This Week's Best Reads, 8-26-11

The helmet vs. no-helmet controversy and the effects on bike sharing programs:

 http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-08-22-helmet-laws-get-in-way-of-bike-sharing-programs

Retrofitting the suburbs:  http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-08-22-levitt-to-beaver-suburbia-gets-a-mixed-use-makeover

Michelle Bachmann’s “logic” about $2/per gallon gas http://www.grist.org/list  

Pop-up urbanism: neon bikes in Toronto  http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/neon-bicycles-pop-up-toronto.php

Photo: Good

“Depaving,” complete streets and other ideas for cutting infrastructure expenditures from Neal Peirce: http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/08/22/from-minneapolis-ten-street-design-solutions-to-transform-your-city/ 

The website for “River Time,” a film about my friend John Lane’s paddle to the sea from his backyard in Upstate SC:  http://rivertimefilm.com/   

Fifteen Thoughts While Riding to Work

1.       Why do people complain about traffic safety and drive dangerously at the same time?

2.       If you wave to other active commuters a couple of times, they become your friends.

3.       An 86 year old woman killed in a crosswalk? Really?

4.       Sometimes I wonder why I read these things before I get on my bike.

5.       I’ll say it again (and probably again): Roads are only safe when the users make them that way.

6.       The prickly pears on the beaver tail cacti I pass on the way to work are ripening.

7.       Urban orchards are a cool idea.

8.       Daily watering leads to shallow roots leads to weak grass.

9.       Even without bike lanes and traffic, I bet I win on short trips.

10.   There seems to be more chatter about helmets or no helmets lately.

11.   I wear a helmet for the same reason I wear a seatbelt.

12.   Arguing about helmets seems to avoid the greater issue of safe biking facilities.

13.   I wonder what it would be like to go for a run with Robert Frost.

14.   What kind of running shoes would Wallace Stevens wear? Firecats, of course.

15.   I run far. Other people run farther. This will not change.

Thirteen Thoughts While Riding to Work

1.       Drivers expect us to act like cars, and then get mad at us when we do.

2.       The center line of the traffic light trigger loop is the most sensitive.

3.       What if I left hooked you like you right hooked me?

4.       Riding on the left side of a one-way street is a little disconcerting.

5.       It’s nice to feel a little chilly today.

6.       If you’re late for work, do you have to take it out on me?

7.       Thanks for waving.

8.       Thanks for waiting.

9.       Thanks for not running me over.

10.   I go over the speed limit downtown.

11.   Should sheriff’s deputies model good driving behavior, or turn right on red despite the signs while talking on a cell phone?

12.   I still don’t understand why people insist upon watering their lawns with our drinking water.

13.   What’s your rush when I get to the traffic light when you do?

Twenty Seven Thoughts While Riding to Work

1.       Despite all the efforts to structure the streets more safely, safety lies in the actions of the people who use them.

2.       Some people may never get the idea.

3.       You can’t argue with stupid people, who continue to argue their point even when they know it’s wrong.

4.       The tree covered streets of my neighborhood are much cooler than the streets of the downtown area.

5.       Electromagnetic loops respond mostly to cars.

6.       Right on red should be against the law in any area with a lot of pedestrians.

7.       Stop lines are not for a car’s rear wheels.

8.       Intersections are especially scary when crossing drivers roll to a non-stop.

9.       Never underestimate the impatience of a driver turning left.

10.   Facebook mobs are scary.

11.   I shouldn’t be surprised by those who refuse to believe clear evidence.

12.   Violence is easier said than done.

13.   Too easy, in fact.

14.   Don’t let anyone ruin your peace.

15.   Wheels in city government move slowly.

16.   Wheels in people’s minds move more slowly.

17.   Dangerous road conditions facilitate laziness.

18.   Being a contributing member of a group makes us happy.

19.   Crossing the street mid-block is not a revolutionary act.

20.   Though there is safety in numbers, sometimes a crowd makes me nervous.

21.   Riding through town is a friendly act.

22.   I’m glad my coffee cup fits in a bottle rack.

23.   The hardest part about riding to work in the summer is not sweating.

24.   All road users break laws sometimes.

25.   Helmets may look dorky, but no helmet looks stupid.

26.   Slick tires roll fast.

27.   Riding my bike to work is an act of happiness.

This week in interesting reading 6-17-11

File this one in the “duh” file… http://www.shareable.net/blog/Portland-Finds-Bike-Friendly-Policies-Boost-Local-Economy

Pedestrian-only streets are making a comeback  http://www.shareable.net/blog/a-simple-idea-to-transform-the-life-of-our-cities

Ticketed for riding in the bike lane…  http://www.planetizen.com/node/49801 

The importance of corners  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-r-wolfe/corners-as-baseline-for-u_b_875489.html

Who knew? Carmel, IN, the City of Roundabouts http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=indystar&sParam=47449000.story 

A better helmet http://www.grist.org/list/2011-06-16-cardboard-bike-helmets-are-safer-than-plastic 

Though they have no idea why (shorter trips? Less experienced riders taking fewer chances? More experienced riders riding in safer places?), it appears that those riding shared bikes are involved in fewer accidents than those riding their own bikes.  http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/06/16/from-london-to-d-c-bike-sharing-is-safer-than-riding-your-own-bike/  

Community development corporation and community land trust have similar mission, opposing tactics.  http://americancity.org/buzz/entry/3022/

Hazel Borys on Agrarian Urbanism http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/the-allure-of-food-its-not-just-a-lifestyle-its-a-life/    

A Week's Worth of Interesting Reading

Several new parks being developed in Philadelphia depend on “heavy underwriting from philanthropic foundations, nonprofits, and private institutions.”

DC’s BikeShare program’s popularity causing supply problems

Architect Steven Fleming discusses his architectural focus on bicycles and bicycling, which he calls “Cycle Space.”

A call for more challenging park designs

An informal study shows no one really cares about smoking or not smoking in NYC’s Bryant Park.

I’m glad someone else thinks riding your bike is good for the soul

What crows tell us about ourselves, and evidence that crows don’t hate Dick Cheney.

Agriculture fitted into the Transect, for all you planner geeks.

My Front Yard Garden

I participated in a workshop a week or so ago with Tom Low and Guy Pearlman of the architectural and planning group, DPZ.  Any workshop about place-making gets me worked up, and I especially looked forward to this one with Tom Low.

Low has been advocating for form-based development codes for many years, in particular transect based planning, which looks at the entire span of development from city core to rural and wild areas. The standards are based not so much on the particular activity on a piece of land, and encourages mixed uses, scattering housing and stores and restaurants and offices, parks and schools in patterns that encourage walking and biking. The design of the buildings, and the number of buildings allowed changes as you get farther from the city center. Buildings in different contexts--urban to rural--should look different, as row houses differ from single-family homes. Low and Pearlman used the metaphor that the transect begins in the urban core and feathers outward. The codes allow for great place-making, as communities can decide what areas will be densest and what areas will be protected open space.

But even the transect, Low said, has become somewhat outdated. These days, folks want more local food; farmers markets have proliferated significantly in the past few years. So in addition to design standards, green space designation, and density regulation, the new transect should include areas for growing food.

What does a garden look like in the city core? How about in the first ring of suburbs? Some communities now allow residents to grow gardens in the right of way between the sidewalk and the street, which is often prohibited to allow for utility work. New community designs, new infill developments, indeed all developments, should include plans for community gardens, for example, and the zoning regulations should allow for them by right. Cities like Detroit already allow community gardening on city-owned vacant lots.

I like to plant food, and have for most of my adult life. I’m not an expert, and my favorite plants are those that don’t require a lot of tending, but I like picking lettuce, or Swiss chard, or tomatoes, or herbs from my yard for dinner. I tried a garden in my current home’s back yard, but it proved to be far too shady. So I dug up some more grass in the much sunnier front yard, and I plant there. I’ve had reasonable success, with two plantings last growing season, and have managed to have fresh produce over a period of quite a few months.

I try to keep my garden neat, and it’s small, and many of the plants are pretty. Tomatoes can get out of control, though, and I try not to let that worry me.  I left the hot peppers on the plant the past two years, after Quinn and I tried a couple, and they turned orange and red, dangling like ornaments.

I don’t plant there to be rebellious, though in this neighborhood there aren’t a lot of front-yard gardens. I plant there because growing some of my own food has always been comforting, and rewarding. I’ve had a number of conversations about the garden with passers-by (this is a very walkable neighborhood). I’m not quite sure what the others think.

Earlier this spring, a couple walked by with their dog. They stopped to chat as I weeded or otherwise puttered about the unplanted garden. “What are you planting this year?” they asked. My wife works in retail, and one day someone she was helping said, “I know you, you have a garden in your front yard.”