Planner surveys Miami bicyclists

Link repaired
If you ride your bike in the city of Miami, or would like to, please take two minutes to answer a survey for Mike Lydon of The Street Plans Collective, who is working on the city's first Bicycle Master Plan. To complete the survey, click here.

Miami bike planners reach out to public

As part of Miami's effort to create a bicycle master plan for the city, you are invited to meet with your neighbors and city leaders and planners on June 15 to see what's been planned so far and to offer input on what else should be done. The 15th is a Monday, and the meeting happens from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Jose Marti Community Center, 351 SW 4th St., Miami.

For any questions before the 15th, you may consult the city's Bicycle Action Plan or e-mail city Bicycle Coordinator Collin Worth. The event is being organized by Worth and by Mike Lydon of The Street Plans Collaborative, who is preparing the city's first bicycle master plan.

Cyclists need to ask

With city commission elections close upon us in North Miami (June 2) and South Miami (June 9), I've been thinking about questions that bicyclists need to ask anyone running for local office in their town or city. See what you think of these, and please put them to work. Your additions are welcome; just click "comments" and type away.

1. If you were elected, what would you do to facilitate bicycle and pedestrian movement in [your city]?
2. Do you see the bicycle as primarily a toy, a recreational vehicle or a means of transportation?
3. When did you last ride a bicycle?

Incidentally, there's a forum for the three South Miami candidates tomorrow (May 28) at 7 p.m. at Chamber South, 6410 SW 80th St.

South Miami plans bike-planning sessions

South Miami City Manager Ajibola Balogun says public workshops are planned so that bicyclists can participate in the city's crafting of a bicycle plan. That and more from Laura Morales in The Miami Herald.

"Do you always park on the sidewalk," I asked the man whose shiny Range Rover blocked the walk east of the office building at SW 80th Street and 70th Avenue.

"Oh, I hate it," he said. "But I work here and there's no more space." There were, perhaps, a few spaces left on the building lot, though not enough for all the other cars nosed in alongside the British SUV.

"I know where you can get a bike," I said. "Fun to ride and easy to park."

"I know," he said, nodding toward Bikes to Go just two blocks away.

There's a bus stop at the building's front door, a Metrorail station three blocks from where the Range Rover preempted pedestrian right-of-way, and the south end of the M-Path equally close. I had to wonder how many of the building's occupants cranked up their 3,000-pound chariots to ride 10 miles or less to that admirably-located workplace.

In a nutshell, there was much to explain our country's abject dependence on oil from abroad. There, too, a challenge to our sense of social responsibility. America's heedless waste of oil, and the cost of that waste to our national wealth and well-being, have hurt us more than most of us know.

You can be sure, however, that our children will know the cost. How many of us can say to our son or daughter, "I did my best not to lay this burden upon you"?

South Miami begins bicycle planning

City Manager Ajibola Balogun met today with bicyclists and some of his management team to size up how better to serve walkers and bicyclists in South Miami.

Much on the cyclists' minds was the pending improvement of Sunset Drive (SW 72nd Street) west of SW 62nd Avenue, where sidewalks already are being widened and planters and new curb ramps built. Lisa Fox pressed for bike lanes or at least wide curb lanes to be included, but the city resisted on grounds that the plans already had been submitted for state review.

Longtime bike advocate John Edward Smith recalled the city's years of gestures toward bicyclists, and how few of those came to fruition. Your writer, representing Green Mobility Network, stressed the city's strategic location near the University of Miami, a Metrorail station and the M-Path as providing an opportunity to make the whole community more livable and save oil at the same time.

On a note of complaint, I said that all kinds of signs, poles and street fixtures have been put in the ground with no regard for how they obstruct walkers and bicyclists. These two utility poles, for instance, fill the walk on the southeast corner of Sunset and SW 62nd Avenue. No master plan is needed to begin correcting and avoiding such things as opportunity arises.

We commended the city for its sturdy bike hitching posts, but asked that any new ones be placed in sheltered locations so bicycles don't get wet and rusty. And we urged the city to encourage property owners to better accommodate their bicycling employees and customers. On both points, the planners and managers seemed interested.

Rails in downtown Miami

Two railroad passenger coaches are shuttled along the stretch of rails beside which Brad Knoefler wants to build a bicycle path. (Click on photo to enlarge.) The street is N. Miami Avenue and you can see Freedom Tower in the left background. Just out of the picture to the left is the two-story building that Knoefler has lovingly rehabilitated, creating loft offices and living spaces upstairs and a potential store or restaurant space on the street level.

Bikes and bricks in Virginia Key plan

The latest plans for development of Virginia Key were presented to an attentive roomful tonight at the Museum of Science in Miami. The City of Miami's consultants rolled out an impressive array of ideas for Miami Marine Stadium and just about every other square foot of the barrier island that hasn't been built on or declared a nature preserve. I was relieved to hear that three miles of mountain bike trails are in the plans, along with a course for BMX competition and many multi-use paths for getting around without a car.

To my eye, there seemed to be an awful lot of parking, which isn't surprising considering the activities the planners had in mind: many new shops and restaurants, additional beachfront, a sports center with several fields for track, soccer, softball and baseball, a conference center, a campground and much more. Oh, yes, there are many nature walks and a wildlife observation tower or two, though if those athletic fields are to be lighted I don't know how many birds and beasts anyone will be able to see.

On one hand, all this stuff would be an improvement over the spoil banks on the key's North Point, but on the other, this design anticipates an awful lot of motor traffic. Is that really what the city wants for its dwindling stock of open space?

An earlier version of the plan was aired in August, and can be found here. The newest will be posted soon, I am told.

Watch Blueprint America

I just learned about an important TV series called Blueprint America and suggest you watch tonight if you're at home. In Miami you can watch on WPBT (channel 2) at 8 p.m. Tonight's segment is Road to the Future -- which looks at how three cities dealt with growth and the hidden costs of transportation congestion. To learn more, visit the WNET website here.

Bicyclists get South Miami's attention

South Miami cyclist Lisa Fox nudged her city commission again last night to find ways to better serve bicyclists and transit users. She stressed the energy-conservation potential of weaning people away from personal cars. Eric Tullberg, secretary of Green Mobility Network and a member of the county's Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee, also spoke, calling for better connectivity with bike lanes on the city's west side and with the M-Path that runs along U.S. 1. There were roughly eight other cyclists present.

The city appears to be listening. Several staffers will meet with City Manager Ajibola Balogun this week to start working on a bicycle plan, and Commissioner Brian Beasley asked for Fox to join that group. Mayor Horace Feliu said that planned reconstruction on Sunset Drive, the occasion for Fox's protest to the commission two weeks ago, will be reviewed to see what can be done for cyclists.

Virginia Key Master Plan to be previewed

Mountain bikers are keenly interested in how the City of Miami uses its land on Virginia Key, the little island one crosses between Key Biscayne and the mainland. The cyclists and at times the planners have advocated building mountain bike trails on the north edge of the key, where silt was dumped when the Port of Miami was dredged.

A proposed master plan for Virginia Key will get a public preview tonight from 6 to 8 o'clock at the Museum of Science, 3280 S. Miami Ave. Hundreds of local cyclists will be not far away at that time, taking part in the Ride of Silence on Crandon Boulevard.

Funds approved for early M-Path repairs

Updated
The Miami-Dade County Commission today approved the transfer of $700,000 to begin repairs and safety improvements on the Metrorail M-Path this year. This is wonderful news for all walkers and bicyclists using the nine-mile greenway between downtown Miami and South Miami.

Until today's action, we might have had to wait as long as 2012 before the work was begun. By transferring funds from the Tamiami Swing Bridge project, which has been delayed, the commission answers a need that's visible every day in neighborhoods along the path. And the county staff expects it not to slow the bridge project at all.

The work being funded is part of the M-Path Master Plan for the improvement of the path created in 1983 when the Metrorail was constructed. According to the staff report on this item, "Due to budget restrictions, there has been little or no maintenance done to the M-Path for over 20 years. Additionally, increases in [motor] traffic have impacted the manner in which pedestrians and bicycle riders cross the streets along the M-Path." The path certainly shows the effect of neglect, and everyone I know who rides it is concerned about conflicts with cars turning off U.S. 1.

Bravo, Commission. Bravo, staff, for spotting the opportunity and putting it before the commission.

M-Path funds close -- perhaps

Today's agenda for the Miami-Dade Commission meeting included an item to transfer $700,000 so that badly needed repairs to the M-Path could begin this year instead of in 2012. I just got word that Commissioner Sosa had pulled the item -- 8 (J)(1)(A) -- from the consent agenda. That may only mean she has questions about it, but it might also mean she opposes it. I've called to find out, and am waiting for an answer. If you're close to County Hall today, I encourage you to drop in on the meeting and see what happens. This may be an important day to speak up respectfully for the M-Path's importance.

The funds in today's agenda item won't carry out the full M-Path Master Plan, but they would be enough to do a significant part of the work that is needed to attract new riders and make the path safer and more agreeable for those of us already relying on it for commuting and recreation.

A full weekend for riders

Any bicyclist who can't find a place to ride this weekend just lacks imagination. In the central, north and south parts of the county, there are things going on worth riding to:

• The last Bike Miami Day of the season is in downtown Miami on Sunday from 9 to 2,
  

• The annual Love-In returns to Greynolds Park on Sunday, with a day of '60s music on the grassy hill
  

• And there are two days of organized riding out of Homestead for the Greenway Bicycle Festival.

Betcha can't stay home now. Enjoy your ride!

Chronic drunk driver convicted in cyclist's death

Some nice police work over in Collier County secured the conviction this week of Robert James Bacon, 35, after cyclist Maria Alba Alvarez Hernandez was hit and killed on U.S. 41 in February 2008. The single mother of a 2-year-old girl had been biking home with a friend from their restaurant job. Here's the whole story, from the Naples Daily News.

Bicycling for transportation

There's thoughtful reporting and commentary today at WashCycle, kicked off by a professional journal that devoted its entire issue to bicycling as transportation. This quoted passage jumped out at me:

[John} Pucher and [Ralph] Bueler agree that cyclist education is important, but think the off-road training [that] schoolchildren receive in Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany is better because it is so universal [though both have value]. They also think motorist education is important.
Traffic education must be far more comprehensive, including both cyclists and motorists. And it cannot be limited to vehicular cycling training courses for adults but must start with schoolchildren ...

If you're thinking at all about how to make our cities more suitable for low-petroleum transportation, I encourage you to visit WashCycle and read the report and comments. You might even want to click through to World Transport Policy and Practice.

A view from the center lane

A reader named Anne Marshall writes in with something for us all. She writes so well, I'm giving you the whole piece:

First I want you to know that although I am not a cycler, I have every respect for those who are, their equal rights to the road, and their sole rights to bike lanes (which I wish there were a lot more of). However, I have no respect for people, whatever their vehicle, who do not follow the laws that exist to keep us all as safe as possible. Here in Miami there is a large population sector who feel it their privilege to ignore any inconvenient law. Unfortunately, that group includes many cyclers as well as drivers.

Here is my personal peeve. As a driver, I sometimes find myself slowly following behind a bicycler in a stretch of street where I cannot pass for a bit. That is OK-not a peeve-and it is their legal right. Since they are traveling more slowly than me, once I do have a chance to pass safely, that's that. But frequently that isn't how it works. Instead, at the first traffic signal where I'm held by a red light, the cyclers breeze by me and straight through the intersection with the red light glaring. Now when the light changes and I proceed, I am again behind the slower bike traffic and have to pass them again. I have actually passed the same group of bicyclers three times after they ran successive red lights. This would not happen if they adhered to the laws of the road that we are both obligated to follow.

I just wonder if cyclers are aware of how frustrating it is when a driver watches them pedal straight across an intersection with a red light? Red lights mean stop and wait for green. They do not mean stop if there is cross traffic in the intersection which is how many cyclers appear to interpret red. I hear many (extremely valid) complaints from bicyclers about driver misdeeds, but I never hear them admonishing their own group to respect the laws that govern us all. Personally, I would like to see a campaign directed at getting ALL users of the road to respect each other.

Thanks for letting me air this frustration. It is something I've long wanted to express to the cycling community.

Anne Marshall

Businesses and bicycles

Over at the cartooning blog Stone Marmot, Cindy shares about her quest for bicycle parking.

Those things many people think of when someone mentions “bicycle rack,” that is, those contraptions made of usually metal bars that you are expected to stick a bike wheel into, are not bike racks. They are actually potentially very damaging to most bike wheels. Bike wheels aren’t designed to withstand a lot of pressure from the side. If I find myself forced to use one of those things, I never stick any of my bike wheels into the bars of those racks. I always try to set my bike just outside one end of the rack and lock to the rack there.

This would be a good piece to hand any merchant or landlord you are trying to persuade to provice for their biking customers. For the whole piece, just click Businesses And Bicycles.

Welcome a new advisor

Congratulations and good wishes to Anamarie Garcés de Marcilla as she begins to serve on the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the Miami-Dade citizen body that reviews local transportation issues and advises the county-level Metropolitan Planning Organization. As program manager for WalkSafe at the University of Miami medical school, Garcés works on pedestrian-safety projects around several public schools. This is an important part of public health practice, and it usually doesn't get a lot of attention.

Florida flops in bicycle-friendliness

In the second year in a row when Florida observed a statewide bicycle month, and with Miami making huge strides to improve the city's bike-accessibility, the League of American Bicyclists ranked our state 32nd out of 50 for bicycle friendliness. Worse, that's down from 20th in 2008.

I don't know how they figured this out, but the recent report about the high numbers of injuries in car-bicycle crashes is bound to have had something to do with it. Our work is indeed cut out for us.

The top five states, in order, were Washington, Wisconsin, Maine, Oregon and Minnesota. Full rankings and more at the League website.

South Miami favors bricks over bikes

A South Miami bicyclist, Lisa Fox, is raising an alarm over the city's plans to pretty up Sunset Drive between SW 62nd and 67th Avenues. She spoke up during the City Commission meeting Tuesday night, because the planned wide median and elaborate sidewalks leave out any improvement in bicycle access. She got nowhere. I encourage you to read Fox's statement at the Robertson Adams blog and let the city know what you think about it.

One commissioner asked why provisions for bicycling were not included in the plans offered on the consent agenda that night. The response, I heard second-hand, was that the city had asked for money for bike facilities and money was not available for that purpose. Someone either misunderstood or was misinformed. If this is stimulus transportation funding being used for the project, as the meeting summary indicates, providing for bicycles definitely would be allowed.

Bicyclists in and around South Miami, let your voices be heard. The next City Commission meeting is May 19 at 7:30 p.m., and I hope to see you there. But we don't have to wait. You can learn where to speak up now by clicking on the city website.

Stolen-bike alert

My gray Specialized Crossroads was stolen from the Falls Townhouses at 1:40 a.m. today. Two neighbors wakened by a car alarm saw a skinny white guy riding away on it. (Since I'm a skinny white guy, it didn't immediately occur to them that it wouldn't be me at that hour.) In several ways this crossover bicycle is easy to recognize: It has a folding saddle-basket on the right rear, a miniature Share the Road tag on the back of the frame-mounted luggage rack, and the horn of the saddle was mended with duct tape, now a bit ragged. Other detachable features include a mirror, map case and bell on the handlebars, a headlight, a tail light, a tire pump and a frame-mounted clamp for my cable lock.

If you see this bike, please keep your eye on it and call Miami-Dade Police at the Kendall station, 305-279-6929.

Plan now for the Ride of Silence

Every May, all across the country, bicyclists hold a Ride of Silence on May 20 to honor and remember our fallen comrades. Historically, the ride has memorialized cyclists who were killed in traffic, but South Florida riders this year will be keenly mindful of one of our own, Daniella Izquierdo, who crashed during the challenging Six Gaps Ride in Georgia last year.

Miami's ride will kick off on the 20th at 7 p.m. just across the road from Mast Academy, 3979 Rickenbacker Causeway. Be there by 6:45 p.m. for announcements and a quick prayer. This is a free, one-hour ride with escorts from the local sponsor, Everglades Bicycle Club. You must wear a helmet to take part, and you may need lights by the end of the ride.

Please encourage your bicycling friends to come and bring their families. Our numbers at this free event are a powerful reminder of the size of the bicycling community.

Bicycle giveaway at Bike Miami Day

Six new bicycles are going to be given away at Bike Miami Days on May 17, the last of these events until the fall. Details and much more are at the blog Bike Miami Days.

Better lives in healthy cities

Jerusalem is rejoining the Network of Healthy Cities, an international experiment meant to raise the level of public health by, among other steps, encouraging walking and bicycling. The Israeli capital had quietly dropped its commitment five years ago under its previous mayor.

"The network promotes better health among each locality's residents with a wide variety of projects, including the boosting of physical activity, dental health and smoking cessation; the construction of biking and walking paths, recycling, reduction of teen vandalism; and battles against pollution and dog excrement on sidewalks. It also provides information on successful projects around the country and helps municipalities amass 'health profiles' so they can assess what is working and what needs to be improved. It is a cooperative effort with the health funds and a variety of voluntary organizations."

There's lots more about it in the Jerusalem Post.

Hotels lending bicycles to guests

Thanks, Felipe Azenha, for spotting this sign of the times, IN the New York Times.