When Valley Bikes owner, Mike McDowell accepted Concetta Curtis's mountain bike in trade for one of his bright shiny new recumbents, he didn't know he was creating a monster. Hows could he know that Concetta, who has been riding the National Bicycle Greenway Mayors' Ride since our April 15 send off from Miami would be overcome by the joy of riding a bike without the back pain that had been plaguing her. Anxious to get back to her home in Seattle, now she really wants to fly like the wind to get there and does not want to be tied to schedules or any of the parameters our rides require. Not to mention the fact that all the attention she was getting was really hard for her. The down time forced on her by her sickness in Cincinnati caused her to long for the anonymity of the open road. And on a brand new recumbent!!
Free spirit that she is, we wish her luck and thank her for all the love she has blessed our ride with. We cannot thank her enough for all the hope and joy she has made synonymous with the NBG. We love you and we already miss you Concetta. Always we will feel indebted to you. And it is with a heavy heart and sadness that we say good-bye
That said, is there anyone who wants to fill her shoes? Last year's TransAm powerhouse,
THX 4 all of U!!
If you listen to the Robert Moses podcast at Bikescape, the San Francisco based on line radio show, you will hear the subject of the expose described as a man who had "more to do with how you live now than any man in history". You see, it was Robert Moses who back in the 50's and 60's displaced 3/4 of a million New Yorkers and destroyed countless historic buildings with freeways and the infrastructure that supports them. And in doing so he set the lead for for the rest of the nation to follow as the needs of the car far superceded those of the humans who had to live with them.
Do feel comforted, however, that a new movement is sweeping America. As cities big and small awaken to the need to make their their roads and streets friendly to people and not just to internal combustion, more and more of them are turning to one man who has transformed the very make up of a city once know only for its motor car speedway. His work is legendary and just as American civic leaders once flocked to see the new construction, exhibits and shows held in New York that glorified the private automobile, they are now flocking to Indianapolis to attend workshops and symposiums that take their example from a working Greenway system hundred of miles in length.
What's more is that Ray, as you can hear for yourself in the interview (url below) he recently did with us, feels the formula he has devised can be replicated all across the nation with a Greenway network that can be made to pay for itself. His experience has shown him this can be done by selling subterranean leases to utilities such as cable, fiber optics, even gas, water and sewer, A win win situation, letting these companies bury their infrastructure under Greenway trails that connect to important destinations throughout the city would give them access to it for a fraction of what they are currently paying. Ray also feels a real estate transfer tax that can be applied to those homes that have seen their value increase more than others simply because of their proximity to the trail, could also pay for a coast-to-coast Greenway connection.
And when Ray Irvin speaks, people listen. Because Indy Greenways has proven so successful at increasing property values, generating income form a wide variety of sources and raising the quality of life for the people of Indianapolis, Ray has been asked to document what he has done in a book. And for this he has turned to the people at Indiana University who have helped him with the studies and other research that have helped him get his program to where it presently is.
And if all that's not enough, Ray, a long time fan of our work here at the National Bicycle Greenway, tells me that he, in no uncertain terms, wants to write a chapter for my book, "How America Can Bike And Grow Rich, The NBG Manifesto" !! And he tells me he will trade me for his when me and my team ride through there in 2007!!
In other National Bicycle Greenway news, I heavily exhort you to get a look at the scorecard/schedule we keep for the 2005 Mayors' Ride.
Among all the other excitement that is taking place there, you will see that we now have:
- Boston's NBG Day photos
- Troy's DC to Pittsburgh C&O canal slide show (hundreds of awesome pictures)
- Philadelphia's Biking Report Card
- And all the reports and Biking Report Cards for:
Pittsburgh NBG Day
Columbus NBG Day
Cincinnati NBG Day
Indianapolis NBG Day
Too exciting -- too powerful!
THX 4 all of U!!
Ray Irvin interview: http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/NBG@bikeroute.com/1680-1-20050606-RayIrvin6-3-05_1.mp3
btw: Due to phone connection problems our interview with Ray Irvin has intermittent skips in it. And for this I apologize in advance......
MAYOR MENINO SIGNS BIKE PROCLAMATION
In early May as part of the National Bicycle Greenway Mayor's Ride, a five-leg 51-city tour to show how bicycling can improve the quality of life in our urban areas, Boston's Mayor Menino signed a "bicycle proclamation" welcoming bicyclists to the City of Boston. This, along with the Mayor's endorsement of the upcoming Boston Bicycle Festival on September 25, 2005, are positive indications that Boston might actually begin to take seriously the need to improve safety and increase opportunities for bicyclists in the city. Click here to view the text of the proclamation.
The National Bicycle Greenway is envisioned as a nationwide network of interconnected bike friendly roads and bicycle pathways that will connect cyclists to major cities all throughout the US.
Boston Bicycling: E-bulletin #4
6-06-05
