Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

January 6, 2009


SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: LivableStreets To Host First Annual "Boston Bikes Update Report"

On Thursday, January 29th, LivableStreets Alliance will host the first "Boston Bikes Update Report" by the city's Director of Bicycle Programs, Nicole Freedman.  The public meeting will be held starting at 7 PM in the mezzanine conference room of the main branch of the Boston Public Library.  The focus will be on future steps needed to create the "world class bicycling city" that Mayor Menino has promised.  There will be additional discussion about what could be done to significantly expand the cycling population -- and its political influence -- by attracting "traffic intolerant" bicyclists, by installing low-cost bike-friendly infrastructure in all parts of the city, and by setting up programs to assure that low-income and non-white communities feel included, among other strategies.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: LivableStreets To Host First Annual "Boston Bikes Update Report"

On Thursday, January 29th, LivableStreets Alliance will host the first "Boston Bikes Update Report" by the city's Director of Bicycle Programs, Nicole Freedman.  The public meeting will be held starting at 7 PM in the mezzanine conference room of the main branch of the Boston Public Library.  The focus will be on future steps needed to create the "world class bicycling city" that Mayor Menino has promised.  There will be additional discussion about what could be done to significantly expand the cycling population -- and its political influence -- by attracting "traffic intolerant" bicyclists, by installing low-cost bike-friendly infrastructure in all parts of the city, and by setting up programs to assure that low-income and non-white communities feel included, among other strategies.
Brooklyn Bike Lanes
New bike lanes on Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, NY
(Photo courtesy New York Times)
 

Highlights

  • Urban Playground (Boston Globe)
    As politicians weigh economic stimulus for cities, research suggests a surprising way to succeed: make it fun
    By Sasha Issenberg -- WHEN MASSACHUSETTS DECIDED to boost its biotechnology sector, it turned to a traditional model of economic development: Spending $1 billion over a decade to build infrastructure and encourage employers, hoping that jobs - and growth - will follow. The federal government appears ready to stick to a similar strategy for a stimulus package next year that could commit as much as $1 trillion to the construction of bridges, schools, and industrial facilities in the hopes of reviving struggling communities around the country. Yet some social scientists who study regional growth have turned away from such joyless nitty-gritty and are instead turning to another tool for improving economic health: fun.

     

  • How the city hurts your brain ...And what you can do about it (Boston Globe)
    By Jonah Lehrer -- THE CITY HAS always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 18th-century coffeehouses of London, where citizens gathered to discuss chemistry and radical politics, to the Left Bank bars of modern Paris, where Pablo Picasso held forth on modern art. Without the metropolis, we might not have had the great art of Shakespeare or James Joyce; even Einstein was inspired by commuter trains. And yet, city life isn't easy. The same London cafes that stimulated Ben Franklin also helped spread cholera; Picasso eventually bought an estate in quiet Provence. While the modern city might be a haven for playwrights, poets, and physicists, it's also a deeply unnatural and overwhelming place.

     

  • Demolish The Garage! says owner of Congress Street development (Boston Herald)
    The owner of the property known as the “Congress Street Garage” has proposed demolishing the garage and replacing it with a series of mid- and high-rise buildings. It wants to replace the garage with buildings tall, big, and dense. Drafts of five proposals have been released (warning, .pdf). What would be inside those buildings is an open question - would they include housing (and what type), offices, retail, or what? The developer seems to know how “building in Boston” works; it has held several community meetings to get feedback from the neighborhood (did you know there was a neighborhood? neither did I) and has created a website at http://demolishthegarage.com, whose purpose is pretty evident: to get everyone to agree that the garage has got to go.

     

  • New Bike Lanes Touch Off Row in Brooklyn (New York Times)
    By Colin Moynihan -- New York City has created more than 100 miles of bicycle lanes in recent years to encourage and accommodate the number of people who, compelled by a desire to preserve the environment or preserve their bank accounts, have taken to getting around on two wheels. But the effort to turn the city into a place that embraces bicyclists has clashed with a long-entrenched reality — New York is a crowded, congested urban landscape where every patch of asphalt is coveted. The latest illustration of this reality — and among the more contentious — is playing out on the Brooklyn waterfront, where bike lanes less than two miles long have set off a verbal battle among a growing cast of interested parties, including business owners, residents, bicyclists and their advocates, and politicians.

     

  • Rail Takes Back Seat as States Target Obama Stimulus for Roads (Bloomberg)
    By Heidi Przybyla -- Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Missouri’s plan to spend $750 million in federal money on highways and nothing on mass transit in St. Louis doesn’t square with President-elect Barack Obama’s vision for a revolutionary re-engineering of the nation’s infrastructure. Utah would pour 87 percent of the funds it may receive in a new economic stimulus bill into new road capacity. Arizona would spend $869 million of its $1.2 billion wish list on highways. While many states are keeping their project lists secret, plans that have surfaced show why environmentalists and some development experts say much of the stimulus spending may promote urban sprawl while scrimping on more green-friendly rail and mass transit.

     

  • Bikes back in fashion as eco-friendly alternative (Japan Times)
    By Mai Iida -- While automakers are suffering from slumping sales amid the global economic downturn and accelerating efforts to develop green cars to spur new demand, the traditional green vehicle — the bicycle — is becoming more popular. "Usually, bicycles sell well in the high season of summer and business is slow when it gets colder, but this year we have remained very busy," said Daisuke Nishikoori, manager of the Y's Road bicycle chain's outlet in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district. Consumers' growing awareness of health issues and the surge in gasoline prices to record levels in 2008 have increased bicycles' appeal, while a wider variety of lineups and fashionable outfits for cycling have attracted more people, he said.

"Streets"

Bicycling

Transit

  • Bus service saved by elderly and disabled riders (ACE)
  • Letter: Transit priority (Boston Globe)
  • Underground, hard times resounding (Boston Globe)

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

  • Letter: Should have listened to Romney on transportation reform (Boston Globe)
  • Gov. Patrick: Aloisi "knows where the bodies are buried" (Blue Mass Group)

Development projects

  • Plans call for Porter Square church, car wash to turn into condos (Cambridge Chronicle)
  • Menino shelves plan to replace City Hall (Boston Globe)
  • Demolish The Garage! says owner of Congress Street development (Boston Herald)
  • Letter: New BC dorm would be in heart of a residential neighborhood (Boston Globe)

Out-of-state

  • A Little Give and Take Is Called for in Debate Over Purple Line Route (Washington Post)
  • New Bike Lanes Touch Off Row in Brooklyn (New York Times)

National trends

International news