Writing about cities
What is Open Streets?
It’s when a street is closed to cars and transformed into a safe place for fun and recreation. Read more on Grid Chicago.
Filmed by Steven Vance while sitting on the cargo deck of a Larry vs. Harry Bullitt, John Player Spezial. Cycling by Brandon Gobel, Bullitt owner.
Filmed with a handheld Sony DSC-HX5V. Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.
My calendar, I guess.
And tried to go kayaking yesterday with Erehwon staff, but arrived too late.
From the “Hang In There” gallery opening at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport. I don’t know what this is about.
I was looking through my most popular bits on Flickr and came across this drawing I made in January 2007.
Notice how I put a bike rack in the street. Portland starting on-street bike parking corrals in 2002, I believe.
It looks surprisingly like the Kinzie Street bike lane 😉
I cannot remember from where I got the inspiration to draw this. I hadn’t yet traveled to New York City or Portland; I probably saw a drawing of this on Streetsblog for a facility that would soon be built in New York City (9th Avenue cycle track popped up later in 2008).
I don’t remember my obsession with bicycle planning beginning that early.
Erin of Kozie Prery, a Chicago craftster, has generously donated a custom-made cycling cap to the winning reader of Steven Can Plan.
This hat is mine and you can’t have it. You will get to choose from one that’s already made (for sale on her Etsy Shop) or have one created with a style and color you choose. I wore my hat all winter (from January to May 2011, pretty much) and I liked its warmth and softness. It’s also very small and I can stuff it into my jacket or back pants pocket. Erin’s hats are made of reclaimed textiles (she calls them “upcycled”).
How do you win?
Come up with a catchy or clever slogan that you think will attract people to ride their bikes more often, or, for those who don’t currently ride, encourage them to start riding a bike!
Tips:
Imagine your slogan on billboards, postcards, flyers, t-shirts, etc…
In February I came up with the postcard below featuring my sister and a quote I made up.
“A bike, think about it” comes from Mikael of Copenhagenize.
Rules after the jump.
I don’t know Maureen, and she doesn’t know me, but Streetsblog contributor, and #bikeNYC portrait photographer Dmitry Gudkov, wrote about “why Maureen rides.”
I wrote about why I ride in a submission to Urban Velo magazine last December for its segment, “I Love Riding in the City.” I had a pretty lame answer to, “Why do you love riding in the city?” saying “It’s a lot easier than riding in the suburbs.”
I read Maureen’s response to why cycling is her favorite form of transport in New York.
“I like to keep moving; I don’t ever want to wait, if I can help it. But more than anything I love that the bike lets me be physical in the city.” Her favorite time to ride is late at night, with the solitary journeys giving her a sense of the city she wouldn’t have otherwise. “When I’m biking home from my studio at 1 or 2 in the morning along the empty bike path, I feel like this is my park. This piece of the city belongs to me.”
And now I want to expand my response:
I can’t stand waiting! That’s what you have to do when you drive a car or take public transit. You wait for the traffic in front of you to move, or you wait for the bus or train! (I admit that the Chicago Transit Authority’s Bus and Train Trackers allow you to wait less if you plan your trip well.) By riding a bicycle, you only have to wait for the light to change!
Then this past weekend I was remarking to my friend Francesco that I prefer riding through Chicago in the middle of the night because less traffic makes the street quieter, less congested, and less polluted. This stretch of the street belongs to me.
Me riding home late at night after a concert seeing Pantha du Prince at Empty Bottle in West Town.