Increasing appeal

According to the Urban Land Institute: "Living smaller, closer to work, and preferably near mass transit holds increasing appeal as more people look to manage expenses wisely."

Podcast: A bike coalition plans for the future

The East Bay Bicycle Coalition's September member meeting let EBBC members give input on the EBBC's strategic plan. This recording captures the start and the end of the meeting, but not the middle which broke into small groups. The meeting took place at the Rockridge branch of the Oakland Public Library in Oakland, California. Listen. (Stereo recording, 1:04:55, 119MB)

Bicycle "streetscapes": Perception is not the same as real safety

Advocates of "streetscape improvements" for bicyclists are fond of saying that such things as dedicated spaces for bicycling will add to the perception that bicycling on the street is safe. But now they are going too far -- saying that such facilities are, in fact, safer. But the jury's still out -- and it may be that while you're less likely to be injured while in such side paths, the absolute number of injuries to bicyclists will go up. So let's have some restraint, streetscape advocates, or else cough up some hard data.

Road safety is a major health issue

The United Nations has declared 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The Association of Health Care Journalists recently held a panel discussion about road safety.

Unhealthy? Sue land use planners!

Amanda Thompson: "If there was such a thing as designer malpractice we would be in a lot of trouble right now. We have created a land use and transportation system that actually prevents a healthy lifestyle."

It stops graffiti. Should we know how it works?

Governments around California and elsewhere are buying Merlin, an anti-graffiti detection system from Broadband Discovery Systems, but this press account says the manufacturer and police won't reveal how it works. Should the public have the right to know, since it is deployed in public?

Detroit Critical Mass report offers a poignant portrait of a city reinventing itself

Longtime readers of this blog know I'm not a big fan of Critical Mass, but Chris Carlsson recently posted a poignant report from Detroit's March 2010 Critical Mass. I challenge you to read this and not be moved by American's motor city reinventing itself, and not entirely on four wheels. And wait until you read the blog post's comments about how Henry Ford shared the road before he drove a car!