Archive of past newsletters

WBWC October/November 2003 Meetings
The next Board meetings of the WBWC will be held on Thursday, October 2nd, and Thursday, November 6th, 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. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Bicycling/Pedestrian Victory In Congress
Thursday, September 4th, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to restore funding for the Transportation Enhancements program in the 2004 Transportation Appropriations bill. A bi-partisan effort was led by Representatives Petri (R-WI) and Olver (D-MA). The final vote was 327 aye and 90 no. In Michigan, the only Representative voting “no” was Nick Smith, who represents western Washtenaw County.  

Huge thanks to everyone who wrote letters, made calls and let Congress know that the Enhancements program was important. Your voice was heard! 

This victory not only restores $600 million in dedicated funding for 2004, it puts the bicycle and pedestrian community on strong footing for the bigger battle over the reauthorization of TEA-21, the 6 year transportation funding bill. “In attempting to gut the Enhancements program, Representative Istook (R-OK) threw us a curveball, but our community hit it out of the park with bases loaded,” says Martha Roskowski of America Bikes.

Funding for non-motorized projects still must be included into the national Transportation Enhancement Act, which is due to expire on September 20th, although Congress is expected to extend the current TEA for a few months if TEA reauthorization does not happen by the end of September. For more information about TEA and non-motorized funding, visit http://www.americabikes.org.

WBWC Board/Officer Elections
As per the WBWC By-Laws, election of the WBWC Board members will occur in November, followed by the election by the WBWC board of 2003 officers at the December WBWC meeting. Those interested in serving in a Board/Officer position should contact the WBWC Nominating Committee by sending an e-mail to wolverbob@cs.com. WBWC officers serve a one-year term of office while Board members have a two-year term.

City of Ann Arbor Non-Motorized Plan
The City of Ann Arbor has begun a process to develop a comprehensive, citywide non-motorized transportation plan. The plan will be used to improve and expand opportunities for pedestrian and bicycle modes of transportation within Ann Arbor and improve linkages to surrounding communities. The new plan will have a planning horizon of 20 years, replacing the 1992 Bicycle Master Plan as the City’s guide on policy and investment for non-motorized transportation.

The City’s 2004-2009 Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) identifies the development of a “Citywide Non-motorized Transportation Plan” as an important City priority. The CIP identifies July 2003 as the scheduled kickoff month with December 2004 as the projected time of completion. The planning process will include many opportunities for public involvement. A number of City departments will be involved with this planning effort, with the Planning Department managing the project.

The Planning Department, in cooperation with the City’s Alternative Transportation Committee, has developed a Request for Proposals (RFP) to choose a consultant to help develop the plan. The RFP will be sent to prospective consultants shortly. Once a consultant has been chosen, a kickoff public meeting will be scheduled to discuss the framework and major issues of the study. Copies of the RFP will be available to the public.

It is hoped that the public/organizations participate in this important planning effort. To be added to the e-mail/mailing list for the non-motorized plan, contact Jeffery Kahan, City Planner, at 994-8184 or jkahan@ci.ann-arbor.mi.us.

New North Huron Route?
From Ken Clark – WBWC Board member: I tried the North Main to Huron River Drive turn after a meeting downtown a few weeks ago. I would say that I understand why people aren't happy about making that maneuver, but it really isn't any worse than biking on Ann Arbor's other major arterials at rush hour.  The speeds are a problem but this isn't the only place with that problem.  The situation is made easier since the motorists have to merge into the right lane anyway.  Take the right lane while signaling for a left lane change and you inevitably get a
gap.  I suspect people aren't comfortable making a vehicular left. You do need to begin this lane change earlier than normal, but left turns on major arterials often have that problem at high-volume times.

*However*, I think I stumbled on a fix that everyone would *really* like. As I was going through Bandemer a few weeks ago, I happened to look at the embankment under the Main Street bridge.  Then I went home and looked at an aerial photo of the area.  If you put in a path alongside the M-14 entrance ramp from North Main, dropped it along the slope, go under the bridge on a raised bridge on the embankment but behind the bridge pillars, then meet
Huron River Drive, you could completely avoid the existing traffic. Check out the following web link, http://www.wbwc.org/images/pathroutenm.jpg, to see roughly where it would go.

The nice things about this are:
- This is all state owned right of way, no private land
- you don't need to go close enough to the railroad for the railroad to have
any say
- this kind of path-on-embankment is what is being proposed for the
Washtenaw-crossing-US/23 paths
- It would be in a federal expressway right of way, so would be eligible for
an extra type of funding.
- It wouldn't involve closing anything for any amount of time.

Ann Arbor Repaving
Don Todd, the City of Ann Arbor Alternative Transportation Coordinator, reports that as part of a street repaving program this past summer, his office made sure that shoulders were repaved on East Huron River Drive from Huron Parkway to the city limits (2,300'), Nixon Road from Haverhill to Bluett (2,000')(completing the link out to the city limits), and Pontiac Trail from the city limits to near Northside Drive (2,200'). Also the following side paths were resurfaced, Earhart Road, west side from Glazier to Kipling (1,040'), and the path that runs north south from Oakbrook to Eisenhower, about 500' west of Main Street (875'). Several more paths are planned for resurfacing before the paving season ends. Also the Huron Parkway path northbound, between Washtenaw and the Huron River is in a redesign stage now, and is planned for construction (lots of retaining wall work) next year and in to 2005.

National Walk To School Day – October 8th
According to a note from Nancy Pullen, Walk to School Day Coordinator, "Walk to School Day is coming up soon!  We hope you are geared up to have a great event...This year, we will place photos with short captions on our Walk to School website.  We will post up to three pictures per school. If you like, include a comment or short story to accompany each picture. Please e-mail your photos as jpeg files if possible. Please note that when you send photos, you are agreeing to allow their use for promotional purposes and in response to media requests. We are testing out not having 'Post a Quote' this year. Please let us know if you have feedback on this for us to consider as
we make our future plans. For more info, go to:http://www.walktoschool.org

WBWC Membership Renewals
Membership in the WBWC runs on a calendar year basis with any new membership/membership renewal received after September 1st 2003 having their membership effective throughout 2004. Early membership renewals are encouraged with a membership renewal form attached on the last page of this newsletter.

Segways Recalled
Segway has recalled all 6,000 of its human transporters sold from March 2002 to now because of a falling hazard,
the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Friday. When the batteries on the devices begin to run low, according to an announcement from Segway and the CPSC, there may not be enough power to keep the machine upright. Falls could happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert.

The CPSC said Segway has received three reports of injuries that, according to the announcement, may be due to this problem. In one incident, the user sustained a head injury requiring stitches. On a Segway Human Transporter, the rider stands on a platform between two wheels, one on each side. The machine is powered by an electric
motor. The rider steers by leaning forward or back or, to turn, by turning handlebars. Computers are used to maintain balance. They can normally travel at a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour. 

Raleigh Radio DJs Promote Bicycle Assault
According to bicyclists' reports, Clear Channel Communications (who own a number of radio stations in the Ann Arbor area) radio station G105 in Raleigh, NC, aired episodes of the "Bob and Madison" morning show on Sept. 22nd and 23rd, in which the hosts talked about throwing empty YooHoo bottles at bicyclists. The bicyclists' offense? Being on the road, (where they are legally entitled to be). The hosts allegedly talked about how much fun it is to run bicyclists off the road. Since this was a talk show, numerous callers added their own stories and advice. One woman, who admitted to hating bikes on the road, talked of her father hitting a bicyclist on the way to church. Another described a neighbor who shoots his pellet gun at bicyclists riding past his house.

Just why Clear Channel stations seem to be promoting violence against bicyclists is un-"Clear." Similar incidents recently involved Clear Channel stations in Cleveland, Ohio, and Houston, Texas. When bicyclists contacted station managers to let them know how they felt, the managers typically expressed remorse, fired or reprimanded the
offending DJ's, and have contributed to campaigns promoting bicyclists rights and safety. However, Clear Channel owns many radio stations around the country. The prospect of dealing with violence-prone radio shows on a one-at-a-time basis will not solve the problem.

Cars Outnumber Drivers Per U.S. Household
According to an Aug. 26th Bureau of Transportation Statistics news release, "The first National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) of the 21st century, released recently by the U.S. Department of Transportation, shows vehicles in U.S. households outnumber drivers."

Some details: An average of 1.9 personal vehicles is owned or available to U.S. households (more, for the first time, than the 1.8 drivers per household). - 8% of U.S. households do not have a vehicle.- 90% of long-distance trips are made by personal vehicle. - 17% of adults report having used public transit in the last two
months.

U.S. Sprawl Feeds Obesity, Ped/Bike Deaths
According to an Aug. 28th Arizona Republic story, "Sprawling suburbs that make it harder for people to get around without a car may help fuel obesity: Americans who live in the most sprawling counties tend to weigh 6 more pounds than their counterparts in the most compact areas. Adding to the sprawl concern: Pedestrians and bicyclists are much more likely to be killed by passing cars here than in parts of Europe where cities are engineered to encourage physical activity - and whose residents typically are skinnier and live longer than the average American.

"Those are conclusions of major new studies being published Thursday that call on urban planners and zoning commissions to consider public health in designing neighborhoods. 'How you build things influences
health in a much more pervasive way than I think most health professionals realize,' said Dr. Richard Jackson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped edit the research, published in the American Journal of Public Health and American Journal of Health Promotion..."

Some findings:
- In the 25 most compact counties, 22.8 percent of adults had high blood pressure and 19.2 percent were obese. In the 25 most sprawling counties, those rates were 25.3 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively.
- Per trip, American pedestrians are roughly three times more likely to be killed by a passing car than German pedestrians - and over six times more likely than Dutch pedestrians.
- For bicyclists, Americans are twice as likely to be killed as Germans and over three times as likely as Dutch cyclists.
- In Europe, people make 33 percent of their trips by foot or bicycle, compared with just 9.4 percent of Americans' trips.
- Life expectancy in the Netherlands and Germany is about two years longer than in the United States, and obesity rates are lower.
- 41 percent of U.S. trips are shorter than 2 miles, yet most are by car.

Adult Happy Meals
How many footsteps would it take to burn off the calories in a supersize Big Mac value meal? Bob Greene, Oprah Winfrey's personal trainer, may soon have the answer. Mr. Greene will be promoting the Go Active Meal, a $4.99 adult version of the Happy Meal, which has a salad and a bottle of water or a medium fountain drink. Dessert? The meal includes a clip-on pedometer, to encourage customers to increase daily walking, and a 10-page booklet with exercise tips from Mr. Greene. The meal is part of a pilot program in several Indiana cities.

Regular Walks Can Cut Breast Cancer Risk
According to a Sept. 9th USA Today story, "Postmenopausal women can reduce their risk of breast cancer simply by taking a brisk, half-hour walk five days a week, according to a study out Wednesday. 'It's not too late to start exercising,' says lead author Anne McTiernan, an internist and epidemiologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
"McTiernan's team studied nearly 75,000 volunteers, ages 50 to 79, in the government-sponsored Women's Health Initiative, or WHI. The WHI is best known for reporting in July 2002 that the risks of estrogen plus progestin outweigh the benefits...The new findings, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, come from the WHI's observational study, in which participants decided on their own whether to go on hormone therapy or not. Researchers are following the women over time to identify factors, such as exercise, that predict disease
development. At the start of the study, all of the women were healthy and about half were on hormones.
"Researchers asked the women whether they exercised hard enough to break a sweat and speed up their heartbeat at least three times a week. The scientists were interested in the women's current exercise habits
as well as at three specific, earlier ages: 18, 35 and 50..."

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. Memberships started after September 2003 are also effective for all of 2004

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.

Member Discounts
Two Wheel Tango has joined the WBWC, and along with WBWC member Ann Arbor Cyclery, agreed to offer a 10% discount on purchases by WBWC members showing their membership cards. A hearty “thank you” goes to Ann Arbor Cyclery and Two Wheel Tango for helping promote bicycling in Washtenaw County. Iif 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.

Mark Your Calendar....
October 2, 2003 - WBWC Monthly Meeting, 7pm, Ecology Center, Ann Arbor
November 6, 2003 – WBWC Annual Membership Meeting/Board Elections – Location TBA
December 4, 2003 - WBWC Monthly Meeting/Officer Elections, 7pm, Ecology Center, Ann Arbor