Provo Bicycle Study
13 November, 2011
Well, it has been almost a year since I posted here. Life has been busy, and a lot has happened in the past year, but time to blog has been hard to come by. I’m very involved with Bike Utah as a member of the Board, and it is taking an increasing amount of time. There are some great things happening in Utah Valley with regards to bikes right now, and I’ll make you all aware of them as details become available. The first is the Provo Bicycle Study. It is very similar to what we did in Orem last year, so I’m excited to see the same thing happening in Provo. Details on the first open house are in the image above. Go and let your voice be heard. Let’s make all of Utah Valley a great place to ride, one community at a time!
Conversation with an Engineer
7 December, 2010
Watch this. It is 8 minutes, but it says exactly what I hear constantly from engineers. Watch this. It is 8 minutes, but it says exactly what I hear constantly from engineers
Orem City Council Vote!
4 November, 2010
The Orem Bike & Pedestrian Master Plan is scheduled to be voted on this coming Tuesday, November 9th. The meeting gets under way at 5:30. I will update everyone with the agenda for the evening as soon as I have it, which should be any day. PLEASE come if at all possible. There is no known opposition, and the council is very much in favor, but the more people we have there the more they will be convinced that it is a good thing to do for our city. See you there!
Orem Planning Commission
20 October, 2010
Tonight was the Orem Planning Commission’s turn to critique and talk over the Orem Bike Ped Plan. I’ll make this short. They love it, even those who don’t ride bikes. They forwarded it on to the City Council with a unanimous approval and recommendation. Afterwards, I heard two commissioners in the hall talking, saying that they want to get some new bikes and start riding. There is hope after all!
Nothing to Say?
17 September, 2010
I am something of a lone ranger here, so sorry for the lack of posts over the past two weeks. I have been thinking of things to write about, but I haven’t come up with anything. I know of things coming up that I will write about soon. For now, please, be patient with me. I am conscious of you, my two or three readers. Hang on there. More is coming soon, I promise!
Joyride
3 September, 2010
I am not quite to the point where I can call Mia a friend of mine, but it is coming. I can feel it. She is the Principle in Charge of the Orem Bike & Pedestrian Study. I had the opportunity this summer to spend the day with her in Boulder, Colorado, along with some of Orem’s city council and staff. Mia is a great advocate, and has done a lot to promote cycling. I look forward to getting my hands on a copy of this book. I bet I can get her to sign it for me if I ask really nicely… To order a copy, head to her site, or to the usual spots online.
Walk or Bike to School?
2 September, 2010
Image Courtesy of Streetsblog
Today someone encouraged kids to walk or ride their bikes to school, in Utah. It was a neighbor of mine. He is a politician. And it struck some people as nearly comical. The following is the transcript of the story found on KSL.
By Amanda ButterfieldSALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert started his day Wednesday with elementary school students, encouraging them to walk to school safely.he governor met as many students as he could while at Rosecrest Elementary School. He was there to kickoff the Walk More in Four program — a statewide safe walking and biking to school challenge.
“It starts with young people,” Herbert said. “Walking and biking to school is a good, healthy lifestyle.”
The challenge for all Utah students in elementary school and junior high is to walk or bike at least three times a week for four weeks during September — and to do it safely.
“They sometimes forget, especially when they’re with friends, and I think that this will help them remember to watch for cars and be aware of things around them,” said parent Jennifer Jessop.
Salt Lake County sheriff’s deputies were also there to teach and remind the kids to always be safe. The deputies gave the students a map of the best route to take.
“It is a very good program, especially around our school because we have busy streets. And if we know how to walk safely, the map in place, they know where to go; it’s a great program,” Jessop said.
The students will chart their progress during the month and have chanced to win prizes like helmets, bikes and scooters.
The governor hopes even after the four-week challenge is up, kids and parents will keep moving.
“It’s also about lifestyle. People need to think in terms of walking. We sometimes, as adults, park too close to Walmart. We ought to park out in the far side of the parking lot and walk in to do our shopping,” Herbert said.
The Walk More in Four challenge leads up to the International Walk To School Day in October.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
Now, I don’t know about you, but walking through the Wal-mart parking lot doesn’t strike me as a healthy thing to do. Also, and most importantly, I don’t understand the emphasis placed on children being safe around cars by watching for the cars. That seems more than a little backwards to me. Don’t get me wrong, I own and drive a car. But to my mind, it is those who are using the deadly weapon who should be watching for the vulnerable, not the other way around. We certainly need to do more to make things safer for our kids to enable them to walk or bike to school. My daughter rides to school and I get very nervous when we take her. I don’t worry so much about my daughter. I worry about all of the deadly weapons people are driving their kids to school in. How about you? Should the onus be on the kids, or the drivers and the government to make things safe? If you want some more to chew on, visit the National Center for Safe Routes to School, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, or the Safe Routes to School FHWA Safety Program.
Quick Question
1 September, 2010
Someone told me that they thought the design of this blog was boring. Now, I am kind of a minimalist, and I suppose that is the designer in me coming through. But I want to know what you think. Should I change the theme, the look? Dark, earthy, light, bright? If all one or two of you who read would let me know what you think, I would appreciate it. While I write this to sometimes inform and to share what I think and really don’t expect that anyone will read it, I know that there are at least a few who do, so speak up. I want your thoughts. Next time will be about bikes. I promise. Thanks.
Utah’s Own “4 Letter Word(s)”
1 September, 2010
Image Courtesy of michaelhyatt.com
Utah seems to have a couple of their own “4 letter words”. I’m not talking ones that you would typically think of. I’m talking about words like “transit” and “density”. This article today in the Salt Lake Tribune is a good example of this phenomenon. Why? What is so bad about other people? What is wrong with having a choice in how you move yourself around? Here in Utah Valley, things are much the same as in Centerville as described in the article. We love to talk about “preserving our neighborhoods”. What is it we are preserving them from? As near as I can tell, we seem to be preserving my neighborhood for more traffic and higher speeds. That doesn’t sound like neighborhood preservation to me. It sounds more like traffic preservation. JMD over at Transit In Utah did a post a few months ago on Density and how it relates to Transit, the other bad word. Personally, if I had the choice of a streetcar or light rail train running up and down my street, versus the thousands of cars a day that go past now, I would take the transit hands down. What do you think? Should we promote more dense and walkable development, or more sprawl? Let me know in the comments. I would love to start to foster some discussion on this major issue.
Off the Chainring!
31 August, 2010
I’m a bit late in posting this, but then everything has been very busy the past few weeks. I hope to see you there tonight. It should be great fun!
