Archive for October, 2008

Action Alert: Miami’s Bicycle Action Plan

Published
by
Mike Lydon
on October 15, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

The Miami Bicycle Action Committee has been hard at work for the past 8 months and tomorrow our labor of love goes before the City Commission.

In order to rally support, the Green Mobility Network has organized a bicycle rally in front of City Hall. If you have the time and want to show your support for this important initiative, please come on down and circle City Hall with us from 8:30-9:00am. The Plan itself is scheduled to be reviewed at 10:00am.

If you haven’t done so, please call and email your commissioner and tell them that you support the plan!

Orange Bowl and MDT

Published
by
Tony Garcia
on October 14, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

Larry L.’s Streetwise column this week was right on about the transportation improvements needed around the Orange Bowl. Maybe the PTP was overly ambitious, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to get the most out of our surtax dollars (along with more dedicated revenue from the general fund, gas tax, etc.). Maybe the Orange line is not heavy rail (unfortunately), but there is a cheaper and faster-to-construct-and-implement alternative: BRT. For the same money that the 27th Avenue Orange Line would cost as an elevated train, we could implement all legs of the Orange line (including the one that runs next to the Orange Bowl) as BRT lines. In terms of increasing ridership and growing the system, this ‘crawl before you walk’ philosophy may be the best way to use our money to get results. As time goes on, and ridership increases, we can consider the benefits of upgrading certain lines. The real key to expansion success lies in the land development regulations around transit stops, and how they accommodate higher densities and encourage pedestrian activity.

Addressing Waterfront Open Space

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on October 13, 2008
in New York City, Water Park and Waterfront
. 3 Comments

I spent the better part of this long weekend wandering through the many parks of New York City.  The weekend weather was absolutely perfect to spend the whole day in a park and as you’ll see from the pictures below - I wasn’t the only one who thought so.  Now, I know I’ve said this before but, Miami could learn a lot from these cities.  New York’s ever growing park infrastructure is absolutely amazing.  Over the weekend, I wandered through Central, Union Square, Washington Square, and most importantly: the new Hudson River Parkway and Hoboken’s Pier A Park.  NYC and Hoboken have rejuvenated their waterfront with quality design and infrastructure, enabling access to the vast open space along the shores.  There certainly is not a valid reason why our Waterfront parks and river greenway shouldn’t be able to emulate the success of these great public spaces.  A brief walk through of either of these two linear riverside parks will reveal why they too will become great public spaces - accessible green space, limited concrete, varied structured and unstructured activity spaces, and multimodal connectivity…

We began the day Saturday with an obligatory trip into Central Park.  This was the scene pretty much throughout the park.  The park offered us a great escape from the crowds we had just walked through in Midtown - it seemed like the other half of the city had flocked to Central Park.

This was the scene at Hoboken’s Pier A, just across the Hudson River from NYC’s Hudson River Parkway.

This whole park is built upon a pier and provides some great open space in which to enjoy the panoramic views of Manhattan.  It reminded a lot of Brooklyn Bridge Park on the opposite side of Manhattan…

Like the Hudson River Parkway, New Jersey is working to connect their entire waterfront park system with bicycle paths - creating safe, healthy, and clean ways for residents to access the waterfront, transit, and Business Districts.

Shade.  If there had’t been a nice cool breeze, I’m sure we would have seen more people enjoying this area.

Being the transit junkie that I am, I just had to go for a ride on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail.  These trains are fast, efficient, quiet, and a wonderful way to commute through Jersey.

Take the 2 Mile Challenge

Published
by
Mike Lydon
on October 12, 2008
in Sprawl and Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

Clif Bar, the purveyor of well-known and quite tasty energy bars, has long been an eco-conscious company. However, they have taken their advocacy to a new level with the Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge.

Their fantastic website gives you the facts about climate change, connects it to human behavior, allows you to build your bicycle (assuming you don’t already have one) and map out a two mile radius from where you live so that you may see all that is accessible within a relatively easy bicycle ride.

Why 2 miles? Well, if you visit the website you will learn that 40% of urban travel in America is two miles or less. 90% of such trips are undertaken with automobiles, which generate approximately 25% of our nation’s carbon emissions. Bottom line: American’s are lazy and we pollute.

However, as Clif Bar rightly asserts, such trips are easy to replace with a bicycle which in turn helps you get fit, connect to your neighborhood and city in a new way, and have little to no impact on the environment. If you take the challenge but once a week, your will be doing yourself, city and world a bit of good.

So go ahead Miami, Take the challenge!

Sarasota’s Planning Conundrum

Published
by
Mike Lydon
on October 11, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Okay, so this isn’t a “Transit Sarasota” blog, but I couldn’t resist sharing this tale with the greater Miami transit-minded public.

Yesterday, the Herald Tribune reported that Sarasota is still struggling to find a “solution” to the barrier US-41 creates to the city’s waterfront. In short, pedestrians find it difficult to cross the four lane road to reach what is actually a fairly nice waterfront.

Years ago, the planning firm that I work for suggested a “road diet” for this stretch of the road. That is to say, narrowing it from a four lane road to two lane, which would reduce automotive speeds and decrease the distance to the waterfront for pedestrians, thereby improving access for those not driving.

Well, the political and resident will was just not there to take on such a “radical” solution. Rather, the city had the following “sky plaza” drawn up to the tune of $7 million. This was supposed to be a potential solution.

Image courtesy of the Herald-Tribune.

Fortunately, it seems the City came to their senses and have put this ridiculous idea to bed. Nonetheless, they seem to be back at square one.

“What’s different this time is we are going into this understanding that somehow we have to slow the traffic on U.S. 41,” city chief planner Steven Stancel said.

“What is not on the table is reducing the number of traffic lanes,” he added.

So let me clarify. They don’t like the function of this thoroughfare and know that it is too auto-centric. But they refuse to take the necessary measures to solve the problem!

I say, good luck Sarasota.

Bicyclist Killed in Davie

Published
by
JM Palacios
on October 9, 2008
in Accident and FDOT
. 5 Comments

Yet another bicyclist was killed today, apparently on an I-595 exit ramp at SR-7. The Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald both have brief reports on the subject. Our sympathies to the friends and family.

My first thought after seeing the Miami Herald headline was, What on earth was this guy doing on I-595? Bicyclists aren’t allowed on the freeway and all that. But then I remembered how the area around this interchange is configured. Continue reading ‘Bicyclist Killed in Davie’

City Unveils Bike Miami Logo

Published
by
Mike Lydon
on October 9, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Don’t forget, the event is for walkers, joggers, skaters, strollers, and dogs too!

come one, come all.

Another Day, Another Demo

Published
by
Mike Lydon
on October 8, 2008
in Sprawl and Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

On the bike ride to work this morning I stopped to snap a couple of photos. The first displays the Miami Arena on its way out. The second, the once beautiful and ‘coulda been saved if the political will was there, ala Coppertone Girl and Marine Stadium,’ East Coast Fisheries building on the Miami River.

As I bicycle around downtown it sometimes seems this city has had almost as many buildings knocked down as put up in recent years. Some had to go, but others… alas, another day, another demo.

Rediscover the Human Scale

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on October 7, 2008
in Congestion
. 2 Comments

Via: Reconnecting America:

Next time you’re stuck going 20 mph in the fast lane, waiting forever to get through a traffic light, or trying to find your way out of a giant concrete parking structure, remember that it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time for America to rediscover the human scale. It’s time to build communities for people, not cars.

Herald Chronicles Miami’s ‘Green Bicycle Wave’

Published
by
Mike Lydon
on October 6, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Reporter Andres Viglucci wrote a nice piece chronicling the City’s growing commitment to becoming a bicycle friendly city. He writes:

Whether it’s out of fear of getting crushed by two tons of speeding metal, the clueless motorists or the near-total lack of bike lanes, Miamians have long been notoriously bike-averse.

So what’s a car-choked town to do if it wants to join a growing trend and foster safe cycling for recreation and transportation?

You do what the city of Miami — incredibly, perhaps — is starting to do.

First, you draw up a bike plan for the first time ever: identify suitable streets, create bike lanes and signage, provide bike parking and print up ”bike-friendly” maps.

And then, to show that people do want this, pick a day when main streets in the center of town can be closed to cars and turn them over to the citizenry to freely bike, walk, skate, jog, congregate.

Say, Sunday, Nov. 9.

To read more follow the link above, or hey, go old school and pick up a copy of tomorrow’s edition.

Mark Your Calendars

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on October 6, 2008
in Miami
. 0 Comments

From the city of Miami, 2 great events going on this week - We hope to see you tomorrow night…

  • The Mayors Institute on City Design will be hosting a special panel discussion on Metropolitan Smart Growth and Urban Sustainability at the Moore Building tomorrow night. The event is open to the public, though you are encouraged to RSVP via email (events@micd.org) or by phone at 202-463-1393 if you would like to attend.
  • Participants are expected to include Jaquelin “Jaque” Robertson founder of the New York City Urban Design Group, former Dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, and former advisor to former New York Mayor John Lindsay; National Endowment for the Arts’ Director of Design former Mayor of Charlottesville Maurice Cox; and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Richard Swett, author of “Leadership by Design”.  Swett was the only architect to serve in the United States Congress during in the 20th century where he represented New Hampshire’s 2nd district.  Mayor Manny Diaz, a member of MICD’s National Advisory Council since 2005, is one of only a handful of mayors nationwide to have been invited to serve on the Institute’s Advisory Board in it’s 22-year history.
  • City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and Rilea Group CEO Alan Ojeda  will join City Commissioners and area neighbors to celebrate the inauguration of the Broadway Fountain on Thursday, October 9, 2008, at 11:00 a.m., at the SW corner of South Miami Avenue and SE 15 Road (by Simpson Park).
  • The Broadway Fountain is the centerpiece of the South Miami Ave and SE 15th Road roundabout that is part of the overall South Miami Avenue Improvements Project. The Rilea Group, long recognized as one of Miami’s premier developers of residential and commercial real estate, is dedicating the $300,000 fountain to the City as part of its ongoing efforts to add value to Miami’s Brickell neighborhood through beautification. Since 1981, The Rilea Group has been involved in numerous developments in and around Miami’s urban core and financial district, including One Broadway, the Mellon Financial Center, and 1450 Brickell Avenue, which is currently under construction.  The inauguration will mark the completion of the South Miami Avenue Improvements Project which encompasses pavement milling and resurfacing, curb and gutter replacement, sidewalk repair, ADA ramps, landscape upgrades, 5 feet bicycle lanes, construction of the roundabout and decorative lighting among other enhancements. The Project, which has garnered widespread support among area residents, runs along South Miami Avenue between SE 15 Road and SE 25 Road.

House Passes Bailout Bill, Incentivizes Bicycle Commuting

Published
by
Mike Lydon
on October 3, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 7 Comments

Regardless of weather or not you were in favor of the “bailout bill” or not, enough of our representatives were. While the short term and long term effects of this monumental piece of legislation will play out in the coming weeks, months and years, one thing is for sure: riding a bicycle to work just became even more legitimate in the eyes of our nation’s leaders.

Indeed, the bicycle blogs have been abuzz over the past few days with the potential for Earl Blumenauer’s(D-Oregon) $20 per month bicycle commuter tax credit to finally see the light of day.

Our friends over at Streetsblog had this to say:

“Section 211 of the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008″ allows for a ‘qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement’ for ‘reasonable expenses incurred by the employee during such calendar year for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment.’

Other transpo-related items in the bill include credits for biofuels and other “alternative” mixtures, plug-in electric vehicles, and what looks like a few goodies for oil and natural gas producers. Another section includes incentives for green construction and renewable energy production.”

$20 dollars a month is not a hug sum, but I look forward to putting it towards the upkeep of my trusty two-wheeler.