This just in: Driving is not exercise.

In what can only be described as a jaw-droppingly disappointing recent study, experts have found that the more dependent on the automobile you are, the greater the likelihood that you're a fatty.  Huh!  What's next?  Butter is delicious?  This is madness, and can most assuredly be linked to the failed policies of the First Lady, Michelle Obama.  I can't take it, I'd go water my plants, but I'm sure some expert will tell me that that will help them grow.  HERE's the original story from Streetsblog.  Bike lanes, anyone?

Culture of Innovation at the heart of Bloomberg's PlaNYC

As Earth Day approaches, new numbers have been released for Bloomberg's forward-thinking PlaNYC.  The program was launched three years ago on Earth Day, and it's multiple initiatives are bearing some impressive fruit. 

• 100,000 affordable housing units created or preserved
• 319,054 trees planted and 113 schoolyards-to-playground sites opened
• 200 miles of bicycle lanes installed and a bike-access law enacted
• 86 energy-efficiency projects completed as part of plan to reduce City government energy use 30% by 2017
• 25 percent of the yellow taxi fleet converted to hybrid vehicles
• 9 percent decrease in citywide carbon emissions due to cleaner power generation and less sulfur hexafluoride release

At the heart of the plan is tireless planning, extensive data collection, and establishing a "culture of innovation" within city government that previously was not encouraged.

"But Mayor Bloomberg took care not to over-manage the process from the top down. Instead, he hired the most talented staff he could find and encouraged a culture of innovation, empowering city staff to experiment with new ideas—and giving them permission to be bold and take risks. This is a major distinction to the business-as-usual approach so common in jurisdictions around the country."

Other cities are following suit using the PlaNYC model HERE.

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Google maps bike routes and who took my front wheel?

Well it's about time!  We've been asking forever, and Google has responded, so now you can map your intended path on dedicated bike lanes, shared lanes, and bike paths all over the world!  From their blog:

"Today we've added biking directions and extensive bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S. My team has been keeping close tabs on all the public support for biking directions that’s been steadily coming in, but we knew that

Critical Mass in danger of dying in S.F.

San Fransisco, the city that berthed the movement, may be shutting Critical Mass down.  In 1992, in an effort to bring attention to cyclists' rights, SF's biking community started a monthly semi-organized group ride.  They called it Critical Mass.  Since then the idea has spread to just about every major metropolitan area, and now San Fransisco's  Police Cheif is thinking about ending it all.

"It is a mass of people that causes massive problems and San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon is questioning its existence. "We definitely are looking at the process, evaluating it, looking at where we can improve," said Police spokesperson Lyn Tomioka. The idea that this could be one of the last Critical Masses in San Francisco, delights some of the officers who have to protect it. "I think that if we have our chief behind it and he wants to do it, I'm sure there's going to be an end in sight," said Sgt. Neil Swendsen."

From GOOD.

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Meter Mades - a bike rack revolution

New York continues in its move to make the city an awesome place to bicycle, by announcing that it will turn 225 parking meters into BIKE RACKS!  It's hardly enough, with the biker to rack ratio at 30/1, but it's an improvement, and welcome!  The hoops will aparently bolt to the existing meter posts, and replace every other meter on certain streets.  The process saves $200/meter removal and sidewalk mending, so it's a cool design decision too.
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Bike Lanes Around the WORLD

Some good, some great, some not so much:  GALLERY HERE

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Americans Spend More on Driving than Healthcare, Education and FOOD.

The healthy and wealthy bike, the poorest spend 1/3 of their income on TRANSPORTATION . . . mostly on cars.  From The League of American Bicyclists:

More and VIDEO after the jump!

Driver Shoots Cyclist in the HEAD.

This is from November, but I just found out, and it's SO INSANE I thought I'd share:

"while driving down the road one day, Charles Diaz grew upset at seeing a man riding his bike on a busy street with his 3 year-old son. So he shot him in the head. Thankfully, the bullet narrowly missed his skull, instead getting lodged in the cyclists' helmet. Well, Diaz has just been sentenced for admitting to nearly murdering a man by firing a gun towards his head--and he's received a paltry 4 months in jail."

FOUR MONTHS IN JAIL?  That's IT?  You can get more for smoking pot.  INSANE!  I put this guy in the Please Keep your Crazy in the Carolinas category.  Thank you.
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Copenhagen in the Bleak Mid-winter! Go BIKES!

The beautiful, healthy, enlightened people of Copenhagen bike despite winter. Love them.

Copenhagen January Cycling - Your Country from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

TEXT

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37% and rising in Copenhagen!

Under the scrutiny of the world's greenies, Copenhagen is shining brightly as a biker's paradise.

"Tens of thousands of people from nearly every nation on earth have descended on Copenhagen this month for the UN climate summit. As the delegates try to piece together a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they're also absorbing lessons from one of the world's leading cities in sustainable transportation. In Copenhagen, fully 37 percent of commute trips are made by bike, and mode share among city residents alone is even higher."

Great video HERE. Shows some cool advances like bike counters, innovative lane updates, and the SUV's of Denmark (they're bikes). 

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Update on the Bike Lane Bandits - Video!

He he he, they're so revolutionary, they have a PR department. I'm out of town for the ride on Sunday, but I wish I wasn't!!!!!!

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Notes on the Williamsburg bike lane scandal and ARRESTS?!

A quick update on the scandal I posted about EARLIER from gothamist:

"According to tipsters, the neighborhood's volunteer community watch group responded to reports at around 4 am that two men were using spraypaint to recreate a section of the bike lane, which the Department of Transportation controversially removed from a 14-block stretch of Bedford Avenue last week. Police arrived at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Rutledge Street and arrested two suspects, sources said. That story lines up pretty well with this posting by Twitter user WMSBG, which went online about two hours ago: "Police arrested this night two goiyem for re-painting the bike lane on Bedford ave with the help of Shomrim."

This small act by the city has sparked such a lively and occasionally informed debate about shared urban living, that you kinda can't look away.  Shomrim are the community-appointed security detail that the Hasidic community has created to patrol their neighborhood. They have a much debated efficacy and history in the area, as the long and entertaining "comments" section after the gothamist POST reveals. . . a sample of the community outrage HERE.

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From the I Told You So Department

A little looking down the nose thanks to the NYC Dept. of Health.

"Humans have been finely tuned over eons of evolution to move our limbs a lot to get around (as opposed to driving) and exercise in general has documented psychological benefits so it's shouldn't be surprising that walking and biking are good for your mind.

But this is a 40 percent increase in mental distress for people who don't walk or bike. These mental benefits are significant, and they're often overlooked in our discussions about transportation."

I have also long thought that the rush of adrenaline and feeling of competitive fun that biking, in particular, provides must serve to fill some primal need for former hunters. Similar to the need met by video games, but WAY better.

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14 blocks of biking fall under pressure from a few.

UPDATE!! IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING

Bad news HERE. 14 blocks of bike lanes DESTROYED in Williamsburg. Some neighborhoods just can't take the horror of cyclists. Outrageous. This FIGHT has been going on too long.

"The Department of Transportation's decision to eliminate a section of bike lane from the borough's longest street is a surprising move, considering the agency's recent efforts to bolster the city's cycling network under the leadership of bike-loving Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan."

Recognizing the city as a whole, diverse, interconnected entity is important, and communities who wish to wall themselves off should purchase and gate communities away from terrible threats like green transit and progress. If you ask me.

LA by bicycle?

In the seven long years I lived in Los Angeles, I have to admit I never had a bike. It wasn't until I moved to NYC full-time that I discovered the joy and freedom of cycling in the city. This ARTICLE is optimistic about the future of cycling in LA . . . and it almost makes me want to move back to test the theory. Almost.

"Despite its reputation, L.A. is home to a large, diverse, and ever-growing population of cyclists. With pleasant weather year-round, mostly flat terrain, and an easily navigable street grid, L.A. is in many ways suited to cycling."

The canyons, on the other hand, would be a living hell.

People's Design Award 2009

The 2009 People's Design Award goes tooooooo . . . this cool city bike for, well, anybody.

"A simple city bike with an upright riding posture, the Lime uses Shimano's Coasting automatic three-speed transmission (a pretty complex system with a very simple user interface) and a back-pedal brake rather than hand levers."

I'm kind of uncertain whether I could count on an automatic transmission and pedal brakes when I'm flying and weaving down Second Ave., but that's why we need those 100 plus new miles of bike lanes that Janette Sadik-Kahn has proposed (and it just might happen since Bloomberg's still here and if the City Council doesn't sit on her all year).

Philly cycles the most!

I've spent the week in Philly, and from the first I noticed the bikers. Lots of bikers. Not so many helmets, but lots and lots of bikers, and guess what?

"The Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition reports, based on a US Census survey, that Philadelphia is ranked number one among the ten largest US cities for bicycle commuters per-capita."

They are crazy with it! And I've been told that it is the same even when SEPTA is not on strike . . . which it is currently, so that has made it even BETTER! Go PHILLY!