Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Re: Walk/Bike to School Month in October


Fun Walk to School activities:

    If anybody is interested in having fun updating/customizing
    the SRTS poster we gave out to local schools 2 years ago,
    I can email the source file. A treasure trove of trivia factoids !


   

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Bike Circulation Plan (2002); follow-up re: "Ethicist" op-ed


Charles Carmalt is currently Philadelphia's Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator,
Board hired him over a decade ago, and the resulting 83-page document, 
"Bicycle Circulation Plan for the Princeton Community" is now online. You
can view it here:      http://bit.ly/MIpUPC

The key chapters to read are probably VIII (Bicycle Improvement Plan) and
IX (Implementation Program), starting on Page 34 of the PDF. Carmalt's report
is teeming with quality ideas and suggestions, a few of which actually have
been implemented. Sadly, other ideas were either deemed unaffordable or
for various reasons, haven't gotten any traction in the intervening years.

The NYT op-ed piece by Randy Cohen generated several letters to the editor,
(TA) evolving from fringe to mainstream.

For more info, TA's director Paul Steely White left his tire marks on YouTube.

NYC's anti-bike viewpoint was prominently displayed in the grocery checkout line.


Monday, August 6, 2012

curb your enthusiasm for sharp-edged granite


They look swell, they add curb appeal, they are super-durable. What's
not to like about granite "Belgian block" curbing ?  One does need to
be extra-careful with ones parallel parking, lest one join the ranks of
motorists who have ruined their tire !!

In the event of a bicyclist who loses control and crashes, they are a hazard.

Excerpt below is from a letter by Ithaca's town planner to a developer:


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Re: NYTimes op-ed: the ethicist weighs in


> Forget Kant.  Ethics has nothing to do with it.  

     Surely you're joking, Mr. Suber.  You gotta love Randy "The Ethicist" 
     Cohen (who doesn't have any credentials as a real philosopher, by the 
     way. Among other things, he originated the "Top Ten List" during his
     stint as one of David Letterman's comic writers).

     I'd read his columns, but didn't know he was a bike advocate. Here's
     a guy who declares "I worship at the shrine of Jeanette Sadik-Khan"
     (referring to the new pedestrian-friendly configuration of Times Square):
     http://bit.ly/zzayfJ

     His various pronouncements in this 4-minute video clip are LOL entertaining:

     Cohen gets very annoyed by cyclists riding the wrong way on one-way bike
     lanes, a dangerous practice known as "salmon cycling" (going against the current).
     Meanwhile, financial journalist / blogger Felix Salmon rebuts Cohen, saying
     "he is kidding himself that he's behaving ethically". Both columns are here:

Re: NYTimes op-ed: the ethicist weighs in


From: Mike Suber
Subject: Re: NYTimes op-ed: the ethicist weighs in
Date: Saturday, August 4, 2012, 6:01 PM

Steve et al -
 
Yes, I read the opinion piece on the web site.  Forget Kant. 
Ethics has nothing to do with it.  Consider the effect on other cyclists
and motorists who observe such irresponsibility: Flout the law, behave unlike
most responsible motorists, and bring derision and danger to all cyclists. 
I can't believe that TA might consider this acceptable behavior.
 
Mike Suber
______________________________
 
On Sat, 4 Aug 2012 14:48:47 -0700 (PDT) Steve Kruse writes:

"If Kant Were a New York Cyclist"     by Randy Cohen

THE rule-breaking cyclist that people decry: that's me. I routinely run red lights, 
and so do you. I flout the law when I'm on my bike; you do it when  you are on 
foot, at least if you are like most New Yorkers. My behavior vexes  pedestrians, 
drivers and even some of my fellow cyclists. Similar conduct has stuck cyclists
with tickets and court-ordered biking education classes.

But  although it is illegal, I believe it is ethical. I'm not so sure about
your blithely ambling into the intersection against the light while
texting and listening to your iPod and sipping a martini. More or less.

Read the entire article at    http://nyti.ms/MkoU42