depave a parking lot, put up a paradise

Movie by Elizabeth Press of Streetfilms

The opening event at the Towards Car-free Cities Conference in Portland, Oregon was the depaving of a 3000 sq foot parking lot. In its place will grow a community garden along with bike parking and a water catchment system. We cover the asphalt removal, then go on a tour of past depaving sites.

Bikescape was there to cover as much of the rest of the conference as one little podcaster could. Stay tuned for many more posts on this important get-together.

The closing song, Chicken or Beef was written and performed by Reptet at the bike art show at Portland City Hall.

I traveled with two San Franciscans who are blogging about the conference. Steve Jones is with the San Francisco Bay Guardian and is posting on their politics blog and Brian Smith runs the excellent Car Free USA blog.

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Democracy in action: The San Fracisco Bike Plan

Bikescape goes to a community meeting of the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Authority as the city solicits public input about the stalled bike plan. We encountered vociferous opposition from parents at three schools on Broadway who feel they must drive their kids to school each day. This begs the question: Why are double parkers considered "stakeholders" and why are their dangerous and illegal actions considered a "reality we must deal with" while all the while demanding harsher enforcement for "scofflaw bicyclists."

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Be sure to voice your opinion with the MTA!

Read former Bogata Columbia Mayor Enrique Peñalosa's op ed in The Sunday NY Times

Stay tuned for coverage of the Car-Free Cities Conference and Pedalpalooza in Portland

Police and media get it wrong in bike fatalities

Bikescape revisits the March killings of Kristie Gough and Matt Peterson during a training ride in the Bay Area by a sheriff's deputy who crossed onto the wrong side of the road and hit them head-on.

We speak with bicycle lawyer and Velo News columnist Bob Mionskie about police bias in this case and toward cyclists in general. Next, we meet with San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Leah Shahum to get to the bottom of the shameful blame the victim attitude taken by the mainstream media and how we can shape public attitudes.

Then we look at a new podcast by James Howard Kunstler and check out the events calendar.

NEW!! Leave voice messages about burning issues with Bikescape and be on the show! Just open Skype, call user name Bikescape and talk!

Mionskie's column on Velo News is here.


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Photo of Leah courtesy Martin Krieg
Photo of Bob courtesy Andy Thornley

Jim Kunstler on Colbert Report

"You're probably one of these people who think the world has a creamy nougat center of oil but it doesn't."



http://www.kunstler.com/

Bicycling and the Law, Bob Mionske speaks at the SF Bicycle Coalition

Two time U.S. Olympic cyclist and 1990 U.S. National Champion, Bob Mionske went on to practice law and now advocates for cyclists. His new book Bicycling and the Law: Your Rights as a Cyclist is a must read for activists. Bob also writes the Legally Speaking column in the Velo News.

He gave a talk at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition last month and Bikescape captured it for you here.




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around the world by bicycle

As Bikescape marks its third birthday, Victor Weinreber sets out on a bike trip around the world that will take at least that long. We meet up with him as he finishes his warm-up trip across the USA and prepares to start the actual trek which begins and ends in San Francisco.




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Read Victor's journal and diaries of other long distance bike tourers.

Victor sent links about the tools he uses on his trip, such as his cool, home built LED lights, his water bottle/bidet, his 14-speed Rohloff hub, and his Hennessey Hammock tent.

return of the scorcher

Podcasts are on hold while I my ibook goes through a permissions nightmare. In the meantime, this film from 1992 by Ted White that inspired the name for Critical Mass should keep you occupied...

Return of the Scorcher

2007: a look back

Let's recap the year, shall we?


In this episode I collect all of the random recordings I made over the year but failed to include in any shows. We spend some time at last summer's Shake your Peace Festival where we met the B:C:Clettes, a bike ballet troupe and listened to a bicycle-based musical device called Antsy Pants.

Then we meet up with Critical Mass at (Peewee) Herman Plaza as the crowd gathers to discuss whether the ride is still relevant after fifteen years. We also check in with my six-year-old as she learns to ride on two wheels.

Next, we get updates on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's embarrassing memo from HR that forbade employees from riding their bikes in the course of their duties, as well as lots of other news from the two wheeled world.

The song, Bicycle by the band for kids of all ages the Jellydots can be downloaded here.




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What we're up against

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is, according to their mission statment, "committed to achieving clean air to protect the public's health and the environment." Their stated goals are to:

• Attain and Maintain Air Quality Standards
• Increase Public Awareness of Positive Air Quality Choices
• Develop and Implement Protocol and Policies for Environmental Justice

They're the ones behind the "Spare the Air Days" when we all get to ride transit for free so we can all breath.

I wonder then how they can explain this memo that was sent to their employees who, in the course of their duties have to travel around the Bay Area.

I guess when the Board members have their own reserved parking spots in the private garage its easy to become divorced from reality...

In other news, I've recovered the lost sound files for the long promised BORP episode. They need about six hours to be edited but they're next up so stay tuned!

WNYC on biking in New York