Monday, August 17, 2009

The Future of Bicycle Parking


A good article from Slate:

If car parking is often overshadowed in traffic talk, bicycle parking is even more obscure. For many people in the United States it might be hard to imagine what there is to talk about. Why don't you just stick it in the garage? Or: Isn't that what street signs and trees are for? But as the share of trips made by bicycle has grown in recent years—in Portland, Ore., for example, bicycle use has grown nearly 150 percent since 1990, and an estimated 5 percent of people bike to work—new attention is being paid to what happens to those bicycles when they are not in motion.


Sunday, July 26, 2009

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Stated Reason and the Real Reason


On not wearing a helmet in San Francisco.

Stated reason:

More and more Bay Area bicyclists are riding without bike helmets, some because they think it's actually safer.

Real reason:

But in the end, riding without a helmet makes one look "tougher," sleeker, and cooler.


Cost of the CTA


The CTA is once again in a funding crisis. Ever wonder where the money goes?

The Sun Times has a great graphic.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Parking Meter Pushback!


A new grassroots campaign to fight back against the parking meter privatization fiasco:


Help send a clear message to Mayor Daley that we SAY ...

1. Roll Back & Stop Parking Meter Rate Hikes!
By raising the parking meter fees, the Mayor & City Council are taking money out of our pockets and giving it to Morgan Stanley. Let the people decide parking meter rates, not the banks.

2. End the Privatization of the Parking Meters!
Take Back the Meters! Street and Parks parking is a city service on public property, not a for-profit private business! Mayor Daley criminally handed over the city's parking meters to Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley for 75 years. The Mayor's nephew, William Daley Jr., is a Morgan Stanley executive. Morgan Stanley has raised our parking rates 400% in most places.

3. No New Parking Meters or Pay Boxes!
LAZ, the company Morgan Stanley hired to run the city's parking meters, and the Chicago Park District, are planning for thousands of new meters and pay boxesand even more rate increases.


If you need to catch up on the issue, check the Chicago Reader's three part series.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Mayor Daley


From a post comparing politicians to NBA players:

And then of course there's Richard Daley, who's probably less of a point guard and more of an Anthony Mason-Charles Oakely-Shaq intimidator.

The Olympics are his baby. To what lengths will he go to make sure we get them?

Monday, May 4, 2009

More on Those Potholes


The absurdly ridiculous potholes are bad enough to deal with.  Even worse, if they are on a street without marked bicycle lanes, we are SOL in holding the city accountable.


In such an instance [injury resulting from hitting a pothole] there is no recourse against a city or county unless the pothole is located in a marked bicycle lane or along a marked bicycle route. This is a result of the Tort Immunity Act, as interpreted through the infamous case of Boub v. Wayne Township.
...
The end result is that cities, counties and governmental entities cannot be sued by bicyclists for defects on roadways that are not designated for use by bicycles through marked bicycle routes or bike lanes, such as the pothole on Chicago Avenue. There are some efforts in the works to change the effects of this decision, however, any real change is probably years away at the least. In the meantime cyclists must be cautious of defects in the roadways. Go around potholes.



Read the whole thing.  We are not "intended" users of the road?  Isn't that nice.