, not the creation of wealth or the promotion of wealthy lifestyles, but rather the awareness of economic inequality and its impact on people's choices and lack thereof. When we wander down the path of assigning moral value to lifestyle choices and take our policies cues from gender and identity politics, we lose a lot of people -- and make enemies -- along the way. When we focus on communities' economic realities and the hard numbers behind them, then we can provide concrete, material tools for addressing the inequalities that are holding us all back. The bicycle economy, after all, isn't going to make most of us rich, and that's OK. We could use fewer people getting rich in this country and more people getting by, feeling good, and having fun. Bicycling creates a little wealth. But more importantly, it creates a lot of well-being. That's what the bicycle economy is all about. Elly Blue is a writer and bicycle activist <http://takingthelane.com/>living in Portland, Oregon. You can also find her on Twitter <http://twitter.com/ellyblue>.

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