Something of interest for those promoting Baltimore’s Sunday Streets:
Open Streets Project
For those of you working on Sunday Streets or Cyclovia check this out: https://openstreetsproject.org/
Turning rubbish heaps into car sewers
This original (and hilarious, sad) report from 1961 on David Troy’s website as a PDF — warning, it’s 238MB, so it may take a few minutes to load. MUST READ. https://davetroy.com/docs/jfp-gbc1961.pdf
”Time is running out. Truly this is a time of decision. Shall the Jones Falls Valley continue to be a rubbish heap — an object of catch-as-catch-can speculation and abuse? Will we travel on the Jones Falls Expressway, past derelict factories with bricked-up windows, through a treeless landscape with billboards glaring at us from every conceivable angle?
Or will the Valley become, by one master stroke, a great Valley Parkway, making travel on it — by expressway, by scenic road, by commuter train, on foot — a pleasure and relief for the daily traveler?
To delay our decision will mean that the opportunity will be lost forever. Jones Falls Valley must be saved!” – Greater Baltimore Committee, 1961
[B’ Spokes: It is absolutely amazing how this vision has failed. The car has sold us so many false visions of the future.]
2011 Holiday Lights Ride [video]
The 3rd Annual Holiday Lights Bike Ride tours the famous Christmas lights of Baltimore including the Washington Monument and 34th Street in Hampden.
Mount Vernon vs. Jones Falls Bikeway
[B’ Spokes: This is a must read to get a feel for the overall goal we would like to accomplish for Baltimore. Here are just some highlights:]
*************************************************************************************************************
Desolate Jones Falls Bikeway blows opportunity to create a livable Mount Vernon neighborhood
BY GERALD NEILY
Trying to make the city safer for cyclists sounds like a laudable goal, but the city has once again shown that it is oblivious to its most important priority – neighborhoods.
…
Bicyclists have been among the greatest victims. Bikes should be an ideal transportation mode for the historic high density neighborhood, except that the streets are overwhelmed by cars.
The solution is straightforward: Divert as much traffic as possible into the underutilized Jones Falls corridor just to the east, to free up the local residential streets for humans, bikes, and above all, peace and quiet. But the city has never seen fit to do any of that.
The city’s latest solution is to move the bikes out of the community, not the cars.
…
The city should concentrate as much heavy traffic as possible into corridors like the Jones Falls – on the expressway as well as next to it. Then the city should focus on creating calm, normal, livable environments in its neighborhoods and "people places" like around the Inner Harbor. This is best for traffic, best for bikes and best for people. If this is not done, all will become increasingly dysfunctional.
…
Continue reading “Mount Vernon vs. Jones Falls Bikeway”
Opinion: 10 ways to grow Baltimore at little cost and with big benefits
By Gerald Neily – Baltimore Brew (highlights)
• Focus on the streets – They are where we perceive the city. Get heavy traffic off local streets and free them up for as much real urban-oriented activity (walking, biking, window-shopping) as possible. Avoid superblocks and fortress developments.
• Fix local transit – Put a fire under the MTA to tear down its happenstance bus system. Convert it into logical community-based short routes, efficient express routes and transit hubs to connect them. No more convoluted routes from Sandtown to Fort McHenry. No more endless slogs from UMBC to White Marsh.
• No more diversionary downtown gimmicks – Like 175 mph street race cars. Like Disneyfication of the Inner Harbor.
Just where can you go in 5 or 10 easy bike miles
https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/yXsYwIRq9d
Support Baltimore Brew
Update: They have almost reached their goal so I am featuring this again to help.
[B’ Spokes: The Baltimore Brew feels like family to me, as they too are trying to make Baltimore a better place to live and they even acknowledge a connection with cyclists in the video on the linked article. They have been helpful in raising some important issues for us, so we should help them as well.]
Baltimore Brew Has Teamed Up With
To raise funds to bring you more of the accountability reporting, smart commentary and lively culture you’ve been missing in Baltimore – until the Brew came around!
About this project
Support Baltimore Brew’s fresh and
fearless online reporting of the politics, culture and incredibly diverse
communities of the city that inspired H.L. Mencken, John Waters and the
creators of “The Wire.”
fearless online reporting of the politics, culture and incredibly diverse
communities of the city that inspired H.L. Mencken, John Waters and the
creators of “The Wire.”
Baltimore Brew, as our loyal readers
know, is a daily news website that gets behind development deals, tracks
campaign cash, features outsider artists and offers gazpacho recipes with equal
verve. We’ve become a municipal must-read.
know, is a daily news website that gets behind development deals, tracks
campaign cash, features outsider artists and offers gazpacho recipes with equal
verve. We’ve become a municipal must-read.
Since former Washington Post
reporter Fern Shen launched the Brew a few years ago, the site has won plaudits
from publications ranging from the Baltimore City Paper, which named it the
best local on-line news site three years in a row, to the New York Times, which
calls it “a reason for cheer.”
reporter Fern Shen launched the Brew a few years ago, the site has won plaudits
from publications ranging from the Baltimore City Paper, which named it the
best local on-line news site three years in a row, to the New York Times, which
calls it “a reason for cheer.”
Shen and former Baltimore Sun
investigative reporter Mark Reutter, working with a team of more than a dozen
other volunteers, have built a dedicated corps of 25,000 regular readers by:
investigative reporter Mark Reutter, working with a team of more than a dozen
other volunteers, have built a dedicated corps of 25,000 regular readers by:
-
Giving a voice to Baltimore’s
voiceless through coverage of the workers
at the Sparrows Point steel mill and residents of impoverished neighborhoods in
one of America’s poorest cities. -
Holding
city and other officials accountable by reporting on deals with favored
contractors, tax breaks for big political contributors and regulatory
concessions to major industries. -
Creating a
forum for city planners and visionaries to re-imagine Baltimore, helping ensure
that in the future it can provide the jobs and neighborhoods its residents need
– without resorting to tax gimmicks and giveaways.
Now we
want to expand the Brew’s coverage of the city’s spending practices and tax
breaks, to make sure Baltimore uses its scarce resources for programs that
benefit its people and not the politically-connected. And we want to make the Brew
sustainable by tapping new income streams and eventually paying salaries.
We plan to do this by:
-
Expanding
coverage to include online video and podcasts. - Creating
more interactive features with readers. - Publishing
special food, culture and lifestyle pages. - Expanding
school and neighborhood coverage.
So far, we’ve kept the Brew
percolating with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of donated time. With
a bare-bones budget, we’ve broken stories, shaped the civic conversation and
modeled a new kind of local media.
But we can’t expect the quality work we want without paying talented people for their time. So we
recently hired Meredith Mitchell as our business development manager, as part
of an effort to create a steady stream of income for the Brew.
recently hired Meredith Mitchell as our business development manager, as part
of an effort to create a steady stream of income for the Brew.
Now we’re asking our great and
growing family of Brew readers, as well as supporters of quality community
journalism around the country, to help out as well – by dropping a generous
donation into our Kickstarter tip jar.
growing family of Brew readers, as well as supporters of quality community
journalism around the country, to help out as well – by dropping a generous
donation into our Kickstarter tip jar.
Read more and watch the video: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fernshen/baltimore-brew-a-news-website-for-the-city
City building bike trail to connect Penn Station and Inner Harbor
About 16 months from now, bicyclists will be able to ride from the Inner Harbor to Pennsylvania Station on a smooth path all their own.
…
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-bike-trail-construction-20111129,0,4417518.story
New Baltimore Bicycling Advocacy Group in the Works
Via Baltimore Velo
A few weeks ago, preliminary plans were drawn out to create a dynamic new bicycle advocacy group for Baltimore’s cycling community. Local bicyclists met with various people experienced in bicycling advocacy to discuss how the group will operate in years to come. Groups like Bike Maryland have done great work to make bicycling a more viable means of transportation in Baltimore, but it looks like theres a consensus that a new group could do a lot more on the ground and elsewhere.
As new bicycling infrastructure takes shape around the city, and the number of bicycle commuters continues to rise, a strong advocacy group will become more and more essential to educate detractors and head off those who campaign against safety improvements for bicyclists.
If you have any intrest in attending the next planning meeting, …
Link to email and original article found here: https://baltimorevelo.com/2011/11/new-baltimore-bicycling-advocacy-group-in-the-works/