E-bulletin 21: Oct. 19, 2007

In this issue:

• BOSTON BIKES SUMMIT [ more... ]
  Sun. Oct 21, 1pm- Community Bike Ride, scenic 15 miles, w/ Doug Mink
  Mon. Oct 22, 7pm- Slide-show/panel "Role of Bicycling in World Class Cities," Boston Public Library
  Tue. Oct 23, 7pm- Three Community Open Houses (Jamaica Plain, Allston/Brighton, Dorchester)
  Wed. Oct 24, 7pm- Presentation "Boston Bikes: past, present, and future," Boston Public Library
  All these events are free and open to the public
  Click here for a listing of all the events
  
  Also, read Jeff Rosenblum's editorial thoughts on Mayor Menino's new bicycle initiative at the end of this e-bulletin.

• STREET TALK Changed! [ more ... ]
  Mon. Oct. 29, 7 pm- LivableStreets Alliance presents:
  "Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty,"
  Daniel Lerch, Post-Carbon Institute
  @ LivableStreets office space, 100 Sidney Street, Central Square, Cambridge [ map... ]
  free and open to the public

• ESPLANADE ASSOCIATION FIGHTS BACK [ more... ]
  DCR threatens to divert traffic onto the Esplanade during the upcoming Storrow Drive reconstruction project.

• EDITORIAL: MAYOR MENINO'S NEW BICYCLE INITIATIVE
  by Jeff Rosenblum, co-founder LivableStreets Alliance

BOSTON BIKES SUMMIT HIGHLIGHTS

All these events are free and open to the public
Click here for details and a listing of all events

"ROLE OF BICYCLING IN WORLD-CLASS CITIES" slide-show/panel
Mon. Oct 22, 7 pm
Boston Public Library, Copley Square

LivableStreets Board Member Ken Kruckemeyer's slide presentation will inspire and inform. Images and stories from around the globe about how bicycling is an integral part of great cities. He will be joined by Bicycling Magazine Editor Steve Madden and Boston's City of Boston Chief of Environmental and Energy Services Jim Hunt. [ more... ]

An outspoken "anti-urban-highway" advocate in the 1970's, Mr. Kruckemeyer became Associate Commissioner Massachusetts Department of Public Works from 1983 - 1991. He was the project manager for the construction of the Southwest Corridor (Orange Line) transit, linear park, and bikeway (this area was slated for a 6-lane expressway, [ more... ]).

COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSES (Jamaica Plain, Allston/Brighton, Dorchester)
Tue. Oct 23, 7 pm
Jamaica Plain / Roxbury / Roslindale: Agassiz School, 20 Child Street, Jamaica Plain
Allston/Brighton: Allston/Brighton CDC, 320 Washington Street (3rd floor), Brighton
Dorchester / Mattapan: VietAid Great Hall, 42 Charles Street, Dorchester


"BOSTON BIKES: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE" presentation & panel
Wed. Oct 24, 7 pm
Boston Public Library

Discover Boston’s rich history of bicycling, why Boston is a great city for bicycling, and imagine the possibilities for our future. The expert team will present their findings along with a set of short-term recommendations for better bicycling in Boston.

All these events are free and open to the public
Click here for details and a listing of all events

And don't forget the: BOSTON BIKE FILM FESTIVAL - This weekend Oct 18-20. [ more... ]

STREET TALK: POST-CARBON CITIES
Mon. Oct. 29, 7:00 pm
"Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty. "
Featuring Daniel Lerch, Post-Carbon Institute
@ LivableStreets office space, 100 Sidney Street, Central Square, Cambridge [ map... ]
free and open to the public

Post Carbon Cities: Planing for Energy and Climate Uncertainty, is the first major municipal guidebook on peak oil and global warming. Mr. Lerch is with Post Carbon Institute, and has worked on urban planning issues for over ten years in the public, private and non-profit sectors. He is also a co-founder of The City Repair Project, an award-winning non-profit organization working on community public space issues. Mr. Lerch has a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Rutgers University in New Jersey and a Master of Urban Studies from Portland State University in Oregon.

"Most credible observers now recognize that our global climate faces radical change in the coming decades if we do not take immediate and far-reaching action. Peak oil (the coming high point and subsequent decline of world oil production) is not as widely understood, but presents a similarly complex set of challenges...Local governments are well-positioned to address peak oil and climate change because they have influence over three key areas of urban spatial and economic development: (1) Building construction and energy efficiency, (2) Local land use and transportation patterns, (3) Local economic activity.

Click here for more information

Changed! NOTE: Cara Seiderman's talk, "Design for a Livable City: Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning in Cambridge," has been postponed until December. Stay tuned.

ESPLANADE ASSOCIATION FIGHTS BACK
DCR threatens to divert traffic onto the Esplanade during the upcoming Storrow Drive reconstruction project

From the Esplanade Association Website:
Extending from the Museum of Science to the Boston University Bridge, the Esplanade is one of Boston's best loved and most intensively used open spaces. While part of a linear park system that stretches along the Charles River for miles, the Esplanade is a unique and iconic landscape that is used daily by hundreds of people from around the world as well as as a site for special events and celebrations, including the 4th of July Boston Pops concert.

Designed and built over a period of many years, the Esplanade as we know it today is largely the creation of landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff. His plan to create an "waterpark" as a major recreational asset to the city was realized during the 1930's. Twenty years later Shurcliff was called upon to ameliorate the impacts of Storrow Drive upon the Esplanade when the road was built on parkland, despite strong opposition from the public and legislature.

Ironically, fifty years later the Esplanade is again threatened by the construction of a roadway - this time as a temporary by-pass road to accommodate traffic while the Storrow Drive Tunnel is rehabilitated. In 2007 the Esplanade Association believes there is a better solution to a regional transportation problem than using parkland for a roadway and we are committed to working with DCR, the Commonwealth and you to make certain that that solution is realized.

Click here for more information and to sign the online petition.

EDITORIAL: MAYOR MENINO'S NEW BICYCLE INITIATIVE
by Jeff Rosenblum, co-founder LivableStreets Alliance
October 19, 2007

For many decades, bicycle advocates have been asking for the City of Boston to take leadership in making our city a better place to bicycle. Yes, in the past there have been false starts, the City's own recommendations unheeded, and commitments broken. Why, then, do I think things are different now with this latest bicycling initiative from Mayor Menino?

For over three years, in laying the groundwork for and then launching LivableStreets Alliance, I have been talking with advocates, government staffers, transportation professionals, political-types, business owners (past and present) from around the Boston area, the US, and the world, about how to make social change happen in the realm of urban transportation. All roads, so to speak, point to an alignment of two "stars": (1) leadership and (2) grassroots support.

The just-announced "Boston Bikes" program is an initiative of the Mayors office, with solid support from his Chief of Policy. And the Mayor has just started biking regularly! A staff person (Nicole Freedman) dedicated to this program has been hired and initial funds have been allocated to her program. This could only have happened with the groundwork of advocacy networks and support already in place from organizations like MassBike, LivableStreets Alliance, BikesNotBombs, Adaptive Environments, WalkBoston, and many others.

Chicago and Cambridge, for example, both started the same way-- an initiative at the highest level of government, skepticism by the transportation staff, but high level of community support and previous years of advocacy groundwork.

The City of Boston has reached out to the League of American Cyclists to organize a Summit, and they have asked LivableStreets and MassBike to help guide the process. The Summit is next week (sorry for the short notice, but when Mayor Menino decides to move on something, he wants it fast). While there is certainly no assurance that this will turn into a full-fledged bicycle program, it is certainly extremely promising.

I URGE YOU TO PARTICIPATE AND CONTINUE TO SHOW THE CITY OF BOSTON WHAT A HUGE DEMAND THERE IS FOR BETTER BIKING IN BOSTON AND OUR REGION.

On behalf of LivableStreets Alliance, I would like to personally thank the countless bicycle and urban planning advocates, both working outside and inside City Hall, who have been working so diligently over the past several decades to help bring us to this point in time.