At the first Delaware Bike Summit last Friday, March 24, Governor Jack Markell signed a Complete Streets Executive Order. The Delaware DOT now will be required, whenever possible, to incorporate all transportation modes into road design and maintenance.
"We can agree, certainly, that bicycles are inexpensive and environmentally friendly, but there’s also no escaping the reality that the vast majority of our transportation infrastructure is designed for cars and trucks," said Markell.
The 275 attendees also heard from Complete Streets advocate and friend Michael Ronkin, whose keynote speech emphasized the need road diets to slow traffic and make room for bicyclists and pedestrians. "We need to make changes because roads are extremely inefficient when used only by one mode of transportation," Ronkin said. "We can significantly raise the capacity of our roads by including other forms of transportation."
Continue reading “Complete Streets in Delaware”
May is Clean Commute Month
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Annapolis Town Hall Meeting on Bicycling! This Thursday, April 30th, 7:00 pm!
(Save this date, and forward
this invitation to your friends and neighbors!)
Town Hall Meeting on Biking
Thursday, April 30th,
Annapolis City 160 Duke of Gloucester
Street
Dear
Friend, This
Thursday we will hold a Town Hall Meeting in City Council Chambers. We’ll be looking at ways of making Annapolis a more bike friendly city. Our guest speaker will be Jane Shey. A native of Algona, Iowa, Jane moved to Annapolis in 1988. She has worked in Washington, DC, for twenty years on agriculture and international trade issues for a Member of Congress. She recently completed a Masters in European Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. She is currently enrolled in that school’s PhD. program with a focus on environmental policy and splits her time between Annapolis and Europe. Jane is an avid bicyclist and proponent of bike friendly cities. Her PowerPoint presentation on the subject is informative and challenging. You won’t want to miss this incredible presentation! A bike-friendly city will reduce the number of cars circulating through our city, improve our air quality, increase property values, and enhance our overall quality of life.
Plan to join us in City Council Chambers
this Thursday at 7:00 pm.
______________________________________
The Alderman
Sam Monthly E-Newsletter, E-Briefs and Website are not maintained at government expense; however, if you’d like to share in supporting these community services, you may send a contribution marked “e-news” to: Friends of Sam PO Box 5634 Annapolis, MD 21403 Phone / 443-603-1516 Email / sam@aldermansam.com By Authority: Friends of Sam
Carrie E. Clemmer,
Treasurer |
Road kill
Road Rights: The Right to Disobey Cops
The problem is, if everybody acquiesces to a violation of our rights, do we still have the right? I would argue that unless the right is exercised, it doesn’t exist. Therefore, when a law enforcement officer is enforcing laws that don’t exist, it is incumbent upon us to stand up for our rights.
– Bob Mionske
Interesting story of a cyclist tazed for riding in the road in Ohio.
Continue reading “Road Rights: The Right to Disobey Cops”
The weekend in pics
[Click picture for more in that series.]
If you are new to road riding for exercise or commuting the BBC Introductory Ride Series is a great place to start and meet others just like you. Record turn out this year, don’t miss the remaining classes.
Baltimore Bike Blast; tall bikes, hiwheel bikes, a kid on a tricycle trying to out race anyone coming around the lake loop till his mother called him back, bike rides, free loner bikes, tons a free info, t-shirts and opportunities to meet key people in Baltimore’s Bike Culture. You missed a fun time!!!
Grassroots Bike Series; fun people, fun fast ride. Don’t miss them next month.
Continue reading “The weekend in pics”
Ride to the Bike Blast
Saturday is the Bike Blast…anyone who may want to bike from somewhere to the Bike Blast please let me know. Maybe we can have a group ride there.
Laurie: I’d be up for a ride associated with Bike Blast on Saturday, if others in South Baltimore are interested.
Penny: Maybe
Any others interested in this start? Any other start locations?
Bike lockers at West Baltimore MARC
In cooperation with Baltimore City & Bike Lids, the MTA recently installed 2 Bike Lid lockers at the West Baltimore MARC station – 400 North Smallwood St. Baltimore , Md. 21223.
Please share the information. The more people that use existing bike facilities, the easier it is to justify installing more bike racks.
Celebrating the Victims of Crime Act
[Baltimore Spokes: Many cyclists have experienced the near equivalent of someone with a baseball bat approaching and saying "We don’t like your kind here. " But somehow replace a baseball bat with a car and it no longer becomes a crime, this has to change! Maybe we have an opportunity at this seminar to help make that change. For 2006 Baltimore County had 68 traffic fatalities, 15 of those were pedestrians. 414 pedestrians and 91 cyclists were injured in traffic crashes. Kids are over represented in bike and pedestrian crashes, is this really the kind of environment we want?]
Catonsville Chamber of Commerce Hosts Seminar
This Year’s Subject is “Celebrating the Victims of Crime Act”
Baltimore County, Md. (April 10, 2009) – On Tuesday, April 28, the Greater Catonsville Chamber of Commerce will host a seminar on the Victims of Crime Act. The seminar will also address the problems associated with gangs and related crimes.
The second annual Victim’s Rights Summit will take place at CCBC-Catonsville, in the Q Building Theater beginning at 6 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m. This important event coincides with “National Crime Victims’ Rights Week” which will take place April 26 through May 2, throughout the County and the country.
Local businesses and community groups, educational institutions and the Baltimore County Police Department have collaborated to present this year’s seminar. Law enforcement commanders from neighboring agencies and as many as 300 guests are also expected to attend this summit.
The scheduled speakers for the evening are:
* Madeline Herrington, Administrator for the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, as the Keynote Speaker;
* Robin Woolford, Executive Director of the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and an advocate for victims’ rights;
* Scott D. Shellenberger, Baltimore County State’s Attorney;
* Captain John Spiroff, commanding officer of Precinct 1/Wilkens, as the moderater of the seminar; and
* Community Outreach Officers Mike Darcey and Bill Rubie will also be available to discuss Gangs and Related Crimes as it affects the community.
Joining the Greater Catonsville Chamber of Commerce in hosting this event will be the Baltimore County Police Department-Precinct 1/Wilkens, CCBC Foundation-Catonsville, CCBC School of Justice, Arbutus Business and Professional Association, Lansdowne Business and Professional Association, St. Agnes Foundation, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and the Wilkens Police and Community Relations Organization.
Continue reading “Celebrating the Victims of Crime Act”
U of Maryland Baltimore
The University of Maryland Baltimore’s campus (grad schools and the hospital) has put together a bike focus group in order to discuss how to make the campus more bike friendly, and to encourage new people to ride to work/school! If anyone works in this area, or goes to school here and is interested in participating in these efforts, or being someone they can bounce ideas off of, please email Shannon Willett Kelly (Program Coordinator for Campus Center) at skell009"at"umaryland.edu