Proposed Bikeway to SF to Honor Boston's Rich Bicycle Heritage, + Des Moines Mayor Podcast

[[email protected]]

For Immediate Release Contact: Dorie Clark, Mass Bike
Date: 04-13-06 617 542 2453

Proposed Bikeway to SF to Honor Boston's Rich Bicycle Heritage, + Des
Moines Mayor Podcast

From Boston City Hall at 12 noon on Friday April 28th, scout cyclist,
Scott Campbell leads the charge for a summer long relay calling for a
safe bikeway to San Francisco. Riding for the nonprofit National
Bicycle Greenway (NBG), he will depart Boston on his bicycle journey
with the blessings of Boston Mayor Tom Menino and local bike advocates
including the Livable Streets Alliance and Mass Bike. The NBG is working
on commitments from several parties that will usher Scott from the
Boston celebration. These groups include the kids from Bikes Not Bombs
who rode with the NBG last year and the press grabbing 15-person busycle
that Menino piloted at last Fall's Hub on Wheels festival. The Boston
Globe has expressed interest in a feature and all of this will also be
captured by a local documentary film maker.

The many cyclists who will then escort Scott through the 32 big cities
along the way, will be joining him as he collects support for the
bikeway that will connect all these population centers to one another.
A part of the 5th Annual National Mayors' Ride, Scott will travel east
to west to symbolically honor Boston as the birthplace of bicycling in
America. It was also in Boston that Thomas Stevens ended his ride from
San Francisco on the world's first ground transportation vehicle, the
HiWheel bicycle (also called a Penny Farthing), in 1884.

Scott will also be doing advance scouting work for the 2007 coast to
coast Author Tour that"Awake Again" author and NBG Founder, Martin Krieg
will be doing on an 1881 HiWheel with his new book "How America can
Bike and Grow Rich, The National Bicycle Greenway Manifesto". Besides
honoring Stevens, the Mayors' Ride will honor another precedent set by
the history of transportation in America. In Krieg's research, he is
finding many parallels between this nation's first coast to coast
highway, the Lincoln Highway which began in 1914, and the National
Bicycle Greenway he and his group foresee. Billed as an 'Appeal to
Patriots' the success of the Lincoln brought the unabated car sprawl
that is choking America today. The NBG sees their network of roads that
will also begin as one, as a way to fight the new enemies -- our
overweight epidemic, time wasting and stress inducing traffic jams, wars
for oil, and noise and air pollution that have resulted from our love
affair with the automobile.

More info: <http://www.bikeroute.com/NationalMayorsRide2006>

========================================

If you want to get a feeling for what it's like to bicycle present day
Boston. we interviewed eight cyclists who regularly roll its streets.
Don't miss this Podcast:
<http://web.mac.com/hiwheel/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html>

We also went to Des Moines, IA, where we interviewed its environmentally
aware Mayor, Frank Cownie. A fun guy, whose family can trace its routes
of service to Des Moines back to the 1880's, he spent half an hour on
the phone with us. You don't want to miss this
Podcast<http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Podcasts/Cownie.mp3> either!!

Other associated links:
<http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com>
<http://www.bikeroute.com/AwakeAgain>
<http://www.bikeroute.com/HBGR.html>




54% of New York City households do not own cars

Martin Krieg "Awake Again" Author
http://www.BikeRoute.com/MKRIEG.HTML
'79 & '86 TransAmerica Bike Rides
2007 w/"How America Can Bike & Grow Rich"
Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death Survivor
NBG Founding Director, HiWheel Cyclist

 

[Dennis P. Harris]

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:04:27 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc,
[email protected] wrote:

> Proposed Bikeway to SF to Honor Boston's Rich Bicycle Heritage, + Des
> Moines Mayor Podcast
>
WE DON'T NEED BLEEPING BIKEWAYS, WE NEED SAFE ROADS FOR EVERYONE!

Bikes belong on the road, not on "bikeways". Spend the money on
making roads safe for cyclists and pedestrians.

 

[[email protected]]

Dennis P. Harris writes:

>> Proposed Bikeway to SF to Honor Boston's Rich Bicycle Heritage, +
>> Des Moines Mayor Podcast

> WE DON'T NEED BLEEPING BIKEWAYS, WE NEED SAFE ROADS FOR EVERYONE!

I agree!

> Bikes belong on the road, not on "bikeways". Spend the money on
> making roads safe for cyclists and pedestrians.

You must have forgotten the "Separate but equal" segregationists
mantra. Many people like to believe in these catchwords, like
"trickle down theory" or "peace with honor" and many more.

Jobst Brandt

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Dennis P. Harris) writes:
> On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:04:27 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
>> Proposed Bikeway to SF to Honor Boston's Rich Bicycle Heritage, + Des
>> Moines Mayor Podcast
>>
> WE DON'T NEED BLEEPING BIKEWAYS, WE NEED SAFE ROADS FOR EVERYONE!
>
> Bikes belong on the road, not on "bikeways". Spend the money on
> making roads safe for cyclists and pedestrians.

In the local nomenclature with which I am familiar, bikeways /are/
often roads and streets that have been made safe[r] for cyclists
and pedestrians.

I do harbour a suspicion that when our local authorities make such
improvements to certain roads, other adjacent roads that could also
use such improvement are ignored -- the authorities may consider:
"Let's just leave it as it is. After all, there's a bikeway right
over there."


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

 

[[email protected]]

Tom Keats wrote:
>
> I do harbour a suspicion that when our local authorities make such
> improvements to certain roads, other adjacent roads that could also
> use such improvement are ignored -- the authorities may consider:
> "Let's just leave it as it is. After all, there's a bikeway right
> over there."

And I know by experience that the "bikeway over there" is often
stupidly designed. The operative idea seems to be "Hey, as long as we
do _something_, they should be satisfied. It's only for bikes, so it
doesn't need any engineering."

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Peter Cole]

[email protected] wrote:
> For Immediate Release Contact: Dorie Clark, Mass Bike
> Date: 04-13-06 617 542 2453
>
> Proposed Bikeway to SF to Honor Boston's Rich Bicycle Heritage, + Des
> Moines Mayor Podcast

This is just SPAM.

America doesn't need a "bike greenway" whatever that is, it just needs
rational policies to share the roads. Stunts like a 20 person "bicycle
bus" or cross country high wheeler rides just further marginalize
bicycling.

I have not been able to support my local "advocacy" organization (Mass
Bike, ref'ed above) for years because many of their initiatives not only
don't support my needs, but actually run contrary to them.

On a club ride yesterday, we had a rider get struck by a side mirror on
a van that passed too close (no major injuries, fortunately). I was
almost struck by a mower handle extending about 3' feet from a passing
lawn crew trailer as I rode home after the ride. When I shouted at
another driver who passed me with inches of clearance, he pulled over
and screamed at me to "get out of the middle of the road", garnished
with various obscenities. This was all on one ride! Our local advocacy
group wants to increase the penalties for *cyclists* who break existing
laws, raising the fines from $20 to $50. Currently, riding no-hands is
illegal, nobody thinks that should be changed.

 

[Ron Wallenfang]

I disagree that it's spam - it is on point - but agree with your other
points. A specialized "bikeway" only adds safety if it eliminates grade
crossings, which just isn't in the picture. As it is, most grade crossings
give motorists the right of way, and can be far from convenient and safe to
cross safely. Sometimes they're counter-productive, because they give
drivers the idea that you don't belong on the roads.

Another point: a name like "Bikes not Bombs" just tags you as a political
fringe group. It screams: "You're not welcome here" to everyone who isn't
a pacifist, which just happens to include a few bike riders.



"Peter Cole" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> [email protected] wrote:
>> For Immediate Release Contact: Dorie Clark, Mass Bike
>> Date: 04-13-06 617 542 2453
>>
>> Proposed Bikeway to SF to Honor Boston's Rich Bicycle Heritage, + Des
>> Moines Mayor Podcast
>
> This is just SPAM.
>
> America doesn't need a "bike greenway" whatever that is, it just needs
> rational policies to share the roads. Stunts like a 20 person "bicycle
> bus" or cross country high wheeler rides just further marginalize
> bicycling.
>
> I have not been able to support my local "advocacy" organization (Mass
> Bike, ref'ed above) for years because many of their initiatives not only
> don't support my needs, but actually run contrary to them.
>
> On a club ride yesterday, we had a rider get struck by a side mirror on a
> van that passed too close (no major injuries, fortunately). I was almost
> struck by a mower handle extending about 3' feet from a passing lawn crew
> trailer as I rode home after the ride. When I shouted at another driver
> who passed me with inches of clearance, he pulled over and screamed at me
> to "get out of the middle of the road", garnished with various
> obscenities. This was all on one ride! Our local advocacy group wants to
> increase the penalties for *cyclists* who break existing laws, raising the
> fines from $20 to $50. Currently, riding no-hands is illegal, nobody
> thinks that should be changed.