Dancing with the Devil

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In May 2011 the Philadelphia City Council tried to force a bill through that would have allowed the Philadelphia City Council to have final decision on new bicycle lanes on a case-by-case basis. Taking it out of the hands traffic engineers who have the experience and training and leaving it the hands of a group of people who will base their decision on what will get them reelected.

The Philadelphia City Council introduced this bill just before the Labor Day weekend and the hearing was held the day the Labor Day weekend. In an effort to get the bill passed while avoiding any input from the public. It didn't work. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia mobilized its supporters though the use of Twitter and Facebook. So the City Council changed the hearing time from late afternoon to early afternoon. When that didn't work the City Council prevented people from speaking by claiming they were supporters of the BCGP and therefore not part of the general public. And yet in spite of all of this the bill was stopped in its tracks.

This May the Philadelphia City Council presented the same bill, using the same methods. But something changed, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia caved in. Proclaiming it “a bill we can live with”. Sure Alex Doty, the BCGP's Executive Director, will claim he negotiated a complete streets bill, which would finally address cars parking in bicycle lanes.  Initially scheduled for a hearing on June 14, it was placed on hold due to problems with the city budget, with the BCGP's fervent hope that the bill would be passed by September or October of this year.

So here we are in the beginning October with no sign of any further news on this groundbreaking safe streets bill. Well the BCGP in a recent blog post plans to update their volunteers  “pending City Council legislation which may have a large impact on bicycling in Philadelphia.”. I would have been more comfortable with “a positive change” or “significant improvement”. The question that should be asked is, by allowing the Philadelphia City Council's bill to pass uncontested the BCGP have no guarantee that the safe streets bill is not watered down or more conditions favorable to the Philadelphia City Council are attached to it.

The vast majority of the cyclists in Philadelphia that the BCGP claims to speak and act on their behalf. The ones who are not local volunteers or generous suburban donors will just have to wait until they deign us with the information. The members Philadelphia City Council have made repeated attempts to politicize bicycling and infrastructure in Philadelphia and now the BCGP has enabled this behavior. The BCGP thinks they may be managing the situation however if you dance with the devil, the devil doesn't change, the devil changes you.

Parking Day 2012

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On Friday, September 21 I spent part of my day roaming through Philadelphia checking out many of the Park(ing) Day creations. Park(ing) Day was first created in San Francisco where parking spaces were converted into temporary one-day parks. It has since spread to many major cities around the world. As I travelled around Philadelphia I had a chance to stop at many of the parks. Most of them fell into a standard format; hay bales or trees used to form a barricade to separate traffic from the park long with shrubs and/or shrubs. In some cases grass, gravel or wood chips was used to cover the pavement.

There was one stand out park created by Groundswell Design Group; they repurposed a parking space using an ordinary item to create an extraordinary experience. They took a standard steel shipping container cleaned it, repainted the interior and the exterior, planted a green roof on top of it using wild flowers, and hung works of art by a local artist. Creating a mini portable art gallery; complete with interior lighting and two benches so you could sit and enjoy them.

The Groundswell Design Group unique design made it visible from a distance, but left you asking yourself what it was so you needed to see it. With both ends open it allowed for plenty of natural light and air circulation. And at the same time the container blocked out the noise and exhaust from the street.

I would like to put forward a challenge to the planners and the 2013 participants. Plan something that is more than a park. How about the Temple or University of Pennsylvania theatre departments doing 5 minute abridged performances of great plays, area dance companies could create multiple short performance pieces to be choreographed to fit into a parking space. Or how about the local Burning Man group, Videogasm, creating a truly unique structure.

Cranksgiving Philadelphia 2012 is coming

Back again for another year its the 2^nd Annual Cranksgiving Ride, a mix of a bicycle racing, a trip to the supermaket, and street navigation. First held in New York City in 1999 by a group of bicycle messengers it has spread throughout America as other people have planned their own.

Cranksgiving requires participants to navigate from a starting point at Love Park to a series of designated supermarkets, you buy a food item from a shopping list and bring them to a final checkpoint at Tattooed Moms. All of the food collected is donated to a local food bank, in Philadelphia all of the food collected goes to Philabundace.

All you need is a bicycle, a lock, a backpack or messenger bag, and $15.00 to buy groceries with. You may need a map if you're not to familiar with Philadelphia or bring a a partner who is. There is no entry fee. In 2011 with 13 riders Cranksgiving Philadelphiag collected close to 200 pounds of food, from the look of their Facebook page they should easily double the amount collected.

Last year the organizers answered some questions about what inspired them to create the Cranksgiving Philadelphia and what they learned. Use this link to find out more about them and Cranksgiving.

Circus of Fools

 

Once again it's time for the annual Circus of Fools or as its commonly known the Philadelphia Naked Bike Ride (PBNR), part of the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR). Normally held on Labor Day weekend, but due to the Jay Z concert was pushed back to Saturday, August 25.

There are many mysteries surrounding the PBNR and since they have been historically reticent about talking to anyone, except for the limited information their website. Its time to insert some thoughts of my own since PBNR does not speak for itself.

In July they held a bikini bike wash and sold PBNR blinkies raise funds. The question that needs to be asked is, why? PBNR does not explain why they need this money; permits, security, port-a-potties, body paint?? If your going to raise funds to cover expenses you need to be clear about what your spending it on. Since the organizers have yet to be up front about any of the costs associated one has to ask, how much do they really need and how are they spending it?

The WNBR website states that the rides in this part of the world are normally held around June 9, but for some reason the Philadelphia organizers are focused on Labor Day weekend. I do get it; if you plan the ride you should have control over the date. But I believe that the Philadelphia organizers have a simpler motive. In the early 1970's streaking had a brief moment of popularity, it was a way to rebel against current culture. Holding the ride close to Labor Day ensures that the there are plenty of college students available to inflate the numbers on the ride. For college students this is just one big dare, riding naked through Philadelphia, without risk of arrest or public harassment. If the ride was held in June the number of riders would be smaller as the majority of the college students have gone home for the summer.

The last question that has to be asked is, why no fundraising to benefit Philadelphia residents? Every year organizers provide an overly generous, undocumented, and unverifiable count of the participants; this year they put the count at 2000. Yet the only organization that seems to benefit are the local bars that surround the Piazza at Schmidt’s, one in particular is PYT. It's really tragic at the very least the organizers could pass a helmet for donations, $1 per person. Give the money to a local organization that does something to help the residents of Philadelphia under the nebulous goals of the PNBR.

Bottom line; if you want go out and have party with your friends participate in one of the Philly Bike Party's rides. If you want to make change go out and volunteer your time or donate money. The Philadelphia Naked Bike Ride is the equivalent of clicking “like” on Facebook, it may give you a warm fuzzy feeling but in reality you have done nothing to facilitate positive change.

I'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille

Cyclists who are using helmet video cameras to document their rides and to provide documentation in the event that they are hit are becoming more common. Recently the New York Times published an article about how cyclists are using video cameras as a way to document their rides as well as act as a black box. So in the event that they are hit by a car it is possible to retrieve information that may allow the police to arrest and prosecute a hit and run driver. The article gives several examples of incidents that happened in a blink of an eye, but with the ability to view a video frame by frame its easier to identify the vehicle and the driver.

This subject has been heavily covered in many bicycling blogs throughout the country and I saw no real need to add my voice. Until I saw this video, shot by an ordinary person, not in law enforcement, who has a dashboard camera in his car.

With the price and size of cameras coming down a simple Google search under “helmet camera” will provide many options. Some smaller than the bulky Gopro camera featured in the New York Times.

Whether its a cyclist or or a third party video is one of the best witnesses you can have in a hit and run; it can't be intimidated, lie, or forget. No matter how quickly something may happen, even in the blink of an eye like the videos in the New York Times, a video can be viewed frame by frame to get details you may have never have seen. Something that will make the difference between the police declaring something an accident and pursuing the driver of a hit and run. Making you a witness, not a victim.