Grist | Topics | 59 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 59
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
What the Helmet? Anti-bike crusader halts San Francisco's cycle-friendly plans		20 Aug 2008	News
Posted at 8:45 AM on 20 Aug 2008 With a claim that bike lanes increase pollution, a San Francisco resident has managed to put the brakes on the city's pro-biking plans. In 2004, San Francisco unveiled a proposal to create more bike lanes and bike parking, aiming to have 10 percent of city trips taken on two wheels by 2010. Enter Rob Anderson, who doesn't own a car but is no fan of cyclists. "The behavior of the ...
Topics: air pollution, bikes, insanity, news, placemaking, San Francisco (all these topics)

My other candidate is a bike Obama, transportation policy, and the highway bill	David Roberts	03 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Great story in CQ this week on bike politics. Did you know that Obama met a few weeks ago with 160 cycling advocates and promised them his support? I didn't. The 600-pound gorilla in transportation politics is the 2009 negotiation of a new highway bill, which according to CQ 'is already being touted as embodying the greatest overhaul of federal transportation policy since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act into law half a century ago.' ...
Topics: Barack Obama, bikes, placemaking, politics, presidential race 08, public transportation (all these topics)

Dancing to the beat of a different summer NYC unveils plan to open huge swaths of roadway to pedestrians and bikes -- temporarily	Guest author	19 Jun 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post from Ben Fried, a writer and reporter for Streetsblog. He previously wrote about urban planning issues for the nonprofit Project for Public Spaces. ----- On Monday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a new event called 'Summer Streets.' For three Saturdays in August, pedestrians and cyclists will enjoy exclusive access to a contiguous stretch of city thoroughfares running from the Brooklyn Bridge to 72nd Street. No cars allowed. ...
Topics: placemaking, bikes (all these topics)

Notable quotable Yes we can! (ride bikes)	David Roberts	22 May 2008	Gristmill
'It's time that the entire country learn from what's happening right here in Portland with mass transit and bicycle lanes and funding alternative means of transportation. That's the kind of solution that we need for America.' -- Barack Obama, speaking to a rally in Portland, Ore., where an estimated 8,000 out of 75,000 attendees arrived on bikes (via Streetsblog)
Topics: Barack Obama, bikes, placemaking, politics, Portland, public transportation (all these topics)

It's Also National Pizza Party Day Greens celebrate two holidays today		16 May 2008	News
Posted at 2:03 PM on 16 May 2008 If you saw a tiger riding a two-wheeler to the office this morning, that's because it's Endangered Species Bike to Work Day. Wait, wait, we're getting a memo -- oh, actually, it's both Endangered Species Day and Bike to Work Day. (Then what the hell was that tiger doing?) In honor of Bike to Work Day, bicyclists in many cities picked up free swag along their commute routes this morning. In ho ...
Topics: bikes, endangered species, holiday, news, placemaking, wildlife, World Wildlife Fund (all these topics)

What is the Vectrix? Electric bike zips up Berkeley hills with ease	Adam Browning	24 Apr 2008	Gristmill
An ex-girlfriend of mine placed great diagnostic weight on the following question: Would you rather have one cookie now or two cookies later? I am generally a two-cookies-later person, and she ... well, now that I think of it, she was more of a two-cookies-now kind of person, which explains ... Photo: Sonietta46 I digress. The point is that if you have been reading all the recent news about the Tesla and the Volt, and now Think is coming to America, a ...
Topics: bikes, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

State Farm pulls bike-bashing ad	David Roberts	11 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Remember that stupid ad from State Farm, where the natty professional laments that gas prices have gotten so high he's been forced -- gasp -- to ride a bike to work? Oh, the humiliation. Well, apparently the hubbub about the ad got so heated that it made its way back to State Farm. In response, they have pulled the ad. Streetsblog has the details, and deserves credit for generating the kind of blowback that might make the next big corporation think twice before dispa ...
Topics: bikes, cars, green living, placemaking, TV (all these topics)

'State Farm can get you back behind the wheel'	David Roberts	03 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Witness the humiliation as this distinguished professional is forced to ... my God, I can barely say it ... ride a bike to work. Do something, State Farm! Anything! "You know that place where you're swapping four wheels for two? Oh, man, I'm there." Says Streetsblog: "Yeah, I know that place. It's called a city." UPDATE: State Farm has pulled the ad.
Topics: bikes, cars, green living, placemaking, TV (all these topics)

The sweet smell of victory Seattle gets five more blocks of bike lanes	biodiversivist	02 Apr 2008	Gristmill
In this post, I talked about Seattle's efforts to improve bicycle safety. I mentioned that the busiest part of a key road was not striped, thanks to pressure from a local real estate baron who didn't want business disrupted. This created a dangerous gauntlet to run as bikers left the bike lane to start their long, hard slog uphill. I'm happy to report that the city has since reconsidered, and it has made a world of difference for safety. Which gives me the opportun ...
Topics: bikes, cars, green living, placemaking, Seattle (all these topics)

This guy has it figured out The SOZEV/train combo commute	biodiversivist	13 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Pete has the coolest-looking SOZEV (Single-Occupant Zero-Carbon Emission Vehicle) in Seattle. (Click the photo to the right for a larger view.) It has turned a sweat-inducing, 45-minute slog up a killer hill into a comfortable 10-minute cruise. He rides to the Sounder commuter train station from his house and then from downtown to his office east of Seattle. Surfing the net while commuting by train is a concept that appeals to me. I wonder how well the free wi-fi conc ...
Topics: bikes, placemaking, green living, electric vehicles, innovation, tech (all these topics)

Hee Hee, Bikers in Suits Small-scale bike-share program to come to Capitol Hill		07 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 1:27 PM on 07 Mar 2008 Thirty bicycles will be made available to government employees on Capitol Hill under a pilot bike-share program announced by U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) at a National Bike Summit Thursday. "You have such a huge concentration of people" on the Hill, he said, "and so much of the errand running doesn't need to fire up an engine." Blumenauer, founder ...
Topics: bikes, Congress, news, placemaking, politics (all these topics)

Lance Armstrong: more bike commuters, please A breathless appraisal of Lance's new bicycle mecca and mission	Adam Stein	16 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Lance Armstrong will soon unveil his 18,000-square-foot Austin-based bike shop, Mellow Johnny's (named after the Tour de France's yellow jersey -- or 'maillot jaune'). The goal of the shop is to promote bike culture and bike commuting: 'This city is exploding downtown. Are all these people in high rises going to drive everywhere? We have to promote (bike) commuting...'Showers and a locker room will allow commuters who don't have facilities at their offices to ride down ...
Topics: bikes, celebrity, green living, placemaking, Texas (all these topics)

Pedal power Cyclists should be more involved as biking advocates	Alan Durning	26 Nov 2007	Gristmill
This essay is part of a series on bicycle neglect. ----- Blame me. It's my fault the Northwest does not treat bicycling with respect. How? Bear with me, and I'll explain. Cascadia is, as Washington state legislator Dick Nelson used to say, a 'motorhead democracy' -- a place where licensed drivers substantially outnumber registered voters and where car-head dominates transportation thought and debate. No matter how much good Bicycle Respect would do for our ...
Topics: bikes, placemaking (all these topics)

Bike culture Biking communities thrive in San Francisco and Santa Cruz	Adam Browning	07 Nov 2007	Gristmill
We moved offices earlier this year, and are now a little off the beaten track. To deal with the increased distance, and because I broke my colleague Gwen's foldable bike, I brought in a couple of bikes for the office: a pink Stumpjumper of '80s vintage at a garage sale in Lee Vining, and a more recently minted Hardrock bequeathed by good friend and noted environmental economist Michael Greenstone. This is all to say that I've been biking around San Francisco quite a ...
Topics: bikes, placemaking, Portland, San Francisco, urban planning (all these topics)

Even more of what 'bike friendly' looks like Danish picturebook, Portland video show how to respect bicyclists	Alan Durning	24 Oct 2007	Gristmill
What bicycle-respecting streets, intersections, and neighborhoods look like is largely a mystery to most people, even those who cycle regularly. I've offered descriptions twice before. Since then, two wonderful new tools have been completed. StreetFilms.org, the awesome, New York-based outfit that makes movies about cycling, has posted a 30-minute ode to Portland's bikability (linked above). It makes Bicycle Respect visible. (Other, shorter StreetFilms works on P ...
Topics: bikes, Denmark, placemaking, Portland, urban planning (all these topics)

Wheels of fortune Bikeways pay for themselves	Alan Durning	19 Oct 2007	Gristmill
A decade ago, we wrote that the bicycle is one of the world's seven everyday wonders because it's so simple, effective, affordable, and pollution-free. To that list, we might have added 'enriching.' Bicycling for transportation pumps money into local economies. Bikes are wheels of fortune. (Thanks to Flickr photographer hanbyholems for the picture to the right.) If your community spends money building bikeways, you and your neighbors will cycle more. Your cycling wil ...
Topics: bikes, placemaking (all these topics)

Bikin' Cities try to help bikers	David Roberts	09 Oct 2007	Gristmill
USA Today says a few American cities are finally, at long last, taking steps to make life easier for bicyclists. This is heartening, I suppose, as far as it goes, but the measures under discussion -- mainly bike lanes and some bike-sharing programs -- are pretty wan. We've got a long, long way to go before biking is a mainstream alternative.
Topics: bikes, placemaking (all these topics)

Safe streets Not pedaling can kill you	Alan Durning	09 Oct 2007	Gristmill
My youngest son had a bike wreck this summer: a driver cut him off on a steep downhill. Peter managed to avoid the car by tumbling over the curb, but the fall inflicted some nasty road rash. It also inspired me to dig into the question of bicycle safety more rigorously than before: Is it safe for Peter to be biking so much? Here's what I learned: Biking is safer than it used to be. It's safer than you might think. It does incur the risk of collision, but its other he ...
Topics: bikes, placemaking (all these topics)

Velib' liberates Paris A Parisian tries out the city's new rent-a-bike program	Jon Rynn	05 Oct 2007	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay from my sister, Margie Rynn, who has lived in Paris for seven years. ----- It took me awhile to be willing to try Velib', the new rent-a-bike program now available all over the streets of Paris.I love the idea: anyone can pick up a bike at any metro station or anywhere there's a 'borne' (stand) of bikes, ride around for half an hour, and then leave it at any Velib' stand. That first half hour is free, and not only that, the bikes themsel ...
Topics: bikes, France, placemaking, public transportation (all these topics)

I had a dream Seattle in 2020	biodiversivist	05 Oct 2007	Gristmill
The year was 2020 and Seattle had become the bicycle capital of the world. Visitors lined the streets to learn how we did it. Thanks to global warming, clothing had gone out of style, but thanks to genetic engineering we could alter our skin pigmentation to be any color we wanted. Racism had become a thing of the past and mustaches were popular again.
Topics: bikes, placemaking, Seattle (all these topics)

Russian roulette Expect bicycle deaths in Seattle to climb	biodiversivist	30 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Not good. I happened upon this accident scene a few days ago. Apparently, a right turning truck hit a young bicyclist, killing him instantly. He had been in Seattle for only a few weeks and was the same age as my daughter, who rides a bike on a distant college campus. The sight truly unsettled me and made my bike trip through the heart of downtown more nerve racking than usual. I want to use this tragedy to send a message to our amiable yet bumbling local ...
Topics: bikes, placemaking, Seattle (all these topics)

Folds-mobile Business travel, Bike Friday, and the Spokane airport	Alan Durning	26 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Confession: I have long coveted a Bike Friday. What cyclist wouldn't? A folding bike that fits in a suitcase -- and the suitcase becomes a bike trailer! Pedal to the airport or train station, take your luggage out of your trailer, fold your bike into the trailer, check your luggage (including your bike), and at trip's end, reverse the process. Ingenious! So I danced a jig when a founder of the Eugene, Ore.-based company offered to let me try the new Tikit model this ...
Topics: bikes, innovation, placemaking, travel (all these topics)

Give me a sign Bike routes need names	Alan Durning	20 Sep 2007	Gristmill
I recently bicycled from Seattle to Bellevue, Washington, across Lake Washington on the I-90 floating bridge. This trip is not complicated. Once you're on the wide, well-shielded bike lane, you'd think that getting to Bellevue would be assured. You'd be wrong. First, you have to get across Mercer Island. On the island, the bike route leaves the freeway and vanishes into a labyrinth of branching paths. They're beautiful bikeways, no doubt: wide, separated from traffic, ...
Topics: bikes, placemaking (all these topics)

China to hold no-car day Residents in over 100 Chinese cities urged to walk, bike, or use public transit this Saturday	Adam Browning	17 Sep 2007	Gristmill
China, once famed as a bicycling nation, tries to put the genie back in the bottle.
Topics: bikes, cars, China, placemaking, public transportation (all these topics)

Wheeling and Dealing U.S. Transportation Secretary blames bikes for decay of roads and bridges		14 Sep 2007	News
Posted at 2:15 PM on 14 Sep 2007 When one rides a bicycle, one is able to transport oneself from place to place -- thus, one might call a bicycle "transportation." But not if one is U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. Despite the fact that 10 percent of all U.S. trips to work, school, and store happen on bike or foot, Peters said in August that bike paths "are really not transpor ...
Topics: bikes, Department of Transportation, green living, news, placemaking, politics, urban planning (all these topics)

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