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A group of cyclists in Canada gets impatient with government inaction regarding cycling infrastructure and takes measures into its own hands.

-Bill Collins
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A group of cyclists in Canada gets impatient with government inaction regarding cycling infrastructure and takes measures into its own hands.

-Bill Collins
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Beyond The Motor City Screening Monday, June 28th Dryden Theater George Eastman House 7pm Open to Public

Below please find info about a free documentary screening at the George Eastman House’s Dryden Theater on Monday, June 28. This film and the panel discussion that follows will address issues pivotal to the future of our region. This is a film about the past and future of transportation. Info requests to RRCDC phone 271 0520.

We hope you can attend the screening and panel discussion on June 28. Please forward and post to your Facebooks, Twitters, etc. etc. etc.!

Evan Lowenstein
Empire State Future (www.empirestatefuture.org)

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Beyond The Motor City Screening Monday, June 28th Dryden Theater George Eastman House 7pm Open to Public

Below please find info about a free documentary screening at the George Eastman House’s Dryden Theater on Monday, June 28. This film and the panel discussion that follows will address issues pivotal to the future of our region. This is a film about the past and future of transportation. Info requests to RRCDC phone 271 0520.

We hope you can attend the screening and panel discussion on June 28. Please forward and post to your Facebooks, Twitters, etc. etc. etc.!

Evan Lowenstein
Empire State Future (www.empirestatefuture.org)

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Rails-To-Trails Conservancy features Urban Trails


Urban Pathways News and Updates

  • Portland, Ore. – Community Cycling Center Director Alison Gravespresented the Understanding Barriers to Bicycling project at a seminar at Portland State University. As part of the project, the center conducted workshops and focus groups with various communities of color, providing insight on how best to tailor programming.
  • Washington, D.C. – On the occasion of the ribbon cutting for the newest section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail (pictured), we look back at trail planner Heather Deutsch’s presentation on construction challenges.

In addition to news from around the nation, there are new resources and opportunities available to your trail:
rtca_richmond_VA
Apply for RTCA Assistance by August 1
The
National Park Service (NPS) Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program is asking outdoor conservation projects to apply for technical assistance from NPS staff. Many urban pathways have received assistance from RTCA, and your project could be next! Visit the RTCA website to fill out an application or contact an RTCA staff member near you.
nyc_hudsonrivergreenway_thumb
New Resource: Trail Maintenance Funding
Discover a new section of RTC’s Trail-Building Toolbox dedicated to funding mechanisms for trail maintenance. It highlights four urban trails – in Michigan, New York, Ohio and Texas – that have taken different approaches to funding upkeep. The new resource includes documents that can help your trail.
Stay on top of the latest resources by visiting the Urban Pathways Initiative and using our RSS feed RSS Icon. Is there something we’re missing or a question you have for the larger group? Let us know in the forums.

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State of the City

State of the City – 2010

**Trevor Flynn Lecture at MAG: June 17, 7pm:

Re-Envisioning PARK(ing) Day: Idea Generation Workshop at RoCo: Saturday June 26 @ 1pm

Exhibition Runs: August 6 – Sep 19, 2010

Opening Reception: August 6, 6-10pm

Artists’ Talk: August 8, 1pm

State of the City is a group exhibition featuring Trevor Flynn, Amy Casey and Spectres of Liberty. State of the City 2010 engages artists, creative professionals and the public in considering and envisioning the history and

PARK(ing) Day – September 17th @ RoCo

Originally created by Rebar, San Francisco art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks. PARK(ing) Day will serve as a departure point for Trevor Flynn’s “Re-Envisioning PARK(ing) Day: Idea Generation Workshop” at RoCo (Saturday June 26th @ 1pm). Rochester Contemporary Art Center will again organize several “Parks” in front of our main gallery on September 17th, including the debut of an all new project by in.site Architecture.

PARK(ing) Day website

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RochesterGreenway now on Google Maps

I discovered today that the RochesterGreenway (aka Lehigh Valley North Trail) is now showing up on the Google maps bike layer.  
I also scoped out a nice bicycle boulevard route inspired by Richard deSarra’s Monroe Bicycle Boulevard Ride.  It goes from Cobbs Creek to Hinsdale to Pinnacle to Crossman to Field to Westerloe to Lac de Ville.    At which point you can jog to Clinton (traffic alert!) to get to the Canal.  I dub this route the Pinnacle -Lac deVille route.
It comes tantalizingly close to Brighton Park, however. and so I’ve marked an area for future exploration.
Feel free to add to this map!
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Beyond the Motor City — at the Dryden Theater, June 28. Bring Your Pals—It’s On Us!







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BLUEPRINT AMERICA: BEYOND THE MOTOR CITY is screening in a handful of cities this May and June. It will screen here in Rochester on June 28, 2010.On Monday June 28 at 7:00pm you are invited to a FREE screening of PBS’s eye-opening film, BLUEPRINT AMERICA: BEYOND THE MOTOR CITY at the Dryden Theater. The documentary is touring cities across America to raise questions—and seek answers—about the future of transportation in America. Can we build the “infrastructure of tomorrow” today? Can the cash-strapped and car-dependent cities of the so-called Rust Belt become new models for fast, clean, public transit? The links and similarities between Rochester NY and Detroit MI are glaringly obvious—and I think you owe it to yourself to see this film.

This FREE public event will come to you 100% FREE of charge thanks to RRCDC external link, Reconnect Rochester external link, Rochester Rail Transit Committee external link, Rochester Trolley & Rail external link, Empire State Future external link, New York Museum of Transportation external link and PBS external link. Immediately following the film a panel consisting of City planners, urban growth experts, bike & transit advocates, and concerned citizens will discuss topics including:

  • New hopes for accessible, clean, and modern mass transit in America
  • The role of cities, and consumers, in shaping the next generation of transportation systems
  • A roadmap for revitalizing the way we move through our cities and neighborhoods

This will surely be a thought-provoking FREE event and a great opportunity for you to take part in a very important FREE conversation for our community. So mark your calendar and bring some friends. Did I mention this is FREE?!

More About the Film:

The latest installment in the BLUEPRINT AMERICA initiative takes viewers on a cinematic journey in search of America’s transportation future. Pictured: A view of downtown Detroit from the top of the run-down Michigan Central Train Station. (Photo Credit: Lloyd Handwerker/WNET.ORG)BLUEPRINT AMERICA: BEYOND THE MOTOR CITY external link examines how Detroit, a grim symbol of America’s diminishing status in the world, may come to represent the future of transportation and progress in America. Narrated by Miles O’Brien, the film explores Detroit’s historic investments in infrastructure—from early 19th- century canals to the urban freeways that gave The Motor City its name and made America’s transportation system the envy of the world.

Correspondent Miles O’Brien says he’s saddened every time he returns to the Motor City and sees “the ruins of a once great city.” Pictured: Michigan Theatre, now a parking garage. (Photo Credit: SNWEB.ORG Photography/Sean Doerr)But over the last 30 years, much of the world has left Detroit—and America—behind, choosing faster, cleaner, more modern transportation. In a journey that takes us into the neighborhoods of Detroit and then beyond to Spain, California, and our nation’s capital, BLUEPRINT AMERICA: BEYOND THE MOTOR CITY urges us to ask how we might finally push America’s transportation system into the 21st century.

Using CGI animation combined with current footage of Detroit, the film brings the vision of the city’s possible transportation future to life. A network of trains within the city center would run along main thoroughfares. (Photo Credit: Lloyd Handwerker and HUSH Studios, Inc.)BLUEPRINT AMERICA: BEYOND THE MOTOR CITY is part of Blueprint America, a national, multi-platform initiative examining the state of America’s transportation infrastructure. Blueprint America was created and produced by Thirteen for WNET.ORG and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Surdna Foundation.

Event Info:

Time: Monday June 28, 2010 at 7:00pm

Location: Dryden Theater (Map it external link)

Cost: FREE – Zero – Zilch – Nada – FREE FREE FREE

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No Kidding!!! Business Week: Los Angeles plans to spend $230 million on 1,700 miles of bicycle paths

SPECIAL REPORT June 3, 2010, 3:09PM EST
Fighting Carbon Emissions: Cities Take the Lead
From Los Angeles to Amsterdam, city hall is becoming the best hope for climate action
By Mark Scott and Jeremy van Loon
Los Angeles: city of freeways, smog, and…bike lanes? That’s where Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to take his town. In one of the less likely
transformations in the global effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions, Los Angeles plans to spend $230 million on 1,700 miles of bicycle paths. Most of the
program will be completed by 2015 and includes changing rooms, showers, and bike storage areas operated by the city and private partners. It comes on
top of subsidies for installing solar panels and incentives for planting trees and switching to electric vehicles. “We have to make a change,” says Michelle
Mowery, senior coordinator for the bike program. “We can’t fit any more cars in.”
From the freeways of Los Angeles to the canals of Amsterdam, cities are taking the lead in the fight to reduce carbon output.

As world leaders squabble
over how to cut greenhouse gases, city hall is becoming the best hope for climate action. Given their smaller jurisdictions, local officials can green-light
eco-projects faster than nationwide schemes can be implemented. “We’re not going to wait for national politicians, we’re acting right now,” says Toronto
Mayor David Miller, who plans to invest more than $1 billion in public transport and eco-friendly air-conditioning systems for buildings by 2017.
The efforts could have a profound impact: Cities are home to more than half the world’s population and pump out more than two-thirds of global carbon
dioxide. That share will surely grow as people flock to megacities in the developing world. “It’s obvious where the fight for a sustainable civilization will be
decided, and that’s in large cities,” says Peter Loescher, chief executive officer of Siemens (SI), which aims to profit from selling its streetcars, wind
turbines, and other technologies to municipalities worldwide.
Just as no two cities are alike, there are vast differences in local strategies. In Toyko 68 percent of trips are already made by bike, subway, or on foot.
Houston residents, by contrast, make 95 percent of their journeys by car. So while the Texas city is giving officials electric vehicles to reduce emissions,
the Japanese capital in April announced a citywide CO2 cap-and-trade program—the kind the U.S. Senate has been unable to pass so far. Copenhagen
will spend $1.6 billion by 2012 on bike paths, green energy projects, and retrofitting city buildings. Melbourne plans to bar cars from downtown and offer
incentives to developers who invest in efficiency. “It’s a green gold rush,” says Robert Doyle, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor.
In Amsterdam, city elders are in the midst of a five-year, $1 billion program to improve creaking infrastructure. Amsterdam’s 2,400 houseboats have been
fitted to use electricity instead of diesel, and cargo barges are now being converted as well. Some 300 homes are testing display panels that show energy usage in real time, a program that may be expanded citywide. If residents can be persuaded to use the technology to cut power use at peak times, their
electricity bills could fall by up to 40 percent, says Ger Baron, who oversees the project. “Our biggest challenge is changing people’s habits,” he says.
New York, meanwhile, has laid out a program called “PlaNYC.” The scheme includes tax breaks for solar panels, legal changes that spur property owners
to make buildings more energy-efficient, and power plants that use food waste and wood chips. Though a proposal to charge a congestion fee for drivers
entering much of Manhattan couldn’t pass the state legislature, the Big Apple hopes to quadruple its 450 miles of bicycle paths by 2030. New York’s plan
has even sparked envy on the West Coast. “Los Angeles isn’t New York,” says L.A. cycling chief Mowery. “But we’re getting there.”
The bottom line: As national governments fail to cut carbon, cities are starting to take the initiative with programs aimed at reining in emissions.
With Stuart Biggs. Scott is a correspondent in Bloomberg Businessweek’s London bureau. Van Loon is a reporter for Bloomberg News.

The times,they are a changing: Posted by Scott MacRae

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No Kidding!!! Business Week: Los Angeles plans to spend $230 million on 1,700 miles of bicycle paths

SPECIAL REPORT June 3, 2010, 3:09PM EST
Fighting Carbon Emissions: Cities Take the Lead
From Los Angeles to Amsterdam, city hall is becoming the best hope for climate action
By Mark Scott and Jeremy van Loon
Los Angeles: city of freeways, smog, and…bike lanes? That’s where Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to take his town. In one of the less likely
transformations in the global effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions, Los Angeles plans to spend $230 million on 1,700 miles of bicycle paths. Most of the
program will be completed by 2015 and includes changing rooms, showers, and bike storage areas operated by the city and private partners. It comes on
top of subsidies for installing solar panels and incentives for planting trees and switching to electric vehicles. “We have to make a change,” says Michelle
Mowery, senior coordinator for the bike program. “We can’t fit any more cars in.”
From the freeways of Los Angeles to the canals of Amsterdam, cities are taking the lead in the fight to reduce carbon output.

As world leaders squabble
over how to cut greenhouse gases, city hall is becoming the best hope for climate action. Given their smaller jurisdictions, local officials can green-light
eco-projects faster than nationwide schemes can be implemented. “We’re not going to wait for national politicians, we’re acting right now,” says Toronto
Mayor David Miller, who plans to invest more than $1 billion in public transport and eco-friendly air-conditioning systems for buildings by 2017.
The efforts could have a profound impact: Cities are home to more than half the world’s population and pump out more than two-thirds of global carbon
dioxide. That share will surely grow as people flock to megacities in the developing world. “It’s obvious where the fight for a sustainable civilization will be
decided, and that’s in large cities,” says Peter Loescher, chief executive officer of Siemens (SI), which aims to profit from selling its streetcars, wind
turbines, and other technologies to municipalities worldwide.
Just as no two cities are alike, there are vast differences in local strategies. In Toyko 68 percent of trips are already made by bike, subway, or on foot.
Houston residents, by contrast, make 95 percent of their journeys by car. So while the Texas city is giving officials electric vehicles to reduce emissions,
the Japanese capital in April announced a citywide CO2 cap-and-trade program—the kind the U.S. Senate has been unable to pass so far. Copenhagen
will spend $1.6 billion by 2012 on bike paths, green energy projects, and retrofitting city buildings. Melbourne plans to bar cars from downtown and offer
incentives to developers who invest in efficiency. “It’s a green gold rush,” says Robert Doyle, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor.
In Amsterdam, city elders are in the midst of a five-year, $1 billion program to improve creaking infrastructure. Amsterdam’s 2,400 houseboats have been
fitted to use electricity instead of diesel, and cargo barges are now being converted as well. Some 300 homes are testing display panels that show energy usage in real time, a program that may be expanded citywide. If residents can be persuaded to use the technology to cut power use at peak times, their
electricity bills could fall by up to 40 percent, says Ger Baron, who oversees the project. “Our biggest challenge is changing people’s habits,” he says.
New York, meanwhile, has laid out a program called “PlaNYC.” The scheme includes tax breaks for solar panels, legal changes that spur property owners
to make buildings more energy-efficient, and power plants that use food waste and wood chips. Though a proposal to charge a congestion fee for drivers
entering much of Manhattan couldn’t pass the state legislature, the Big Apple hopes to quadruple its 450 miles of bicycle paths by 2030. New York’s plan
has even sparked envy on the West Coast. “Los Angeles isn’t New York,” says L.A. cycling chief Mowery. “But we’re getting there.”
The bottom line: As national governments fail to cut carbon, cities are starting to take the initiative with programs aimed at reining in emissions.
With Stuart Biggs. Scott is a correspondent in Bloomberg Businessweek’s London bureau. Van Loon is a reporter for Bloomberg News.

The times,they are a changing: Posted by Scott MacRae

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Rochester bicycle boulevard ride a success

On Sunday, May 23 at 1 PM in Cobbs Hill Park, over forty bicyclists began a bicycle boulevard demonstration ride through the Upper Monroe neighborhood in Rochester, New York. They were not racers, or members of a single bicycling club, or recruits for a charity ride. They were just ordinary folks finding out what a bicycle boulevard would look and feel like in our area.

Maybe it is a harbinger of things to come. Portland, Oregon’s next generation bicycle boulevards is already achieving what we are attempting here: “A low traffic volume and low traffic speed street where bicycles, pedestrians and neighbors are given priority.” Already, this concept is being introduced as one of the choices for the Bicycle Master Plan being developed by the City of Rochester and the county of Monroe.

Preparation for this demonstration ride began almost a year ago by choosing a neighborhood properly situated near the heart of the city, en route to popular generators. A generator is a destination that attracts traffic, like a supermarket, a city center, a theatre district, or, in Rochester’s case, its wonderful network of trails (including the New York State Canal Trail) which come to a hub at Genesee Park.

For this specific demonstration ride, a route from the Upper Monroe neighborhood was mapped out and temporarily signed, pointing out each turn of the ride. When fully developed, this bicycle boulevard would not only have permanent signage, it might have many other features like auto speed reduction, auto traffic reduction, and various changes to make crossing busy streets easier and safer. (http://www.bta4bikes.org/) Ultimately, Upper Monroe bicycle boulevards would be linked to a series of other boulevard routes throughout all our neighborhoods providing safe and enjoyable routes that make our neighborhoods more neighborly. Not to mention fewer fossil-burning vehicles, fewer ozone alert days, and a lighter impact on climate change.

What might tip the community from one that views bicycles, walking, and public transportation as peripheral ways of getting around to a city that is designed specifically around these transportation options? Maybe we could take our lead from Portland, Oregon, pack up all our influential community leaders, and send them to Boulder, Colorado or The Netherlands and let them see how they do it. Don’t laugh, it’s been done—and it worked!

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Rochester bicycle boulevard ride a success

On Sunday, May 23 at 1 PM in Cobbs Hill Park, over forty bicyclists began a bicycle boulevard demonstration ride through the Upper Monroe neighborhood in Rochester, New York. They were not racers, or members of a single bicycling club, or recruits for a charity ride. They were just ordinary folks finding out what a bicycle boulevard would look and feel like in our area.

Maybe it is a harbinger of things to come. Portland, Oregon’s next generation bicycle boulevards is already achieving what we are attempting here: “A low traffic volume and low traffic speed street where bicycles, pedestrians and neighbors are given priority.” Already, this concept is being introduced as one of the choices for the Bicycle Master Plan being developed by the City of Rochester and the county of Monroe.

Preparation for this demonstration ride began almost a year ago by choosing a neighborhood properly situated near the heart of the city, en route to popular generators. A generator is a destination that attracts traffic, like a supermarket, a city center, a theatre district, or, in Rochester’s case, its wonderful network of trails (including the New York State Canal Trail) which come to a hub at Genesee Park.

For this specific demonstration ride, a route from the Upper Monroe neighborhood was mapped out and temporarily signed, pointing out each turn of the ride. When fully developed, this bicycle boulevard would not only have permanent signage, it might have many other features like auto speed reduction, auto traffic reduction, and various changes to make crossing busy streets easier and safer. (http://www.bta4bikes.org/) Ultimately, Upper Monroe bicycle boulevards would be linked to a series of other boulevard routes throughout all our neighborhoods providing safe and enjoyable routes that make our neighborhoods more neighborly. Not to mention fewer fossil-burning vehicles, fewer ozone alert days, and a lighter impact on climate change.

What might tip the community from one that views bicycles, walking, and public transportation as peripheral ways of getting around to a city that is designed specifically around these transportation options? Maybe we could take our lead from Portland, Oregon, pack up all our influential community leaders, and send them to Boulder, Colorado or The Netherlands and let them see how they do it. Don’t laugh, it’s been done—and it worked!

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Bike 4 Breakfast

Bike 4 Breakfast (a Bike Week event) took place on Sunday, May 23rd from 8:00am – 11:00am. The ride started at Eastern Mountain Sports in Pittsford Plaza and followed the Canal Path to the Genesee River Path in route to the South Wedge Diner (located in Rochester’s South Wedge neighborhood). The people, weather and ride were all great! The total number of riders that participated was 14. Great event – look forward to offering it again sometime this summer.
Thanks to Chintana for helping out.

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Bike 4 Breakfast

Bike 4 Breakfast (a Bike Week event) took place on Sunday, May 23rd from 8:00am – 11:00am. The ride started at Eastern Mountain Sports in Pittsford Plaza and followed the Canal Path to the Genesee River Path in route to the South Wedge Diner (located in Rochester’s South Wedge neighborhood). The people, weather and ride were all great! The total number of riders that participated was 14. Great event – look forward to offering it again sometime this summer.
Thanks to Chintana for helping out.