Looking Back, Looking Ahead
An article in the New York Times on the psychology of change got me thinking about how the belief that we won’t change might set up the belief that we can’t change and how that affects our transportation choices. They are choices, you know. Just because we’ve all gone through the rite of passage that is the [...]
It’s Still Time to Take Action and Contact Congress to Support Funding for Biking and Walking
It’s been a heavy week on Bike Style with pieces on street funding, the importance of transit, and engineering. We’ll soon return to the regularly scheduled programming with its mix of ride reports, cute gear, shopping, and other topics in addition to policy. But this is important. As recently discussed here, select members of the [...]
Picture It: Faces of Transportation Photo Contest
When I say “bikes” or “transit” or “walking” the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials may not be the first organization that springs to mind. But each year they sponsor a “Faces of Transportation” photo contest and this year’s themes provide plenty of scope to capture pictures of active transportation. Building the Future: [...]
We Engineered Ourselves into this Mess. Now We Need to Engineer our Way out of It.
There’s a problem in our debates about how streets are funded, a problem that lies partly in the assumptions about who pays and who benefits, with a root cause in the effects of design on how people use a transportation network. I pay through several mechanisms for local streets and roads and consume far less [...]
When I Get Older: Why I Believe in a Multimodal System and Complete Streets
I’ve been dealing for over a decade with issues created as my parents aged, including transportation problems. My mother, who’s 90, has vascular dementia that has worsened over the past 12 years and my father is now showing signs of some type of dementia as well. One of the early triggers for recognizing my mom’s [...]
Who Really Pays for Streets? We All Do.
If I had a dollar for every time I either hear or read that “people on bikes need to pay for streets” I could put in bike lanes all over Spokane, it seems at times. I see it on Facebook. I hear it from people. I read it in the media from people who should [...]
How to Be a Good Guy/Gal on the Street
This post that you should share with all your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, and personal conversation in (gasp!) real life was inspired by several influences. I’m modeling very directly on the first post so a shout-out to Anna North at Jezebel for providing inspiration and an outline to follow. Herewith, my source material, which [...]
Take Action! Congress Could Cut Bike/Pedestrian Funding
This is the text of a letter I sent to my members of Congress using a tool the League of American Bicyclists set up to tell you more about the issue and make it easy to take action: I am writing to urge you to ask your colleagues on the Transportation conference committee to support [...]
Meet Spokane’s Newest Complete Street: Martin Luther King, Jr. Way
Not that I cheated and rode on the street before it was really, really complete or anything…. But on May 31 I had the joy of being the first rider on the officially opened Martin Luther King, Jr. Way on the south edge of the Riverpoint Campus where I work. The size of the crowd despite [...]
Seeing with New Eyes
Taking up biking for transportation has given me the same experience that becoming a mother did. No, not endless anxiety, sleepless nights, and sh**—well, at least not too much of the latter—but rather the experience of learning just how much the world was designed not for you, but against you, by people who do not share your particular circumstances. [...]
We Get to Complete our Streets!
Kudos to the Spokane City Council for the 5-2* vote last night to enact the Complete Streets ordinance. A round of applause and a bouquet of locally grown flowers for Kitty Klitzke of Futurewise, who rallied the troops, circulated the petitions, and kept reminding us when to write, sign petitions, and go testify. More flowers [...]
