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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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Greater Strides - Taking Action on Active Transportation - Handoff to the Manitoba Government
by Janice Lukes 30 Jun '11

30 Jun '11

Hi all, The public handoff of the Provincial Active Transportation Advisory Group's report occurred today, at the corner of Shorehill Dr. and Bishop Grandin Blvd, in conjunction with a funding announcement for the 'Shorehill Trail'. Minister Lemieux and Minister Selby had great remarks - I've attached my remarks, as Chair of the advisory group. The report can be found here <http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/pdf/atag_report6.pdf> http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/pdf/atag_report6.pdf We had a super turn out of AT supporters representing key organizations in the far southeast corner of Winnipeg - considering we had a 3 hour notice. Thank you - and have a great Canada Day! Janice Lukes 952-4222

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Bikeability Index: Bike-friendliness of Vancouver neighbourhoods mapped by UBC
by Beth McKechnie 29 Jun '11

29 Jun '11

Bike-friendliness of Vancouver neighbourhoods mapped by UBC VIVIAN LUK VANCOUVER - Globe and Mail Update In a city where bicycle paths are separated from traffic, racks are accessible, cycling routes are connected, and the way from home to work is smooth and flat, more people may actually want to ride their bikes. And if more people bike rather than drive, they will be much healthier, and the city much greener. That is the argument that a team of University of British Columbia researchers are presenting with the *Bikeability Index*, an innovative mapping tool that scores Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods on how accommodating they are to cyclists. According to the study, the way communities are designed directly influences people’s level of physical activity. “If you make cycling and walking the easier choice, then people will be more likely to choose it because it’s faster to get [somewhere] than sitting in traffic,” said lead researcher Meghan Winters. “Then people will be less likely to choose their cars, they’ll be more likely to engage in physical activity, and that will reduce congestion in the city.” The project, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, surveyed 2,100 people about factors that influence their cycling behaviour, Ms. Winters said. Most answered they are concerned about biking next to cars, biking up and down hills, the availability of racks to lock up their bikes, and the connectivity of bike-friendly streets. Based on these factors, Ms. Winters and her team created online, colour-coded maps (green depicts bike-friendly areas and red shows where cycling conditions need to be improved) that compare the bike friendliness of Vancouver and surrounding municipalities, as well as the bike friendliness within each municipality. The maps show the availability of bike facilities, bike route density, topography and land use. According to the Bikeability Index, Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster rank highest in bike friendliness because they have denser cycling infrastructure. The team plans to deliver the maps to Metro Vancouver urban planners. “What we’ve done is highlight areas that are good for cycling, and areas where there are challenges,” she said. “We hope this will demonstrate where gaps are happening and where improvements are needed, like maybe there needs to be more bike facilities there, or separated bike lanes for people who are less confident on their bikes.” The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has provided the team with additional funds so that they can make up bikeability indexes for Victoria, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton and St. John's by 2012. The maps can be viewed at *www.cher.ubc/ca/**cyclingincities/tools.html*. Cyclists can also search for routes based on preferred distances, air pollution levels and elevation gain. Future renderings will also allow users to click and zoom on the maps. Published on Tuesday, Jun. 28, 2011 8:00AM EDT -- *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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CONSIDER the IMPACT of CentrePort when reviewing Winnipeg's Transportation Master Plan Open House - July 6, 2011
by Janice Lukes 29 Jun '11

29 Jun '11

As this is an Active Transportation list serve - I am compelled to ask that when you review / provide input at the Transportation Master Plan Open House - you consider the following related to the CentrePort Canada initiative: CentrePort Canada http://www.centreportcanada.ca/ * is a public - private partnership which is the driving force behind unprecedented road investments in Winnipeg - and ultimately highways accessing Winnipeg * is recognized as one of North America's top infrastructure projects * all levels of gov't (Feds / Province / City) are making tremendous investments in the development of CentrePort with the vision of significant economic impact for Manitoba * roadways to from and around Winnipeg must be designed as expressways to accommodate the development of the international multi modal transportation hub * the attached CentrePort Business Plan provides a clear overview of the investment / goals, etc. - some interesting long weekend reading TODAY, we are seeing active transportation routes impacted by the development / preparation of roadways related to CentrePort - in both a negative - and positive (when challenged) way: * Perimeter Hwy median closures eliminating trail connectivity from Winnipeg to the greater capital region (Harte Trail to Headingley Grand Trunk Trail, Northeast Pioneers Greenway Trail to town of Birds Hill trail system) * Elimination of service roads around the Perimeter Hwy - often used as active transportation routes * Construction of Inkster pathway as part of Inkster roadway expansion (a link in the CentrePort network) * Construction of a ped / cycle flyover - over the expansion of the Chief Peguis Expressway (a link in the CentrePort network) * Kenaston expansion - may or may not include active transportation on both sides - and may or man not include a ped/cycle flyover to schools on either side (a link in the CentrePort network) My comments aren't on the pros / cons of CentrePort - just that you CONSIDER: * the tremendous financial investments in roadways to support development of CentrePort * the transportation infrastructure required to develop a global multi modal transportation hub * the tremendous commitment by gov'ts and private industry to support the development of CentrePort * the consideration of active transportation in the development of CentrePort * the historic approach / default mode - when developing active transportation in Winnipeg * the many obstacles continually faced when moving active transportation forward in Winnipeg Will the ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION vision reflected in the Transportation Master Plan enable Winnipeg to truly be a 'transportation hub' - for all modes of transportation? Having had the opportunity to provide input on Winnipeg's Transportation Master Plan - I look forward to the open house. Janice Lukes Winnipeg Trails Association * * * * * * * * A few selected Free Press articles & quotes related to CentrePort Canada Way o "Toews said that once complete, CentrePort will increase Canada's opportunities on the world stage. CentrePort Canada is definitely a key component of Canada's economic prosperity as we emerge from the recession," o Selinger said the road projects will link CentrePort with the port of Churchill and Hudson's Bay, continental U.S. and Mexico and Canada's east and west coasts o "CentrePort ...has the ability to do what nothing else can accomplish for our city (for) economic impact and creating phenomenal jobs," Katz said. "This is the beginning of something very wonderful and very special." <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/new-expressway-seen-as-a-road-to- riches-96712199.html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/new-expressway-seen-as-a-road-to-r iches-96712199.html <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/300-million-in-road-construct ion-vital-to-inland-port--starts-96661709.html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/300-million-in-road-constructi on-vital-to-inland-port--starts-96661709.html <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/300-million-in-road-construct ion-vital-to-inland-port--starts-96661709.html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/300-million-in-road-constructi on-vital-to-inland-port--starts-96661709.html <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/a-centreport-trade-coup-111312584 .html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/a-centreport-trade-coup-111312584. html <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/times/Inkster-Street-road- widening-work-continues--99880789.html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/times/Inkster-Street-road-w idening-work-continues--99880789.html <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/federal-funding-at-stake-at-arcti c-gateway-summit-107020833.html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/federal-funding-at-stake-at-arctic -gateway-summit-107020833.html <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/headliner/CentrePort-a-key -issue--in-Rosser-reeve-race-105285718.html> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/headliner/CentrePort-a-key- issue--in-Rosser-reeve-race-105285718.html -----Original Message----- From: at-network-bounces(a)lists.umanitoba.ca [mailto:at-network-bounces@lists.umanitoba.ca] On Behalf Of Beth McKechnie Sent: June 27, 2011 4:57 PM To: AT network Subject: [At-network] Transportation Master Plan Open House - July 6, 2011 ** Please share widely ** WINNIPEG TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE INVITATION 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! -- 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 <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/> our work by becoming a member

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New study from PERI available online
by Stacy Matwick 28 Jun '11

28 Jun '11

>From University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute http://www.peri.umass.edu/ "The benefits of pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure such as sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails-reduced congestion, better air quality, safer travel routes, and improved health outcomes-are well documented. But in this study, Heidi Garrett-Peltier examines another dimension of these public investments: the employment impacts of building and refurbishing this infrastructure, as well as construction and rehabilitation of roads without cycling or walking facilities. Using data from eleven cities, Garrett-Peltier finds that bike and pedestrian projects are effective job creation engines, notably more so than investing at similar levels in road construction for cars." Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure: A National Study of Employment Impacts by Heidi Garrett-Peltier http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/published_study/PERI_ABikes_June201… 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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Fw: Bike to Work Day 2011, please forward
by beth＠greenactioncentre.ca 28 Jun '11

28 Jun '11

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network -----Original Message----- From: Andraea Sartison <andraea.sartison(a)biketoworkdaywinnipeg.org> Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:00:18 Subject: Bike to Work Day 2011, please forward Good afternoon! Friday, June 24th was Bike to Work Day 2011. The event boasted *2700 registered cyclists* (that's way more than 2122 last year!), *325* of which enjoyed a party at the Forks afterwork, there were *22 pit stops* around town and we gave out *400 shirts*, *625 morning snacks* and* 300 burgers or hot dogs*! With 24 degrees and sunny weather the streets were busy with cyclists! In fact, in addition to our registered cyclists each pit stop reported dozens of cyclists who passed by without stopping on their way to work. Knowing that there were even more people on bikes than we registered helps us to emphasize the importance of our event and cycling advocacy, and gives us hope that participation will continue to grow annually. Our goal for next year is to increase registration, promotion and the quality of the event yet again. So stay tuned. The success of this year's event is attributed to our wide network of sponsors, volunteers, partners and riders. We couldn't have done it without you! See you out on the bike paths and for the 5th annual Bike to Work Day Winnipeg in 2012! Please feel free to forward your comments or questions (or suggestions!) about Bike to Work Day to me. Cheers-Andraea -- *Andraea Sartison* *Event Coordinator* *Bike to Work Day 2011* *333-2666* www.biketoworkdaywinnipeg.org

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NYT: Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Mass Transit and Walking
by Erik Dickson 28 Jun '11

28 Jun '11

Subject: Re: NYT: Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Mass Transit and Walking ZURICH - While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear - to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation. Cities including Vienna to Munich and Copenhagen have closed vast swaths of streets to car traffic. Barcelona and Paris have had car lanes eroded by popular bike-sharing programs. Drivers in London and Stockholm pay hefty congestion charges just for entering the heart of the city. And over the past two years, dozens of German cities have joined a national network of "environmental zones" where only cars with low carbon dioxide emissions may enter. Likeminded cities welcome new shopping malls and apartment buildings but severely restrict the allowable number of parking spaces. On-street parking is vanishing. In recent years, even former car capitals like Munich have evolved into "walkers' paradises," said Lee Schipper, a senior research engineer at Stanford University who specializes in sustainable transportation. "In the United States, there has been much more of a tendency to adapt cities to accommodate driving," said Peder Jensen, head of the Energy and Transport Group at the European Environment Agency. "Here there has been more movement to make cities more livable for people, to get cities relatively free of cars." To that end, the municipal Traffic Planning Department here in Zurich has been working overtime in recent years to torment drivers. Closely spaced red lights have been added on roads into town, causing delays and angst for commuters. Pedestrian underpasses that once allowed traffic to flow freely across major intersections have been removed. Operators in the city's ever expanding tram system can turn traffic lights in their favor as they approach, forcing cars to halt. Around Löwenplatz, one of Zurich's busiest squares, cars are now banned on many blocks. Where permitted, their speed is limited to a snail's pace so that crosswalks and crossing signs can be removed entirely, giving people on foot the right to cross anywhere they like at any time. As he stood watching a few cars inch through a mass of bicycles and pedestrians, the city's chief traffic planner, Andy Fellmann, smiled. "Driving is a stop-and-go experience," he said. "That's what we like! Our goal is to reconquer public space for pedestrians, not to make it easy for drivers." While some American cities - notably San Francisco, which has "pedestrianized" parts of Market Street - have made similar efforts, they are still the exception in the United States, where it has been difficult to get people to imagine a life where cars are not entrenched, Dr. Schipper said. Europe's cities generally have stronger incentives to act. Built for the most part before the advent of cars, their narrow roads are poor at handling heavy traffic. Public transportation is generally better in Europe than in the United States, and gas often costs over $8 a gallon, contributing to driving costs that are two to three times greater per mile than in the United States, Dr. Schipper said. What is more, European Union countries probably cannot meet a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions unless they curb driving. The United States never ratified that pact. Globally, emissions from transportation continue a relentless rise, with half of them coming from personal cars. Yet an important impulse behind Europe's traffic reforms will be familiar to mayors in Los Angeles and Vienna alike: to make cities more inviting, with cleaner air and less traffic. Michael Kodransky, global research manager at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in New York, which works with cities to reduce transport emissions, said that Europe was previously "on the same trajectory as the United States, with more people wanting to own more cars." But in the past decade, there had been "a conscious shift in thinking, and firm policy," he said. And it is having an effect. After two decades of car ownership, Hans Von Matt, 52, who works in the insurance industry, sold his vehicle and now gets around Zurich by tram or bicycle, using a car-sharing service for trips out of the city. Carless households have increased from 40 to 45 percent in the last decade, and car owners use their vehicles less, city statistics show. "There were big fights over whether to close this road or not - but now it is closed, and people got used to it," he said, alighting from his bicycle on Limmatquai, a riverside pedestrian zone lined with cafes that used to be two lanes of gridlock. Each major road closing has to be approved in a referendum. Today 91 percent of the delegates to the Swiss Parliament take the tram to work. Still, there is grumbling. "There are all these zones where you can only drive 20 or 30 kilometers per hour [about 12 to 18 miles an hour], which is rather stressful," Thomas Rickli, a consultant, said as he parked his Jaguar in a lot at the edge of town. "It's useless." Urban planners generally agree that a rise in car commuting is not desirable for cities anywhere. Mr. Fellmann calculated that a person using a car took up 115 cubic meters (roughly 4,000 cubic feet) of urban space in Zurich while a pedestrian took three. "So it's not really fair to everyone else if you take the car," he said. European cities also realized they could not meet increasingly strict World Health Organization guidelines for fine-particulate air pollution if cars continued to reign. Many American cities are likewise in "nonattainment" of their Clean Air Act requirements, but that fact "is just accepted here," said Mr. Kodransky of the New York-based transportation institute. It often takes extreme measures to get people out of their cars, and providing good public transportation is a crucial first step. One novel strategy in Europe is intentionally making it harder and more costly to park. "Parking is everywhere in the United States, but it's disappearing from the urban space in Europe," said Mr. Kodransky, whose recent report "Europe's Parking U-Turn" surveys the shift. Sihl City, a new Zurich mall, is three times the size of Brooklyn's Atlantic Mall but has only half the number of parking spaces, and as a result, 70 percent of visitors get there by public transport, Mr. Kodransky said. In Copenhagen, Mr. Jensen, at the European Environment Agency, said that his office building had more than 150 spaces for bicycles and only one for a car, to accommodate a disabled person. While many building codes in Europe cap the number of parking spaces in new buildings to discourage car ownership, American codes conversely tend to stipulate a minimum number. New apartment complexes built along the light rail line in Denver devote their bottom eight floors to parking, making it "too easy" to get in the car rather than take advantage of rail transit, Mr. Kodransky said. While Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has generated controversy in New York by "pedestrianizing" a few areas like Times Square, many European cities have already closed vast areas to car traffic. Store owners in Zurich had worried that the closings would mean a drop in business, but that fear has proved unfounded, Mr. Fellmann said, because pedestrian traffic increased 30 to 40 percent where cars were banned. With politicians and most citizens still largely behind them, Zurich's planners continue their traffic-taming quest, shortening the green-light periods and lengthening the red with the goal that pedestrians wait no more than 20 seconds to cross. "We would never synchronize green lights for cars with our philosophy," said Pio Marzolini, a city official. "When I'm in other cities, I feel like I'm always waiting to cross a street. I can't get used to the idea that I am worth less than a car."

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Walk this lovely little way - Wpg's picturesque parkways city's best-kept secret
by Beth McKechnie 28 Jun '11

28 Jun '11

Walk this lovely little way Winnipeg's picturesque parkways city's best-kept secret By: Julie Carl http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/walk-this-lovely-little-way-12463564… Shhhhhh. It's Winnipeg's prettiest little secret, and we wouldn't want word to get out. It's not marked on city maps, not even the trail maps. And there's precious few signs pointing the way. But unbeknownst to most Winnipeggers, there's a web of six parkways that link park to park to park along the city's rivers, following quiet streets where necessary, but mainly hugging the riverbanks. And if you venture just north of the corner of Glenwood Crescent and Harbison Avenue West, you'll discover perhaps the most picturesque spot of all of Winnipeg's parkways, Elmwood Park, part of the Kildonan Parkway. "I can't believe no one, either media or just a person, has asked about this," said Janice Lukes, manager of special projects with the Winnipeg Trails Association and Rivers West, Red River co-ordinator. "But no one has." Many people may be travelling the parkways in bits and pieces but don't realize they all join up. On a recent sunny day, cyclists were whizzing through Elmwood Park and south along the parkway, while a couple walked two enormous dogs and some would-be explorers checked out two mysterious staircases near the river. The Kildonan Parkway, where it wends through Elmwood, might be the most pleasant of the parkways, given to leisurely meandering, snaking along tree-shaded neighbourhoods and sun-dappled parks by the river. The parkways all end at The Forks -- or start there, depending on how you look at it. The South Winnipeg Parkway runs south of The Forks, west of the Red, and the Boni-Vital Parkway, also running south, is east of the Red. There's the North Assiniboine Parkway and South Assiniboine Parkway, their directions self-explanatory. The North Winnipeg Parkway runs north of The Forks on the west side of the river, and the Kildonan Parkway runs north on the Red's east side. The parkway system was started 20 years ago by a forward-thinking city with a vision to make the most of its rivers, Lukes says. There were 18 smaller trails then, a very confusing labyrinth of paths, but officials organized them into six parkways to keep things simple. Until trailheads and route maps are placed on the parkways -- planned for this fall, along with signs indicating points of interest, a very pleased Lukes reports -- bikers, hikers and dog-walkers need to be a little creative to find the parkways in many spots. They are signed, but signs are small and placement is a bit sketchy. It's worth seeking the signs because, really, a whole other world within Winnipeg opens up once you set foot or wheel on a parkway. julie.carl(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Great Places: how livable streets make us happier humans
by Beth McKechnie 28 Jun '11

28 Jun '11

Great places: how livable streets make us happier humans by Sarah Goodyear <http://www.grist.org/people/Sarah+Goodyear> 23 Jun 2011 12:30 PM * http://www.grist.org/urbanism/2011-06-23-great-places-how-livable-streets-m… * ** ** *This post follows up on David Roberts' series on "great places<http://www.grist.org/article/2011-05-23-great-places-reorienting-progressiv…> ."* I found out yesterday that one of my neighbors, a lady in her 70s, had been taken to the hospital with heart problems. Her middle-aged daughter, who lives with her, was the one who told me, when we met on the stretch of sidewalk between our two houses. We often stop to chat like this, trading news and gossip and small talk. I expressed my concern and asked if there was anything that I could do. The daughter thanked me, and said she would pass along my well-wishes. Later, I found out from another neighbor that the older woman is going to be just fine. Phew. So what does this have to do with the "great places<http://www.grist.org/article/2011-05-23-great-places-reorienting-progressiv…>" idea David Roberts began exploring a few weeks back? Here's what: Great places have to be sustainable not just environmentally, but socially, too. Because human beings are social animals. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/sminor/4458106816/> Those brief talks I had with my neighbors were typical -- among dozens of similar interactions I have every week on my block and the streets around it. My dense, walkable, transit-rich neighborhood does a lot of great things for my carbon footprint (no car required, Zipcar within walking distance if I need one, farmers market only a few blocks away). But what it does for my soul might, in the end, be more important. Over the years, I have traded dog-sitting services with one neighbor. A store around the corner has accepted packages for me when I've been out. I've gotten, and given, career advice while sitting on the stoop. I've dropped my wallet on the sidewalk and had it returned by a woman whom I know could have used the money inside. She didn't touch the cash. My son has ridden his scooter up and down the sidewalk, and we've played stickball with the neighbor kids in the street. I've shoveled the snow in front of the house of the old couple next door. I've given hugs, picked up trash, and offered my shoulder to cry on. The street I live on is not just an address for me. It is an extension of my home. That sense I have -- that my living room extends into the street -- is, sadly, a privilege in this day and age. It's made possible by relatively low car traffic and high density of dwelling units on my block. This combination opens up a way of life that used to be common -- in which human beings naturally connect with each other over time, forming networks that can then be called upon when the going gets rough. Back in the late 1960s, a man named Donald Appleyard<http://www.pps.org/articles/dappleyard/>did some groundbreaking research into the way that car traffic kills street life and degrades the quality of urban communities<http://www.grist.org/article/2010-11-04-how-automobiles-make-our-streets-le…>. It was published in a book called *Livable Streets<http://www.amazon.com/Livable-Streets-Donald-Appleyard/dp/0415610648/ref=sr…>, *which will be back in print next year. He found that on streets with light car traffic, people felt more connected to their neighbors and their physical surroundings. The heavier the traffic, the more those connections suffered. The more the people suffered. The video below, from Streetfilms <http://www.streetfilms.org/>, is an excellent illustration of his work. Revisiting Donald Appleyard's Livable Streets <http://vimeo.com/16399180>from Streetfilms <http://vimeo.com/streetfilms> on Vimeo <http://vimeo.com/>. Since Appleyard did his research in San Francisco, automobiles have only grown more dominant on our streets. Recently, a British graduate student named Joshua Hart set out to replicate Appleyard's findings<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/19/ethicalliving.automotive>, and the quotes from his dissertation<http://www2.grist.org/grist-images/2011/June/6-20/DTESummary.pdf>[PDF] dramatize the toll autocentrism takes on human lives. Here's what one man in his 50s said about the street where he lives: [The traffic is] like a mountain range, cutting you off from the other side of the road.....it's hellishly busy....a bloody nightmare. The buses and lorries shake the house when they come by. The air pollution can be quite bad out the front, sometimes during rush hour you feel the air getting thicker and thicker..... Other recent studies have found<http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/12/walkable-ne…>that "social capital" -- that is, the number and quality of human interactions -- is higher in walkable communities<http://www.springerlink.com/content/xtq06270p27r1v0h/>. And even small increases in connectedness and activity can have significant health benefits<http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_small-day-to-day-changes-could-lead-t…> . Take a look at the video below (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVW8BCFsT3c) as well, from Mike Biddulph of Cardiff University<http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/cplan/contactsandpeople/stafflist/a-b/biddulph-mik…>. It compares two different streets in Cardiff, Wales, at the same time of day. One is what is known in the U.K. as a "home zone<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_zone>" -- a street that is designed with people as its primary focus, not cars. The other is a street with some traffic-calming measures in place, but where automobiles still dominate the streetscape visually and in terms of the space they occupy. It becomes clear very quickly which street makes it inviting for people -- especially children -- to come out of their homes and do what primates generally like to do, which is to socialize with one another. The concept of walkable, or livable, streets has slowly but surely been coming back into the mainstream conversation, in part because of the work of grassroots activists like Dan Burden <http://www.walkable.org/about.html>. Burden has worked many hours (and walked many miles) to try to convince municipal officials that they should design their cities and towns for people instead of cars. People are taking notice<http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/walking-expert-prescribes-ro…>. Streets are changing. More and more communities are passing "complete streets <http://www.completestreets.org/>" legislation that requires streets to be designed with pedestrians and bikes in mind, not just cars. It shouldn't just be 19th-century neighborhoods like mine that have a happy street life. It shouldn't just be rich neighborhoods. It should be all neighborhoods. But there are still way too many places in America where streets are for cars, and you take your life into your hands just trying to cross on foot<http://www.grist.org/slideshow/2011-05-25-do-not-walk-here> . Changing our streets to bring them back to human scale will take generations. It's a process, but at least the work has begun in earnest. Here's what Donald Appleyard said about the tension over street design: People have always lived on streets. They have been the places where children first learned about the world, where neighbors met, the social centers of towns and cities, the rallying points for revolts, the scenes of repression.... The street has always been the scene of this conflict, between living and access, between resident and traveler, between street life and the threat of death. Appleyard would likely be thrilled to see how his ideas are being taken up by a new generation. Sadly, he's not around to do so. He was struck by a car and killed in 1982 <http://streetswiki.wikispaces.com/Donald+Appleyard>. Sarah Goodyear is Grist’s cities editor. She’s also on Twitter<http://twitter.com/buttermilk1> . -- *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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Transportation Master Plan Open House - July 6, 2011
by Beth McKechnie 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

** Please share widely ** *WINNIPEG TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN* *PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE INVITATION* ** ** 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!**** ** ** -- *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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