Wheels for a leaner city government

Some of the errands run out of Miami City Hall won't require gasoline consumption anymore. Mary Jane Mark presented a spiffy new bike to Mayor Tomás Regalado for his staff to use. With the mayor and the  Mack Cycle & Fitness owner during Bike Miami Day in Coconut Grove on Sunday is City Commissioner Mark Sarnoff, whose district includes the Grove.

Senate OKs texting ban

The Florida Senate approved a ban on driver text-messaging today, 34-4. The bill now goes to the state House, where parallel legislation is dammed up in the Finance and Tax Council headed by Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale.

Bogdanoff says Florida courts already have the power to punish drivers who try to read and write text messages at the wheel. She sees our reckless driving statute, FL 316.192, as fully adequate for police to act on when they observe a driver texting, applying makeup or doing any of a number of other distracting behaviors one often sees on our streets.

Bogdanoff blocks texting bill

It turns out that the big roadblock to a Florida ban on texting by drivers is state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale. She contends on the one hand that texting is already covered by present law, and on the other that she would have given a hearing in her committee to a broader bill addressing more kinds of distracted driving. It makes me feel darned helpless and angry to find this out so late in the session. See today's Miami Herald, page 5B, for the rest of the story.

Mountain bikers size up Virginia Key

Some of the volunteers who'll be building mountain bike trails on Virginia Key took a hike on the key's North Point on Saturday to size up the job. John Voss, third from left, and pals from the Oleta River Adventure Association will be doing much of the sweat work. Advocates who have helped secure the location for trail-building include Voss, Mary Jane Mark of Mack Cycle & Fitness, and Green Mobility Network. Tom Pike's photos from the outing, seen on Voss's Facebook page, explain why riders are so excited about the views and elevations to be found here.

BPAC meets Wednesday

Just a reminder: The Miami-Dade Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee is to meet Wednesday, April 28, in Room 18-3 at County Hall.

Don't let texting-ban bill get left behind

The bill to ban text messaging by motorists still needs your support. It's on the Florida Senate special order calendar for second reading Monday, and there's a flood of bills contending for lawmakers' attention before adjournment next week. You can nudge your legislators, and the Senate leaders, by signing this new petition.

Street band a hit at bike day

The Miami Heat street band entertains at the community bike safety day Saturday at Homestead High School. It's the second of a series begun by School Board member Larry Feldman. Kids got safety tips and a a pep talk, then took an escorted bike ride around the neighborhood. The band greeted them on their return, and delivered a rousing performance.

Bike lanes, sharrows in mix for South Beach

The bike-lane proposal for 5th Street in South Beach, aired by the Florida Department of Transportation this week, went down smoothly with the few who attended a show-and-tell session. Maybe that's because it was a good plan, Rydel suggests at Miami Bike Scene. See his blog for more about the 5th Street plan and one the city has for trying sharrows, a lane marking that Florida has been slow to try out.

Bike Day in Homestead

Saturday is bicycle safety day in Homestead, and kids from all over the south end of the county are invited to hear safe-riding tips and enjoy an hour's escorted bike ride. The event starts at 8 a.m. at Homestead High School, 2351 SE 12th Ave., Homestead. Say thanks to School Board member Larry Feldman for initiating this, and to Children's Hospital and Kohl's for supporting it.

Senate panel OKs ban on driver texting

The Florida Senate's communications committee approved a proposed ban on text-messaging by drivers today, gratifying countless motorists, bicyclists and other users of the streets.

The 7-2 vote moves SB448 closer to the point where the full Senate can embrace or evade this measure that has the support of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the AARP, the insurance industry and the National Safety Council. All are convinced that distracted driving is way more dangerous than drunken driving, which has been subject to stiff penalties for generations now. Cell phones, of course, weren't around when most of our drunk-driving laws were adopted. So traffic law may be catching up with technology.

The committee had been pressed hard by the Florida Bicycle Association and a petition from Green Mobility Network. The surprise, then, was not that the bill emerged from committee, but that two members from districts with a lot of bicycling voted against it. They were Sens. Joe Negron of Hobe Sound and Steve Oelrich of Gainesville. Were they, perhaps, making a point that stiffer penalties are needed? We'll let you know if we find out.

By the way, congratulations to the three Parkland teenagers who testified for the bill today. They started a campaign against driver texting called Talk to You Later.

Bike lanes proposed in South Beach

The state Department of Transportation is including bike lanes in its plans for a rehab of 5th Street in Miami Beach. Information specialist Marta Rodriguez said the work will extend from West Avenue to Collins Avenue, with bike lanes on both sides of 5th Street from Lennox to Collins. The early design will be available for public inspection and comment from 6 to 8 p.m. today at 999 11th Street, Miami Beach. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2011 and require 150 days.

Driver-texting ban needs your support

Two lawmakers from South Florida are in a unique position to save bicyclists' lives by advancing a proposed ban on text-messaging by drivers while their vehicles are in motion. I encourage you to sign this petition, directed mainly at state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale and state Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla of Miami, in whose committees the fates of HB41 and SB448 currently rest. It's worth doing today, because the Legislature is days away from the hectic rush to adjournment.

Floridian a pioneer for friendlier streets

Did you ever wonder how our streets got to be so unsuitable for anything but driving cars? One guy who has figured it out is Dan Burden, who a couple of decades ago served as bicycle-pedestrian coordinator in the state Department of Transportation. Streetsblog interviewed Burden about a new set of guidelines that should help cities and states be smarter about how they build and redesign streets. It's good reading. Pay attention to what he says about street widths, then look again at the discussion here earlier about the pending upgrade of Sunset Drive outside South Miami.

To learn more about Dan's thinking, watch his talk to the Commonwealth Club in San Diego.

Cyclists get tickets for taking the lane

Miami Bike Scene reports that bicyclists are being written up by Miami police for riding on the street in the center of a lane when there's not room for a car to pass safely. Such tickets reflect a common misunderstanding of Florida law. You'll often hear people say we must ride as far right as possible, but that's not necessarily safe and it's not what Florida requires. See Florida Statutes on roadway position.

I recommend you click over to Rydel's blog to learn more.

UM ride seeks to save rare trees

Some University of Miami students plan a bike ride and a picnic on Saturday, April 10, to highlight the danger to the Gifford Arboretum from a road that the university plans to build later this year. The Save the Arboretum Ride starts at 10 a.m. from County Hall, 111 NW 1st St., Miami. If you want to help, write to grad student Melissa Stillman.

Starting about the same time at the Vizcaya Metrorail Station will be the monthly Emerge Critical Mass ride, which I understand will also head for the campus.

The noon picnic at the arboretum, on the northwest side of the campus off San Amaro Drive, will feature a tour by arboretum enthusiast John Cozza, who learned the site's charms during his UM graduate work.