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Transit Archives - ChangingMedia

Jan 31
0

The Real Winners Aren’t Playing

By | Homelessness, The Race to End Homelessness | One Comment

The Super Bowl makes me a little nervous. I’m hardly a die-hard football fan (to be honest, my plans for this Sunday were based around getting myself the best chips and dip), but I know that the biggest game of the year means all eyes will be on Newark, New Jersey this weekend. When everyone is looking at your city, you want it to look its best, and that’s when it gets tempting for city officials and law enforcement to sweep the social problems of a city out of the way – at least until the camera crews leave town. That’s why I was concerned for the homeless individuals of New Jersey, who are in the middle of fighting for their lives amid freezing temperatures this week, just as the media begins to arrive in their home state.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that – so far, anyway – there has been minimal disruption of those that are experiencing homelessness in New Jersey. Based on the behavior of other cities in the past, those without housing in Newark are right to be nervous for their temporary home, but NFL and NJ Transit authorities claim there are no plans to disrupt homeless people. Mayor Luis A. Quintana has even mentioned plans to set up television sets at a local shelter so those experiencing homelessness don’t miss out on the big game this weekend.

Penn Station in New Jersey is open round the clock to ticketed passengers, and since an un-punched train ticket is valid forever, those experiencing homelessness see these as a ticket not to a train, but to shelter and a little sleep. The station guidelines state that the transit police cannot ask someone to leave unless they are breaking a rule. In Penn station, unlike in some places, simply “being homeless” does not count as breaking a rule.

Newark does more for its homeless population than ensuring they can see every touchdown. Michele Walsh, NJ Transit’s community intervention specialist, works to get shelter and services for those that live in Penn Station. She tries to engage those that spend their days and nights in the station, and helps them with everything from emergency shelter to obtaining birth certificates and state IDs. Her position, created by the Mental Health Association of Essex County and then-Mayor Corey Booker to engage those that live at Penn Station, can be slow going, she admits, but she reports that more than seventy five percent of the individuals she approaches work with her in some way.

Newark holds the distinction of being the first outdoor cold-weather Superbowl, but this won’t be the only memorable aspect of this year’s game. This city has the opportunity to show the world not how clean it can make its streets for television and visitors, but how humanly it can treat its people – especially those without housing.

 

Jan 24
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The “I Have A Bike” Speech

By | Health, The Global Is Local | No Comments

Often, events of the past week will influence the content of my ChangeEngine contributions, and this week offers a number of temptations. The annual ritualistic dilution of the legacy of Dr. King into a few snatches of his “I Have A Dream” speech? The 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade that spurs otherwise pleasant people to say things that make other otherwise pleasant people want to shake them and yell? The hint of peace talks in Syria? Terrorism threats in Sochi? Polar Vortex 2.0?

All tempting, of course, and all intimately connected to the broader subject of lower case P, lower case H public health.

However, something much closer to home also caught my attention, and I wanted to bring it to yours. It may not relate closely to the Olympics or global weather patterns, but biking in Baltimore can and should be considered a major public health issue, especially in the context of urban planning overall, access to city services, affordable housing, decent jobs, and promotion of healthy foods and practices.

Biking does have a substantial connection to equity and social justice, as an affordable means of getting to work, accessing services and being part of the life of a broader and more interwoven community. In that way, the words and deeds of Martin Luther King Jr. are not such a giant leap away from steps being taken to provide greater safe bicycling access to the center of the city to residents living to the East and West.

Downtown Bike Network

Whether or not you are an avid urban cyclist, it should be no surprise to anyone that biking in Baltimore City is a logistical challenge.

This, say some of you, is putting it mildly. In fact, you carry on, this so-called “logistical challenge” is a biking nightmare and furthermore, you state emphatically, it is the entire reason I won’t bike in the city.

Well, you make good points, I have to hand it to you there. On the other hand, I have argued that it ain’t really so bad, and that you should just get out and do it. Regardless, if we go back to my original contention of “logistical challenge,” for a moment, I would like to clarify that the problem is primarily directional. Within the city core, it is not that hard to get from North to South, and vice versa, on an admittedly limited number of fairly safe routes. However, if you have any interest in going East-West, with the exception of the harbor trail (not a great option for cars or bikes with traveling rather than sightseeing in mind) or perhaps Baltimore street (at certain hours a parking lot, at others a great biking route), you’re going to have a bad time – a geographic divergence in access that mirrors Baltimore’s socio-economic divides. Drivers are well aware also, but at least have a few good options that move pretty well through the snarl of North-South biased stop lights. Bikers do of course have more freedom, we can squeeze up to the front, maybe cut across traffic if we see an opportunity, and I won’t say I never do it. But it’s not safe, and it’s not nice, and it pisses all the drivers off, even the ones in Subaru Outbacks with a bike rack on the roof.

This is why the above graphic is so exciting. It promises East-West commuting plus a more westerly addition to the existing North South routes available on the Eastern half of the city’s core.

This is not revolutionary, it’s not providing relief from the food deserts, urban blight, or crime rates in deeply impoverished sections of the city. It does make a start, however, reaching from the west side in Sandtown/Winchester through to Oliver and into Broadway East. This represents a major access change for individuals either trying to cross the central part of the city or reach their homes from their place of work. Biking is fast – often faster than driving and definitely faster than public transit over relatively short distances. It is healthy, reduces the number of cars on the road, represents a major income boost to those who can make bike commuting a viable option, and builds community.

The planned changes are scheduled to start this coming summer, and are hopefully just the beginning. For a great number of reasons, both rich and poor people live close to the city center and also far outside it, and increasing bicycle access for all parties is a great equalizer.

Dr. King’s ultimate goal was equity. Equity for black and white, equity for rich and poor. I think that he would agree that in forging a path to the beloved community he dreamed of we could do a lot worse than travel by bike.

May 02
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I Bike, You Bike, We Bike, He/She Bikes!

By | Health, The Global Is Local | 2 Comments

(The third in a Spring series about bicycling in Baltimore: Who should do it, how, and why?)

Welcome back, whether you are bike-aholic, bike-curious, or bike-phobic! I hope you have enjoyed following the biking series as much as I have enjoyed researching and writing it. Today’s post will be the final in this series, but don’t worry, there will be additional bike-related commentary in this space in the future.

First, Who should bike in Baltimore?

Leading by Example: Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake, courtesy of her Twitter feed

Well, if you have read the previous posts in this series, B’more Bike Friendly and Bikemore in Baltimore, you may have gotten the sense that I advocate for more biking by more people. If that hasn’t come through, let me take this opportunity to state clearly that I think everyone ought to bike in the city. If you feel like you want to be connected and informed and involved with the place you live and work, it’s important to experience it outside the sterile environment of your car.

You may or may not already be pedaling your heart out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be convinced. According to Chris Merriam of Bikemore, there are some accepted statistics about who is and isn’t likely to bike.

The 1%: These people will bike anywhere, anytime. Fearless, possibly a little obsessed, they probably have a giant stash of bikes in their hallway.

The 9%: Confident but Cautious. We in this group, while glad to bike most places most of the time, are willing to admit that there are times and places that biking is not appropriate. Some roads are not safe, some weather isn’t worth it, and sometimes we’re tired and don’t feel like it.

The 60%: Interested, but Concerned. You know how, you may own a bike, you may bike on protected bikepaths in parks, but there are some barriers to making the jump to occasional bike commuter or city cyclist- concerns about safety, for instance.

The 30%: Not Interested. No thanks, no matter what. Chris tells me that he thinks this is OK, not everyone needs to bike, he is interested in focusing on the 60%. Education about sharing the road and biker awareness are his interventions for the 30%.

Second, How should people bike in Baltimore?

As we said over the past two columns, there are some safety concerns about biking in an urban environment, so my answer to this would be: Carefully. If you aren’t biking often or at all, but are willing to give it a shot, there are a few ways to try it in a safe and supported environment.

– Bike To Work Day is on May 17th, and there are convoys that will meet at points all around the city to bike in to the downtown area in the morning. They are listed on the Baltimore Metropolitan Council site, join up and ride in! Throughout the city will be stations offering bike maintenance, breakfast and coffee, and educational materials.

– RecRide and BikeJam is a Bike MD event on May 19th where bikers can get out and see the city before coming together for music and food in Patterson Par.

– Bikemore Homebrew Tour is this Saturday, go register, we can bike together and sample local beers!

– Baltimore Bike Party will almost certainly be on May 31st, since it’s always the last Friday of every month.

After you try one of these group events, some recreational cycling is just a short psychological leap, and after that you are well on your way toward joining the happy bike commuters of Baltimore.

Finally, Why should you (or anyone else) bike in Baltimore?

We’ve touched on this before, and I won’t belabor the point. There are substantial physiological, psychological,  and economic benefits to exercise in general. Biking or walking to work magnifies those benefits while contributing to the health of the neighborhood, city, and world. Taking cars off the road during commuting hours is extremely important for local emissions reductions and global environmental sustainability. With billions more people in the developing world joining us in clogging up the roads with lungs and our lungs with their toxic emissions, the global and local truly come together at the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

It’s Spring, go out, get connected, and save the world!

By the way, the new banner by Hasdai is awesome, isn’t it?

Also, shameless self promotion- Pottery Sale in Annapolis on Saturday.

Apr 18
0

Bikemore in Baltimore!

By | Health, The Global Is Local | No Comments

(The second in a Spring series about cycling in Baltimore: Why planning for strictly vehicular travel makes pedestrians and bicycles an unwelcome nuisance rather than a welcome expectation.)

In my last column, we began discussing the bicycle culture of Baltimore. Recently, I had the chance to continue that discussion with Bikemore Executive Director Chris Merriam and Board Member Dave Love. I asked Chris to frame the relationship that bicycling has with public health, how one impacts the other, and how Bikemore’s efforts are designed to improve both the health of the community and the acceptance of bicycles on Baltimore streets.

“There’s a huge public health aspect to what we do,” says Chris, who was recently award an Open Society Institute Fellowship to further Bikemore’s mission of advocating for cycling and cyclists’ rights in Baltimore. “Cycling is a means of addressing the obesity problem in Baltimore — and all over the country of course. This is a working class city, though. It’s not like Washington D.C. or San Francisco. Not everyone belongs to a gym or eats healthy food all the time. The corner store diet of chips and soda is such a pervasive issue here.”

Chris has a background in urban planning, which informs his perspective. He agrees that our transportation system is a major component of public health, and a major obstacle to improving it. “We have a substandard [public] transportation system. For instance,  I’ll see people waiting for hours at a time for buses that will take them to work. A lot of the job sprawl in the area is such that many jobs for lower income people are in suburban malls, in Towson or Whitemarsh. Using public transit, depending on where people live, can take a long time: take one bus, take another bus, take the light rail, and there’s a lot of waiting around in between.”

And yet, despite the obvious advantages of a more bike-friendly city, Bikemore and other bicycling advocacy groups are trying to counteract 80 years of car-based engineering on our cities. Designing both vehicles and cities for strictly vehicular travel makes pedestrians and bicycles a nuisance rather than an expectation, and that is reflected in driver attitudes. Often the relationship between bikers and drivers is fraught with animosity.

Dave thinks that this may change due to sheer volume of bikes on the road, remembering his time in Berkeley, California: “Regardless of where I’m going, there would be three or four people on the same path, at a stop light five or six bikes back up. We wait just like traffic…If we got enough people on the roads, we could be looking at a sea change.”

But getting Baltimore drivers not to see red when they see a skinny person in spandex “in the way” is more than just a matter of numbers. Culture has to change too, and Bikemore realizes that Baltimore is a city with its own needs, and certainly its own culture.

People cite Portland as the ultimate case study. But remember, Portland is largely homogeneous, doesn’t have a lot of conflict, has a lot of taxpayers, is relatively young, etc. We can learn lessons from other cities, but we need to be wary of the ‘if they can do it, why can’t we?’ game.

Chris and Dave believe that these problems can be solved, but it will take effort on three fronts: education, infrastructure, and policy. They are leading in all three of these areas, but if you see the Bikemore sign around town, you are seeing education in action. Whether it’s a Bike Valet stand at the Food Truck Gathering or a presentation to a group of innovators at a conference like Reinvent Transit, Bikemore is constantly encouraging awareness and mutual respect between bikers and drivers.

Housekeeping: I wanted to address a couple of questions that came up in comments last time. First, the marked gender gap in bike commuters. I have two thoughts on factors that might be contributing to the disparity:

  1. It seems likely that there are safety-related differences in male and female biking behavior, as there are in many other activities. These safety concerns are related to both the perceived and actual intrinsic dangers of the activity itself and the external threats associated with being a single woman without a protective (vehicular) barrier. This study here comes to some similar conclusions, but I welcome any comments.
  2. There is reporting bias of some sort. This study from Stanford refers to a bias on survey forms that minimize or aggregate the kinds of trips that women tend to make (leaving aside the 50’s housewife stereotype slathered on the surface of the whole premise).

Second, how to get involved:

There are a number of groups that are active in the City, Bikemore being today’s obvious example. Velocipede and other bike shops and coops are all educators and advocates worth knowing, and of course join the Bike Party on the last Friday of each month.

Next Time: Who should bike in Baltimore, how, and why?

IMAGE CREDIT. Benson Kua