StreetLife #35 / June 2009
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Dear friend,
The demand for LivableStreets programs and services
keeps growing, and we're trying to keep up with a growing range of
activity, but we need your help to maintain our success. Please think
of all the ways that you know LivableStreets has already made a difference in our region, think of all that you've learned from attending LivableStreets events, and then click here to become a 2009 member today for less than $5 a month! |
In this issue:
Announcements
· StreetTalk: What We Can Learn From Spain: Urban mobility planning in
Barcelona, by Marius Navazo, Thur, June 25, 7-9 pm >>>
· Join LivableStreets Alliance team at Hub On Wheels, Sun, Sept 27 >>>
Action e-lerts · Public Meeting: Craigie bridges reconstruction project, Thur, June 11, 6:30-8
· Contact your Senator: National Safe Routes To School Bill Submitted
StreetView
. State Needs to Reduce Traffic as Well As Repair Bridges over Charles River
Recent Activity· Cambridge Bicycle Block Party Supports Community & LivableStreets Alliance
· Bike Ride and Healthy Cooking Event with Governor Patrick at Bikes Not Bombs
· New York City Moves Forward: Noah Budnick speaks at LivableStreets StreetTalk
· Arlington St. T Station finally accessible
· New film titled 'Lanes' on LivableStreets' film page · Redesign of Mass Ave in East Arlington moves forward
· Arlington Schools remove bike ban
Calendar
· Public Meeting: Bus Rt 28 proposal, Mattapan-Ruggles Station, Blue Hill Ave >>>
· Public Meeting: Sullivan Square & Rutherford Ave in Charlestown >>>
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StreetTalk: Thur, June 25 @ 7pm
What we can learn from Spain: Urban mobility planning in Barcelona
by Marius Navazo, Urban Planner, Barcelona, Spain @ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney St [ map...]
What
are the results of implementing better transit networks, traffic
calming zones, and a bike sharing program? Are these measures always
environmentally-friendly? Are they enough to create better places to
live and enjoy? Learn about the development of urban mobility plans in
Greater Barcelona and Catalonia, Spain. See what the Catalan Government
is encouraging municipalities to do.
(photo: a typical day walking down Les Rambles, Barcelona)
Marius Navazo
is a geographer who has been working for the last 10 years in town and
regional planning, focused on transportation and its impacts to improve
cities from a social and environmental perspective. He has been working
at the Catalan Government for the last 4 years, and now he is a
freelancer working for different municipalities in the Barcelona area.
Marius is currently a 6 month visiting fellow at the
LivableStreets Alliance.
For more information about this StreetTalk, click here.
free
and open to the public, donation suggested, beer/sodas provided
compliments of Harpoon Brewery and delivered thanks to Metro Pedal
Power! Sponsored by LivableStreets Alliance. For more information about StreetTalks, click here. |
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Join the LivableStreets Team at Hub on Wheels
 Hub
On Wheels, Boston Mayor Menino's annual Bike Ride & Festival, has
played a critical role in raising public awareness for the Boston Bikes
program. LivableStreets has been involved in Hub On Wheels since
its inception. This year, you can both join the city-wide ride
and support LivableStreets (at no extra cost)
Ride 10, 30
or 50 miles on September 27, 2009. Pre and post events for team
members, LivableStreets T-shirts to wear on the ride, and more!
Register online now here!
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Action e-lert: Charles River Craigie bridges reconstruction project public meeting
DCR to announce construction and redesign plans for Craigie Dam & Drawbridge (bridge in front of Museum of Science)
Thur, June 11, 6:30-8 pm @ MIT's Stata Center rm. 55, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge
 LivableStreets
Alliance and others have been advocating for the Department of
Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to not simply rebuild the bridges,
but to incorporate improvements for pedestrians, cyclists, transit, as
well as cars. The DCR has acknowledged the legitimacy of our
concerns. Come to this meeting to make sure that the final plans include the promised improvements.
For more background on the Craigie bridges, check out our project page here. |
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Action e-lert: Contact your Senator about the National Safe Routes to School Bill
As
the jockeying begins to shape the upcoming national transportation
funding bill, five Senators have introduced a bill requiring a major
expansion of the national Safe Routes To School program. LivableStreets
Alliance believes that making our streets safe for the most v ulnerable
- the young, the aging, the disabled - will make it safer for everyone
who walks, bikes, or uses a car. We have joined the Transportation For
America (T4A) coalition and support its efforts to set progressive
National Transportation Objectives.
Take action: Urge your Senators to become co-sponsors of S.1156.
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StreetView: State Needs to Reduce Traffic as Well As Repair Bridges over Charles River
Every
bridge in the lower Charles River basin (except Mass Ave bridge) is
going to get repaired over the next five years or so. We hope the
end result will be more solid structures better able to safely serve
pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit vehicles as well as cars, as well
as improved access to the river-side parklands.  However,
the construction period will cause a massive reduction in the system's
cross-river carrying capacity. It is true, as shown by much
research and Boston's own Big Dig experience, that traffic tends to
shrink (or expand) along with the road system's carrying capacity -
meaning that the fewer roads there are the fewer cars try to use
them. (Conversely, it also means that building more roads or
lanes to relieve congestion will only attract more drivers until the
new roads are over crowded as well.) But no matter how much
traffic shrinks, there will still be a lot of people trying to drive
across the Charles River every day. It is vital that
state and municipal governments immediately start making it easier for
people to switch from single-occupancy vehicles to car pools, transit
and bikes before the bridge repair work brings the whole region to a
gridlock. |
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Cambridge Bicycle Block Party Supports Community
& LivableStreets Alliance
Cambridge Bicycle shop threw a party for the community on May 21, with food donated by Toscanini' s
and Middle East, and beer donated by Wachusetts Beer. Proceeds
from the raffle were donated to LivableStreets Alliance in recognition
of our work to improve conditions for everyone on two wheels.
Thank you Cambridge Bicycle and to everyone who came out and made the Block Party a huge success!
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Bike Ride and Healthy Cooking Event with Governor Patrick at Bikes Not Bombs
On M ay
30, a bike ride from the state house to Bikes Not Bombs sponsored
by the Governor's Office and Harvard School of Public Health, and
organized by LivableStreets Board
member, Steve Miller, culminated in a healthy food cooking
demonstration by Governor Patrick and TV chef Ming Tsai (owner of Blue
Ginger restaurant). Teenage Bike Not Bombs participants led the
bike ride and helped with the cooking demo, all of which was done to
promote the state's new "Mass In Motion" wellness campaign.
For more on the Mass In Motion campaign, click here. |
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New York City moves forward: Noah Budnick speaks at LivableStreets StreetTalk
New
York City has put political muscle behind new Transportation
Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn's vision of a multi-modal urban
transportation system that reduces congestion, lowers pollution,
promotes local business, supports public health - and makes everything
safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.
(photo: Broadway now 'open' to people in Times Square, NYC)
LivableStreets
hosted Noah Budnick from NYC Transportation Alternatives at our May
StreetTalk who talked about the vision and years of both city-level and
neighborhood-level work that laid the foundation for the current leap
forward. It was a full house with over 80 attendees!
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Arlington St T station finally accessible
 Thanks
to years of advocacy (including by Chris Hart, LivableStreets Board
member and on the staff of the Institute for Human Centered Design) and
the availability of Green Line modernization funds, three new elevators
have been installed that allow access to disabled riders for the first
time ever since the stop opened 90 years ago. |
New film about bicycle lanes on Comm Ave and Mass Ave on LivableStreets film page
"Lanes"
by local filmmaker Matthew Hashiguchi is brief documentary on
bicycle lanes in Boston that compares two main avenues; Commonwealth
Avenue and  Massachusetts Avenue.
Featuring LivableStreets advisor Peter Furth,
LivableStreets board member Ken Kruckemeyer, and LivableStreets former
board member Phil Goff.
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Redesign of Mass Ave in East Arlington moves forward
A
one mile stretch of the four-lane Mass Ave free-for-all is currently
being redesigned for a potential lane reduction to slow traffic and
accommodate bike lanes and wider sidewalks in the business district.
While critics worry about reduced capacity, the East Arlington Livable
Streets Coalition continues to educate the community on the benefits of
the lane reduction and continues to fight for a good design that will
make Mass Ave a more safe and vibrant street for all users. Town
planners will soon finalize their 25% design submission and later this
summer, Mass Highway will hold their 25% public hearing.
(photo:
the East Arlington Livable Streets Coalition hopes to replace a traffic
lane with bike lanes and sidewalk improvements along Mass Ave)
For more information, contact Phil Goff at philipgoff@hotmail.com and visit the East Arlington Livable Streets Coalition website here.
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Arlington Schools remove bike ban Several
years of effort by neighborhood advocates has resulting in the lifting
of a ban on bicycling at the Hardy Elementary School. A pilot
Safe Routes To School effort has begun to demonstrate that kids can be
safe and that pre-school exercise helps them pay attention in
class. | |
_______________________________________________________________
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Douglas
Transportation Advocate
LivableStreets Alliance
E: jackie@livablestreets.info
P: 617.621.1746
W: www.livablestreets.info |
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