Category: Biking in Baltimore

Tour du Port needs volunteer for the event on October 5th. They particularly need route marshals. If you are willing to be a volunteer email Charina Chatman cchatman"at"onelesscar.org

Part of the City’s Bike Master Plan we are trying to track incidents. If you have been assaulted while riding if you could email the following information to the City’s Bike/Ped Planner "Evans, Nate" <Nate.Evans@baltimorecity.gov>:

Date of assault:
Time of assault:
# Of Assailants:
If the bike was stolen:
Owner’s name:
Street Location:
If police report was filed:

Thanks for your assistance in helping make Baltimore a better place to live.

I will also note feel free to contribute a story here on Baltimore Spokes. Our mission is to help promote biking in the city, whether its problems to be fixed or sharing positive experiences, whatever it is we are all part of a community that is out to help one another.

Mt. Washington bike polo is in its fall season and would like to invite anyone interested in trying it out to come out for a Sunday pickup game. We play the field version of the game and start at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon weekly, until the time change, when we play at 3:00. For more info, map of the field, and links to the rules, visit us at: https://groups.google.com/group/mt-washington-bike-polo

It seems whenever bicyclists take to the streets in mass wither it’s because of nice weather, the cost of gas or just to lose some pounds or just to be healthy some motorists feel obliged to offer some discouragement. It used to be just verbal taunts and while not cool it was sort of like an initiation to a fraternity but times change, now it seems more motorists are using their vehicles to “scare” bicyclists off the road by threatening the cyclists life. But what’s really scary is the extent that this behavior has penetrated all segments of our society, in May we had a hit and run school bus who “needed” to get to a red light ahead of a cyclist and just last weekend I had a car with firefighter tags nearly run me off the road passing me unsafely on a blind curve just to block traffic to make a left turn a few hundred feet ahead to watch a ball game, totally senseless endangerment of life. Baltimore City has been making tremendous efforts to be a Bicycle Friendly City but with such going on it’s easy to see why they only got an honorable mention from the League of American Bicyclists.

I know some of you are probably thinking that some of the blame needs to go on the cyclists as well, as roads connecting neighborhoods to parks are no place to ride a bike, or the cyclists was not riding safely. In a recent poll of motorists here are motorists’ safe bicycling recommendations: Ride on the sidewalk even when there is no sidewalk, ride against traffic, ride with traffic or the preferred simple version; wherever a cyclist is they should be riding somewhere else. The sad fact is few know what the law is and what constitutes safe bicycling, so please do not take the law in your own hands, call the police if what you see is bothering you so much, if it is not worth that bother then just let it go, just think of all the money that is “saved” by not having decent accommodations for cyclists that is going into all the road improvements just for motorists, by doing this in maybe in 100 years we’ll save up enough money for some serious highway expansion, assuming we can still afford gas by then. If that does not get your attention please note across the nation more motorists are spending time behind bars for harassing cyclists, it’s not worth it. We need to seriously end the thinking that all roads should be dangerous to ride a bike on and it is ok for motorists to enforce that, motorists have bike free roadways called expressways everything else is public roads for use by all members of the public.
Continue reading “Pride in protecting people by running bicyclists off the road”

I learned yesterday from Bill Nesper at the League of American Bicyclists that Baltimore received an Honorable Mention as a Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC)!

This is an important designation highlighting our recent achievements to improve cycling conditions around Baltimore .

While communities may only apply every 4 years, Baltimore was granted an exception and encouraged to resubmit an application next year! With DOT’s planned bicycle improvements and lane mileage from Operation Orange Cone, Baltimore stands a very good chance at improving our BFC status.

Thanks to all for your contribution in helping make Baltimore a bike friendly community!

Nate Evans
Bike & Pedestrian Planner
City of Baltimore

In a joint effort between MTA, Baltimore City Department of Transportation and the Parking Authority of Baltimore City, new bike racks have been installed at Penn Station. They are located on the inside circle directly across from the station entrance and just inside the garage entrance. The existing racks are due to be removed in the next week or so due to new regulations issued by the Department of Homeland Security. See attached press release.

In order to help make bicycle commuters aware of the new racks, Nate Evans and I will be at Penn Station tomorrow at 5:15 am. I realize this is short notice and way too early for any of us to be out of the house, but please consider joining us to help make this transition as painless as possible.

If you are not able to join us, please check out the new racks and help us spread the word.

Thank you!

Tiffany James
Parking Authority of Baltimore City

A Washington Post cartoon:
Continue reading “Good exercise in futility”

Before I moved here 3 weeks ago, I heard stories about how young males will try to pull bicyclists off while the bicyclists are moving — sometimes for mugging, and sometimes just to mess with them — and it took my breath away. Having almost lost my life or mobility in a high school bike accident, I’ve never heard of one person trying to do that to another.

That is partly why I chose to live in the suburbs, in Pikesville. I’ve never in my life lived in a suburb, but it seemed like this was the only place where I wouldn’t feel as constrained by all the invisible boundaries in the city proper.

Today at 5 pm in the full light of afternoon, I was biking down a steep hill on Fallstaff right before Park Heights near Northwestern High School going about 18 mph, and a young male who was biking slowly back and forth in the middle of the street perpendicular to me suddenly biked directly into my path, lunged towards me and screamed. I swerved and screamed "Watch it!" and the guy and his friend on the side of the street laughed. Given the hill and my speed, I could have been killed or paralyzed if our relative positions had differed by a few feet.

Unbelievable. I was so scared that I started crying on the rest of my way home.

I’ve heard stories of people being messed with near that high school, so I suppose I will avoid the area in the future, but adding yet another invisible boundary doesn’t address the problem. There’s nothing illegal about his actions as long as I didn’t get hurt, so it’s not like I could report that. This is in a solidly middle class neighborhood — the other neighborhoods where I’ve heard of people on bikes being messed with were in East Baltimore.

Any thoughts?

Other than moving away, which 1/2 an hour after all this happened looks like a really good option.

In Northern District police effort, more officers leave cars behind
By Justin Fenton – Baltimore Sun

More officers in the city’s Northern District are walking the beat or patrolling on bikes this month as part of a pilot program to get officers more engaged in their communities.

The new deployment began Monday, affecting only the day shift, and will last about two weeks, according to Deputy Major Dennis L. Smith. It reduces the number of patrol vehicles from 19 to 11 in a district that contains some of Baltimore’s most affluent neighborhoods but some troubled communities as well. The balance of the officers are being dispatched to foot patrols and bicycle details.

"A big part of the mayor and the commissioner’s crime plan is community engagement and building partnerships," Smith said. "You can’t do it behind the wheel of a car – you’ve got to get out and talk to people."

The president of the police union is criticizing the initiative, saying it makes fewer officers available to respond quickly to serious incidents and potentially leaves officers vulnerable by reducing the number of backup units. He said it amounts to a change in working conditions, which are covered by the union contract.

Peter Hermann: Shopowner’s lawsuit may test the city’s padlock law "Officers are out there knowing that once it gets a little busy, there are no backups available to them," said union President Paul M. Blair Jr. "If you’re on a mountain bike, how fast can you pedal to get to someone calling for help?"

But Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who signed off on the program, believes foot patrols are necessary to regain the community’s trust.

"We want [residents] to talk to their post officers," he said last week in a broader interview about police strategies. "It used to be a PR tactic to smooth feathers, but we are now really working to get post officers engaged – not to spin a message, but to solve problems."

Smith said the initiative is a work in progress. Originally, the plan called for three vehicles per sector, with two officers assigned to one of the vehicles. The officers requested that the two-person car be broken up, with the extra officer assigned to a fourth car, so that more vehicles would be on the street. The change was implemented the next day.

He said the bike details have been particularly popular, allowing officers to weave through areas that are inaccessible in a motor vehicle while moving quicker than on foot.

On a street corner in Remington, where there have been two homicides and a handful of shootings this year, Officers Tivon Green and Karl Paige II sat on gray BMW mountain bikes wearing helmets and shorts. They said the bike details allow them to come up on suspicious activity without being noticed until the last second.
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Continue reading “Walking, biking the beat”

Sunday, September 21ST, 8a-3p

Event Volunteers needed for family friendly event to benefit the Jones Falls Watershed Association- a local environmental group! Help the organization manage the CLOSURE OF THE I-83 NORTHBOUND LANES for a fabulous festival on the highway that highlights and promotes the river below.

Volunteers needed for:
-Registration tables
-Water stations
-Ramp Guards
-Vendor Setup & Breakdown
-Kids Activities
-Hosts for bicyclists, skateboarders and the famous rubber frog race!

The Association is involved in cleaning/greening activities throughout Baltimore City and County such as tree plantings, rain garden construction, and trash clean-ups. This event serves as an organizational fundraiser. Groups or social clubs are welcome and community service hours are available.

You can sign up for shifts by going to www.jonesfalls.org or contact David Flores at 410-366-3036 or dflores"at"jonesfalls.org .