Archive of past newsletters

WBWC February - March 2003 Meetings
The next two Board meetings of the WBWC will be held on Thursday, February 6th and Thursday, March 6th. Both meetings will starting at 7pm, at the Ecology Center, 117 N. Division in Ann Arbor (just north of Huron). The meeting will last for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Limited parking is available at the Ecology Center as well as next to Tios restaurant. Agenda items will be posted on the wbwc@topica e-mail list (reference the WBWC web page on how to sign up). Everyone is welcome to attend. WBWC meetings are scheduled for the first Thursday of every month.

Membership Renewals
Membership in the WBWC is on a calendar year basis and a membership renewal was mailed out in late 2002, with a follow-up sent out in mid-January 2003. As an added bonus, those renewing their membership (or starting a new membership) will receive a free copy of the Washtenaw County/Ann Arbor Bicycle Map. An additional membership/renewal form is included as the last page of this newsletter.

Snow Removal Information
The WBWC web page (www.wbwc.org) now contains a section detailing sidewalk snow removal ordinances (and who to contact for information/complaints) for just about every city, village or township in Washtenaw County that has such ordinances. The page will be updated as additional information is received.

Bike To Work Week
The WBWC and member organizations, are actively working to "reinvigorate" the annual May Bike To Work Week event. Preliminary plans include publishing a brochure, holding dedicated rides, bike shop discounts on bike commuting accessories, bike maintenance clinics and a number of other activities. Plenty of volunteers are needed to make Bike To Work Week 2003 (May 11-17) a success and if interested in helping out, please contact WBWC Bike To Work Week Committee Chair Rebecca Kanner at 994-5717 or e-mail at rnmik@yahoo.com.

Ann Arbor Alternative Transportation Coordinator Position
As of mid-January 2003, the City of Ann Arbor has designated an existing employee as an Alternative Transportation Coordinator. While the creation and filling of this position is a positive measure, there is a concern that the funding, and hours allotted, for the Coordinator may be very limited. More details on the Coordinator position, pending further research, will be made available in the next WBWC newsletter. Again, a big thank you goes out to those who contacted the Ann Arbor City Council and mayor in regards to the creation of the Coordinator position.

Effective Cycling Training
The Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society (AABTS) Safety Committee is taking steps to again make available in Washtenaw County the acclaimed League of American Bicyclists Effective Cycling program. Effective Cycling covers a range of topics and is one of the best cycling education courses available. The course had been taught in the area years ago but has not been offered lately due to a lack of instructors. Details on Effective Cycling classes will be posted in this newsletter, the AABTS newsletter and local media.

Publication Policy Change
In the past, the WBWC has published a newsletter (mailed to WBWC members) every odd numbered month and e-mailed out a short meeting reminder every odd-numbered month. Effective January 1st, 2003, the WBWC newsletter will be the only communication being sent out every odd-numbered month, being mailed to WBWC members and e-mailed to other interested parties. WBWC meeting reminders will be included in the newsletter, and also sent out to individuals subscribing to the WBWC e-mail list (wbwc@topica.com), which can be subscribed through the WBWC web page (www.wbwc.org).

ARGO Pond Non-Motorized Path?
WBWC Board member Bob Goodsell is heading up research on the possible creation of a non-motorized path along the west side of the Huron River, starting at Argo Pond and heading south to Depot Street near Wheeler Park. Such a path would tie in with a new bridge/pathway over the Huron River over Argo dam, which is to be built in the summer of 2003. The proposed path could also tie in to another possible trail, that being a non-motorized path along the railroad tracks from the current Amtrak station east to the present Gallup Park pathway. For more information on this proposal, visit http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bgoodsel/wbwc/argodam/newpath.htm.

Grand Rapids Cyclist Brutally Assaulted
In November 2002, a 38-year-old man in Grand Rapids was deliberately knocked off his bicycle by a car containing two men and a woman. Leaving the scene, the trio returned three to six more times to kick and punch the cyclist. One of the assailants even pretended he was a professional wrestler, repeatedly stomping the cyclist's head even though he was already in a coma. Another time, the assailants tried five time to break a beer bottle on the head of the cyclist. Arrested later in the day, the three were arraigned on charges of assault with intent to commit murder. All had criminal backgrounds. A local law enforcement officer stated that in his 28-year career, this was "the most malicious, heartless crimes I've dealt with". The cyclist later died and the charges against the assailants was changed to first degree murder

LMB Petitions New Governor
In a December 2nd letter to incoming Governor Jennifer Granholm, the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB) pointed out that over the years, Michigan has moved behind in non-motorized transportation promotion and improvements, even in light of growing levels of auto traffic congestion and a spike in obesity levels (due largely to a lack of exercise). The LMB pointed out that funding for such non-motorized projects are available but not being used.

Specifically, the LMB requested of the new Governor that:

• Accommodations for bicycling be a routine part of Michigan's transportation planning, design, funding, public review, construction, operations and maintenance activities.
  
• Continue and expand the Michigan Department of Transportations stated commitment to pave shoulders on roads.
  
• Direct the Michigan state travel bureau (Travel Michigan) to promote bicycling and bicycling events.
  
• Provide incentives to educate judicial, prosecutorial, and law enforcement communities on the rights and responsibilities of motorists and cyclists on Michigan roads.
  
• Direct appropriate State departments to work with the bicycling community to 1) create a bicycling section of the "What Every Driver Must Know" driver education booklet, 2) create a bicycle drivers manual, 3) include bike-related questions on drivers tests, 4) have bicycle safety material available in Secretary of State offices.

Active Michigan Initiative
A number of Michigan organizations, including the League of Michigan Bicyclists, Rails To Trails Conservancy, and the Michigan Environmental Council, have joined together to form the Active Michigan Initiative (AMI). The WBWC is also a member of the Initiative. The overall mission of the AMI is to improve Michigan's environment for active transportation and outdoor recreation, keeping in mind that citizens and visitors should not need an engine to reach everyday destinations and enjoy Michigan's outdoor heritage.

The immediate goals of the AMI are to improve responsiveness of governmental and public agencies, build effective Citizen Advisory Boards to address state policy issues, mandate full reporting and accountability of public funding now designated to active transportation and outdoor recreation, secure all available funding for active transportation and outdoor recreation, and make the rights-of-way of Michigan roads more accommodating to non-motorized users by mandating consideration of non-motorized needs throughout project planning and implementation.

Additionally the AMI seeks to foster Smart Growth policies and practices, educate the public about the benefits of active transportation and outdoor recreation, and educate the public about non-motorized users' rights and responsibilities concerning active transportation and outdoor recreation infrastructure.

State Fitness Funding Cut
It is no secret that there are growing health problems in Michigan due to obesity (Michigan ranks second in the nation of obese people) and lack of exercise and the State of Michigan would be doing all it could to reverse the trend. But prior to leaving office, Governor Engler cut funding for a number of programs dealing with healthy living.

The Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports had its budget slashed, leaving only a bare bones budget for the main office and totally eliminating regional fitness council funding. Also, the Executive Director of the Governor's Fitness Council, Mark Terman, was fired. Mark was instrumental in developing the Promoting Active Communities award that has really gotten local governments thinking about biking and walking. Funding cuts also affected programs like the Exemplary Physical Education Curriculum (EPEC), Active Community Environments, All Children Exercising Simultaneously, Walk to School, and grants to the Michigan Fitness Foundation.

A number of Michigan groups concerned about health will be working with legislators and Governor Granholm to try to get this office back up to full funding. Individuals at the present time are also urged to contact their State Senator and Representative asking them to restore physical fitness funding.

Traffic Calming
The city of Portland, Oregon has enacted a very active traffic calming program to counter complaints of motor vehicle traffic speeding and threatening pedestrians/cyclists. The full report is available at http://www.trans.ci.portland.or.us/trafficcalming.

An innovative part of the Portland traffic calming program is the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Partnership (NTSP), a community-based education, enforcement, and engineering effort designed to minimize traffic safety concerns for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and motorists, enhance neighborhood livability, support safe, healthy, and efficient transportation choices, increase use of environmentally friendly modes of travel, decrease auto speed and drive-alone trips, and, improve access for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. Additionally, the NTSP program seeks to support traffic safety strategies that improve safety and livability of neighborhood streets, raise public awareness of traffic safety issues and ways that people can help ease traffic problems in their neighborhoods, and facilitate collaboration with community partners.

Narrow Roads = Bike Lanes and Slower Traffic
For years, people living on Moravian Drive in Clinton Township, north of Detroit, complained about motorists who drove too fast and worried about the potential for major accidents. The Township's solution? Instead of adding more and wider lanes to accommodate traffic, it asked the county to make the road narrower to slow traffic.

In September, the Macomb County Road Commission repaved eight-tenths of the road, from Harrington Road south. Lanes went from 12 feet wide to about 10 1/2 feet wide, which quickly calmed traffic, said Carlo Santia, director of the township's Department of Planning and Community Development. With the road's 45-mile-per-hour speed limit and narrow lanes, traffic should continue to slow, officials said.

County road commission crews also created a 3-foot strip on the side of the road, which does not have sidewalks. It gives pedestrians and bicyclists more room. "About 20 to 25 years ago, there was a push for the township to maintain a more rural feel," Santia said. "As traffic has grown, there are more safety concerns for why there should be sidewalks." (From the Detroit Free Press)

Green Transportation Hierarchy
The City of York Council in the United Kingdom are the pioneers of a green transportation hierarchy. This concept
is at the heart of York transportation planning and is a priority listing applicable when making land-use and transport related decisions and in implementing transport measures. The order of priority is as follows: 1) pedestrians, 2) people with mobility problems, 3) cyclists, 4) public transport users which includes rail, bus, coach & water, 5) powered two-wheelers, 6) commercial/business users, 7) automobile borne shoppers and visitors, and 8) automobile borne commuters.

Somewhat related to the York principals is a policy the City of San Francisco enacted in 1999. The "Transit First" Act is incorporated into the General Plan of the City and County with all officers, boards, commissions, and departments directed to implement the principles in conducting the City and County's affairs. The Act states…

1. To ensure quality of life and economic health in San Francisco, the primary objective of the transportation system must be the safe and efficient movement of people and goods.
2. Public transit, including taxis and vanpools, is an economically and environmentally sound alternative to transportation by individual automobiles. Within San Francisco, travel by public transit, by bicycle and on foot must be an attractive alternative to travel by private automobile.
3. Decisions regarding the use of limited public street and sidewalk space shall encourage the use of public rights of way by pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit, and shall strive to reduce traffic and improve public health and safety.
4. Transit priority improvements, such as designated transit lanes and streets and improved signalization, shall be made to expedite the movement of public transit vehicles (including taxis and vanpools) and to improve pedestrian safety.
5. Pedestrian areas shall be enhanced wherever possible to improve the safety and comfort of pedestrians and to encourage travel by foot.
6. Bicycling shall be promoted by encouraging safe streets for riding, convenient access to transit, bicycle lanes, and secure bicycle parking.
7. Parking policies for areas well served by public transit shall be designed to encourage travel by public transit and alternative transportation.
8. New transportation investment should be allocated to meet the demand for public transit generated by new public and private commercial and residential developments.
9. The ability of the City and County to reduce traffic congestion depends on the adequacy of regional public transportation. The City and County shall promote the use of regional mass transit and the continued
development of an integrated, reliable regional public transportation system.
10. The City and County shall encourage innovative solutions to meet public transportation needs wherever possible and where the provision of such service will not adversely affect the service provided by the
Municipal Railway.

San Jose Targets Traffic Calming
With pedestrian fatalities and reckless driving on the increase in San Jose, California, people are saying that Street Smarts, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales' new traffic-calming campaign can't come soon enough.

The hit-and-run deaths of two pedestrians on the same stretch of a local highway within days of one another brought home how treacherous it has become to cross the streets in San Jose. Seventeen pedestrians were killed in the city in 2002, which is still shy of the 20 pedestrian fatalities in 2000. The rise in pedestrian deaths is
consistent with what's happening nationwide and in Santa Clara County, rated one of the state's most dangerous for pedestrians in the country.

Don't blame the victims; pedestrians aren't becoming more careless. It's the drivers. Most everyone agrees: Drivers are getting worse. They are driving through stop signs, running red lights, ignoring crosswalks and school zones and traveling too fast. And those are just the worst of the behaviors that city officials and neighborhood groups have identified.

Thus, the need for Street Smarts, the $850,000 education campaign that the mayor announced to remind people to think twice about safe driving. It will include signs on buses and at transit stops, radio and eventually TV ads with catchy slogans, and efforts to carry the message to business groups and social clubs. Proponents of the campaign point to the shift in the public's attitude toward drinking and driving as evidence that education can work but point out that education must be joined by stepped-up efforts in enforcement and engineering. Examples of the latter are speed bumps in residential neighborhoods, and signs in the middle of crosswalks.

Walk San Jose, an advocacy group, has lobbied relentlessly for pedestrian rights. Neighborhood groups, through the mayor's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, have consistently designated traffic calming as a priority. The city has heard the message. It is taking the lead in trying to reverse decades of bad urban and traffic design that have made too many streets impassable for pedestrians.

Bad engineering, however, is no excuse for rudeness and recklessness. Street Smarts must remind drivers that they are walkers, joggers and bikers, too, who are increasingly at risk whenever they step out of their cars.

Bike Sales & Use Down
According to a January 16th Detroit News story, "Fewer people are riding bikes but those who are riding are doing so more often. That's good news for independent bike dealers. Randy Martin remembers as a kid riding his bike every day from dawn to dusk, rain or shine. But his children, ages 14 and 10, ask for rides when they want to visit
friends. 'I tell them, 'Ride your bike,'' said the co-owner of Continental Bike Shop in Hazel Park. 'Kids today ride them only when they really need to.'

"The number of bicycle riders age 7 and older has dropped to 42.5 million in 2000 from 54.6 million in 1992, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. What's more, a study by the National Bicycle Dealers Association shows the number of adult cyclists has fallen to 24 million in 2000 from 32 million in 1990...

"Fred Clements, executive director of the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based National Bicycle Dealers Association, said despite a drop in the overall number of riders, there has actually been an increase in the number of those who ride frequently. According to a study by the organization, there were 3.5 million bicycle enthusiasts in the United
States in 2000, up from 868,000 in 1990. However, the number of cyclists who rode only occasionally dropped to 11 million in 2000 from 22 million in 1990..."

Alternative Transportation Resource
The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative and practical solutions to transportation problems. The organization provides a variety of resources available free at their website, http://www.vtpi.org, to help improve transportation planning and policy analysis. The VTP is funded primarily through consulting and project grants to identify better solutions to transportation problems, including some approaches that are frequently overlooked or misunderstood. The VTP web page has numerous free reports and resources that help identify the full benefits, costs and equity impacts of alternative transportation policies and programs, compare and evaluate alternatives and create a bridge between theory and practice.

First Segways, Now This
According to a Jan. 2nd article in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, "Robert Probelski likes the wind in his hair and the sun on his face, but he's not keen on pedaling a bicycle. At 56, the retired Piper Jaffray stock trader prefers a motorized bicycle, and he is urging legislators to legalize their use on bike lanes to make them a choice for commuters.

"'I have read volumes about the traffic crisis that Twin Cities residents are facing now and the fact that the current problem will become far worse in years to come,' Probelski wrote in a letter to his newly elected state Senator, David Gaither, R-Plymouth. 'Commuting is becoming a nightmare, and it's time to look at any and all alternatives
that will lessen the impact of increasing traffic caused by a surge in population.' In the tradition of the World War II-era Whizzer motorbikes, the motorized bicycle that Probelski is championing requires pedal power to start, has a two-horsepower gas engine and a top speed of 30 miles per hour, with the potential of getting 100 miles
per gallon..."

Monthly Reminders & Requests

WBWC Membership Applications Available
WBWC membership applications are available through the WBWC website (www.wbwc.org) and in the literature racks of most Washtenaw County bike shops. Basic membership is $10 a year with.

WBWC Volunteers Needed
Volunteers are currently needed for the following WBWC Committees...
Publicity - Send out meeting and special event announcements, mail out printed version of E-News
Education - Help plan and staff educational efforts (i.e., Earth Day, Bike To Work Day/Week)
For details on any of these jobs, please contact Bob Krzewinski at 487-7058 or wolverbob@cs.com.

School Bicycling Volunteers Needed
In cooperation with the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office, volunteers are needed to help with bicycling educational efforts at local elementary schools. No special skills are needed and a time commitment of 30 minutes at a school would be needed. Items to be discussed (basic traffic laws, how to wear a helmet, etc.) would be included in a written handout for volunteers. If interested, please call 734/487-9058 or e-mail wbwc@topical.com.

Member Discounts
Ann Arbor Cyclery, as of January 2003, is the only local bicycle shop to have joined the WBWC (all county bike shops had been contacted), giving a 10% discount on purchases by WBWC members showing their membership cards. A hearty "thank you" goes to Ann Arbor Cyclery for helping promote bicycling in Washtenaw County. And if you are in a shop that is not a member of the WBWC, a friendly word urging them to support bike advocacy though WBWC membership would be appreciated.

Sidewalk Inventory Continuing
The WBWC continues to solicit recommendations for areas where there is heavy pedestrian traffic and either there are no sidewalks or those that are available are in very poor condition. Suggestions should include as much specific data as possible and can be e-mailed to wbwc@topica.com. An added help on any sidewalk suggestions would be photographs which can be mailed to the WBWC, c/o Ecology Center, 117 N. Division, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 or dropped off at the Ecology Center during weekday business hours. Suggestions will be inventoried with follow-up to the appropriate governmental body.

Ecology Center Library
It should be noted that the WBWC has a small, but growing, library of bicycling and walking advocacy publications for checkout at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor.

Mark Your Calendar....
February 6 WBWC Monthly Meeting, 7pm, Ecology Center, Ann Arbor
March 6 WBWC Monthly Meeting, 7pm, Ecology Center, Ann Arbor
Bike To Work Week 2003 (May 11-17)