utterly opinionated

Four hours and forty-one minutes outside Pittsburgh, anger slapped me in the face.  How ridiculous is this, I thought.  Only two hundred and thirty-three point eight miles in four hours and forty-one minutes?  If I were flying, I’d almost be in Paris.

While we fuss about better transportation inside our city, we are missing the boat (or the high-speed train).  Who cares about a slightly better connection between Downtown and Oakland?   We need a better connection between us and the rest of the world.  Right now it takes a startling twelve hours to go by train from Pittsburgh to New York.

A train that moves at just one hundred miles per hour would not only make it possible to get to New York, DC or Philadelphia faster, but would also open a flood of opportunities for Pittsburgh.  More jobs for those who live in our region, spread over a wider geographic area.  More opportunities for businesses located in Pittsburgh, with ready, fast connections to other places.  More.

Come on now.   Who’s working on this?

Outside, along the edge of the river trail, the smell of honeysuckle is intoxicating.

Go.

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.”

LaHood blogged that he is ending the era of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.   “The new policy has vaulted LaHood to superstar status in the bicycling world. Bike blogs are bubbling with praise. A post on Ridemonkey.com calls him “cycling’s man of the century.” The Adventure Cycling Association’s Web site calls LaHood “our hero.” says Huffington.

He’s my hero too.

Remember this story?   Mon dieu!  You don’t have to spend $1010 on a trash can.

I love the pragmatic simplicity of Parisian trash cans.  A short steel post, with a ring at the top, bolted to the sidewalk with a plate.   The bag is held in place by an enormous, sturdy, bungee cord.

Get a local manufacturer to make these and I’ll bet they won’t cost much more than $50 a piece.  In Paris, you don’t have to walk much further than a block or two to find one.   They don’t take up much space, and the bag is simple to replace.

When did we start to believe that trash needed an architectural masterpiece to house it?     Admittedly, this solution was born as a safety measure, after trash cans became a great hiding place for bombs.  I love this solution.  Bombs can’t hide in clear plastic bags.

Bring it on!

Paris is a dense city.  There is not much space here.   Streets are narrow and crammed with cars.

A typical parking space in Pittsburgh measures twenty feet long by eight and a half feet wide.   This smart car fits into a space just nine feet long.  I measured it.   Fill a city with tiny cars and there’ll be twice as many parking spaces.

We sold our Lake House a couple of years ago.   It had become a burdensome retreat, large and a lot to care for.   Most days we’d sit in the tiniest room just off the kitchen, reading and looking at the gorgeous lake view.

I’ve adapted to life without a weekend retreat.  Still, I daydream about the perfect place to spend a weekend day and list the formula in my mind.  No more than an hour’s drive from our home in downtown Pittsburgh;  one room with a great view;  a fireplace center stage;  by water; on a biking trail;  with grounds that are rough and weedy.

Heaven.

And then I found the Red Guest Houses.   Designed by Totan Kuzembaev for a resort near Moscow, they have helped to transform once filthy waste land.  I will  build one.  It will hover above the old steel and weeds, right next to the river, bright red against the grey ground.  Apart, yet part of the landscape.  My Red Guest House will be something new and creative set into the solid roots of the region.

Soon.

Our bus stop shelters are as dreary as January in Pittsburgh.  While they may be utilitarian they are quite pedestrian and uninspired.   The essential bus stop sign hasn’t even been integrated into the shelter.   It stands all alone, attached to a nearby post or pole, an afterthought.  What a shameful solution for a bus system that has more riders than most other cities in the US.

Santa Monica, on the other hand, is celebrating its bus system   Last year their Big Blue Bus Agency awarded Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects and Bruce Mau Design the Big Blue Bus Architectural and Branding Package.   These two internationally recognized firms were charged with the job of exploring how public transportation has the potential to cultivate, enrich and connect the community.

Their joyful solution, “The Blue Spots” takes the dreary out of bus stops.  Eventually, these flexible blue shelters will be implemented at 360 stops.

Ours or theirs?   You pick.

This weekend I helped a relative move into a pretty little house in Cranberry.  She had finally found a home just 2.5 miles from her job.   Since she likes to walk  I assumed her days of commuting by car were over.  But I had forgotten this fundamental thing about the suburbs.  There are no sidewalks.

 “I’ll drive” she said.

I thought about this as I drove short hops through Cranberry that day.  My errand list required me to drive from one shop to another.  As I became more and more frustrated at my inability to walk even the shortest distance to the next one, I recalled that not every home I have lived in has had a sidewalk in front of it.  Once I was complacent about this issue.  As I have aged I have demanded this simple necessity.  I can’t live my life without a sidewalk.

My sidewalk connects my front door (and me) to so many things that are necessary to my life.  I can walk from my door to a bus stop, or to a supermarket, a drug store or a department store.  When the traffic is too vicious I can ride my bike on a sidewalk to feel just a little safer.  When my children were young I could wheel their stroller on my sidewalk.  I taught them to ride their trikes and bikes there too.

My sidewalk is a place where no vehicles are allowed.  I can feel safe there.  I walk to my mailbox at night with the street lights overhead lighting my way.   Trees, planted at regular intervals, shield me from the sun during the day.  Sometimes my sidewalk will have newspapers for sale, or a bike rack, a bus stop or a cab stand.  My sidewalk, in downtown Pittsburgh, is so very used, and so very full of life and so very connected to everything.

Cranberry has no sidewalks.

This, I venture to say, is the way that the majority of Americans live.  Without a sidewalk.  

Perhaps the path to sustainability is simply a concrete one.

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!

On July 8, while I sat at my desk, John made tracks on Pittsburgh’s three rivers. It was a sunny day, with gentle winds of three to five miles per hour.  Four and a half hours later he had sailed from west of the West End Bridge up the Allegheny, back to the Point, up the Mon and back.

Too bad I had work to do.

I’m married to a stubborn man.

Several years ago he and our son decided to buy a hobie cat.   It’s a big sailboat and requires dedication to sail regularly.  I had to build serious muscles to help step the mast.   We’ve spent many happy weekend days sailing at Lake Arthur nearby, or a little further afield at Presque Isle

Last year, John started muttering a lot about the insanity of not being able to sail on our gorgeous rivers.   He dreamed of being able to ride a bike to the boat, and heading off for a sail with the ease that only an urban lifestyle would allow.  He dreamed of the rivers dotted with romantic sailboats.

Then he started to plan.  Research came first which he accomplished by running up and down the rivers, watching the currents and scouting potential launch locations.   Eventually he settled on a site just north of the West End Bridge.  An obliging marina owner was willing to go along with John’s idea to launch from the grassy bank there.

Next came the selection of the perfect boat.  The Bravo was it, another Hobie and not much more than a surfboard with two hulls and a sail.  He put a deposit on it.   Then he set about learning how to sail it, and how to sail the rivers.  This was not an easy task, which he chronicled in his blog.   He kept going back until last weekend he made it all the way to the 6th Street Bridge.

Wow!

While docked next to Kayak Pittsburgh, passers by commented, “Great to see someone sailing on the rivers!” and “Do you own that,” another hopeful called out, “Or did you rent it?!”  And this set the final phase of John’s plan in motion. It’s time to get more sailors on the rivers.  He knows that sailing the rivers is tricky.  He knows that an alternative source of power is necessary – in case the wind drops, or in case the sailor gets confused about wind direction, or in case a barge moves faster than expected.  How best to make it possible for others to enjoy?

John has found the answer.   A Trimaran, called the Adventure Island.   It has a simple sail system that anyone can easily learn and it has foot pedals that propel the boat if you’ve lost the wind.  They’re not so different from the kayaks rented out by Kayak Pittsburgh.

Is that what is next for the rivers? Pretty soon, John hopes, when the water is blue and winds are fair, he’ll see you sailing alongside him.

double wide grill, a restaurant in Pittsburgh’s south side

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.

Woolen bicycle shirt, comfy shorts, keen sandals and my ipod are all I need to break away.  Just 300 feet and I hit a trail.  Once I’m on my bike and I ride the gorgeous Pittsburgh rivers I’m unglued.  Completely.  Mesmerized by Leonard Cohen, the rhythmical motion of my legs and the seemingly endless trails, the 20 miles go fast.

At the end, the reward is great.  My bike leans up against a fence.  My helmet is on the table.  The air is warm,  The food is here.

Finally.  The Federal Government wants to develop greater inter-city connectivity through the development of high speed rail corridors.   If you are interested in hearing more, the US House of Representatives will be hosting a hearing in Pittsburgh on expanding passenger rail service.  

Come to the US Post Office and District Courthouse located at 700 Grant Street,  Room 6A, at 10 am on Monday, June 22.

photo by freefoto.com

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.  

Join me?  Sign up at Venture Outdoors.   Bring your own bike or rent one.  You won’t regret it!

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.

A little advance research indicated that Toronto has a decent number of bike trails and streets that connect them. I dusted off my German Birdy bike, folded it up into it’s tiniest folded form, threw it in the back of our car, and off we went. I figured I could cover more ground and explore the city more completely with a set of wheels.

My travel mate fretted that I wouldn’t be safe, so I set off cautiously on my first day. I discovered quickly that I was one of thousands on bikes in Toronto. Bikes are everywhere. Every size, age and shape can be seen on a bike. Most bikes have big commuter bags or baskets attached to them. There are city bike posts everywhere and plenty of bikes chained to them. Bike commuting is clearly a standard way of life in Toronto.

This is the first time I’ve ridden in a city where drivers are polite and give way to cyclists. You have the sense that bikes come first here. Yet Toronto, at 2.5 million residents, is the fifth most populous municipality in North America. It’s extraordinary that a city this size is able to cater so successfully to the everyday person on a bike.

Toronto gets it. Will we?

How does YOUR environment impact YOUR health?  What is more important – the products you use every day, or the effects of your outdoor surroundings?
 
We’ll review a typical day of two of our favorite citizens and 1. unveil the kinds of things they are exposed to every day – in their daily habits, their home and their neighborhood, 2. learn about the impact our world has on US, and 3. give suggestions for changes you can make that will impact YOUR health.

Panelists are Jane Houlihan, from the Environmental Working Group, and Amanda Parks, co-owner of Equita. Our case studies are Justin Strong, co-founder of the Shadow Lounge + AVA, and Heather Arnet, executive director of the Women and Girls Foundation. Our moderator is Josh Knauer of Rhiza Labs.

Cocktails and conversation to follow. Join us!   RSVP

@ The New Hazlett Theater, 6:30 pm, Wednesday, 17 June 2009