breakfast in beijing
Truth be told, I hate chinese breakfasts. Morning has me yearning for a cappuccino. China hasn’t caught on to coffee yet, and most local cafes only open late, at 10 or 11 am. That leaves only one option while I’m in Beijing. Starbucks.
bike-sharing in pittsburgh
There’s a bike-sharing demo in Market Square tomorrow (June 9) between 10 and 2. Don’t miss it! While you are there, check out the Farmer’s Market as well.
citylive! 37: moving people, not cars
June 13 2011 | New Hazlett Theater | 6.30p.m.
Have you ever thought you’d like to ride your bike to work, but it seems too dangerous? Do you wonder what life would be like if your children could walk to school, and you wouldn’t have to drive them? Do you admire cities like New York, with its miles of city bike lanes, or Paris, with its 20,000 bikes to rent? Do you hate the fact that you need to drive your bike to a good trail? Would you like to live in a city that is built for people, not cars?
hang your bike
Here’s a proposal for an efficient transportation solution – enormous bike ferris wheels, tucked into forgotten spaces between downtown buildings.
bike hero
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a weekend bicyclist, “might consider keeping his head down and his helmet on” suggests the Huffington Post this morning. ”A backlash is brewing over his new bicycling policy.”
under the freeway
Endless miles of freeway have always irritated me. They plow through neighborhoods, dissecting blocks and turn well worn paths and local connections into dead ends. Instead of sustaining cities they perpetuate sprawl.
upside down under
While I write this at four in the afternoon, in Pittsburgh the day I have just enjoyed has not yet dawned.
be traffic free
Yesterday, my bike ride took me from Downtown Pittsburgh to the far reaches of both the North Side and South Side river trails. 23 traffic free miles bar a few blocks right in the middle of Downtown. You can see my GPS tracks on the map.
at the epicenter 8
Today, something fantastic happened. Something I have always dreamed of. We closed the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh to cars, and bicycles took over. Now, I know that was not the intent of the G20 security measures. But it was certainly an interesting, and positive, side effect.
radical urbanism
I’ve had the good fortune to meet the unabashedly pro-urban Enrique Penalosa.
A former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Peñalosa was responsible for numerous radical improvements to the city during his term. He prioritized access for children and public spaces and restricted private car use. He built hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks. And he organized Car-Free Day in 2000, for which he was awarded the Stockholm Challenge Award and rewarded by a referendum vote endorsing an annual car-free day and the elimination of all cars from Bogota streets during rush hours from 2015 onwards.
This is radical urbanism at its best!
parking our bikes
Last week the City of Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve a small legislative change put forward by Steve Patchen, our bike czar – the Bike Parking Ordinance. Real estated developers will now need to provide bicycle parking in addition to automobile parking in their new developments.
seen at scene
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- biker girls, seen
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- hilary robinson and scott bricker, seen
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- sean brady and patrick dowd, seen
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- erik lingren, seen
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- karla boos and hilary robinson, almost seen
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- josh welsh, seen
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- kim o’dell, seen
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- party feet
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- seth gernot and robyn brady, seen
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- who is this I saw?
summer cycling tour
From August 20 to 23 I’ll be biking the Great Allegheny Passage with Venture Outdoors. I made the trip all the way from DC to Pittsburgh last year. August’s trip starts in Cumberland and ends in Pittsburgh, the easiest, smoothest and prettiest section of the trail.
blue bike tracks on nantucket
Here’s one vacation day and 24 miles of biking on Nantucket, tracked in blue on John’s GPS.
traffic jam
There was a traffic jam on Pittsburgh’s South Side this Sunday. This one was new and different. Between 1:00 and 2:00 pm I passed 227 people on the riverside trail. There were young, very young and not so young all jammed together. Most of them were on bikes and some were runners and skaters, elbowing their way through the crowd.
the reward
Every now and then I feel like I’m glued to my chair, glued to my computer, glued to my life. It’s hard to change gears but by now I remember the way it feels when I do.
pedal-paddle-peduto
I’ll be joining Councilman Bill Peduto and others for an educational bike tour along Pittsburgh’s downtown streets and riverfront trails. We’ll talk about Pittsburgh’s history, unique architecture and urban planning, with a slight political twist.
birdy bike
Some people get energy from a quiet weekend in the country. I soak up energy from a new city, and that was the purpose of this weekend’s trip to Toronto.
