MyWHaT

New Underwriter

A big shout out and thank you to MyWHaT‘s most recent underwriter McClain Cycle & Fitness on 8th Street. They were early supporters from the beginning and it’s been much appreciated. It’s great to officially have them on board. The store is a little difficult to get to at the moment, but through the 8th St. construction they are open; selling and tuning people’s bikes like crazy. Thank you!

FYI: I’m still tweaking the underwriter program, but open to ideas and new contributors. You can also contribute individually; the best method is through Paypal but send me an email if you’d like to talk.

New Wheels

I also left McClain’s with a new mission and the wheels to help. I’m mainly a commute bike rider and occasionally take to the trails on my mountain bike. I need to do that more, but the problem is that many trails include a drive and I’ve cut way back on my motorized miles.

Zoom-zoom, the new ride.

So, it’s time to hit the road.

With the new ride I’ll be expanding my sense of non-motorized local. I have to admit, lately I’ve felt a little cooped-up in my 2-3 mile radius. It’s where I spend 95% of my time. There is no official audit, but I’m guessing I spend about 75% of my waking moments within a mile and a half of home. Right Brain is right on the very edge.

With the new wheels, from McClain’s of course, a smooth and comfortable ride to Glen Arbor and back is greatly anticipated. A trip to Short’s in Bellaire…I’ll think about it.

To get there, I’ll need to notch up the fitness level and get over the fear of the skinny tires. It’s been a long time since I rode a road-bike.

I’ll also need some two-wheeled friends. I’m ready and willing to be coached. Any volunteers?

Saddle up!

_

I received this text message from my friend Sarna yesterday:

“Just went through an all walk in Chinatown, Oakland. It was AwEsOmE!“

The "Barnes Walk" at 9th and Webster Oakland, CA (photo Sarna Salzman)

I’ve used them in Taiwan; they are awesome. They send a clear message that a city’s right of way isn’t there solely for the purpose of people in cars.

The “Barnes Dance“, also called  a scramble or technically an exclusive pedestrian phase, stops vehicular traffic in every direction at an intersection. During this time, pedestrians are free to cross the intersection however they want, including diagonally. There’s no double checking for cars turning right and there’s no need to cross two sections of road.

You could do cartwheels kitty-corner through the middle.

For 20 seconds or so, it’s the peoples’ road. Hence the term ‘Barnes Dance’ named after Henry A. Barnes, a traffic commissioner credited with championing the feature in Denver and NYC. Apparently, people were so happy with the feature, they’d dance across the street.

Now, what’s wrong with that? We need to spoil our people, not our cars.

Mathew Roth has an interesting article on the history of the Oakland scrambles. After a prominent pedestrian death, the community rallied the troops and set out to change the nature of their neighborhood. They obviously encountered resistance from the city, but won a trial run that was so successful that they put in more scramble intersections.

And they aren’t the only city doing this. Toronto recently adopted the concept.

Time Lapse of Toronto’s first scramble intersection
by Sam Javanrouh (he has a other videos worth a gander)

Doesn’t Traverse City deserve a scramble? Where could Traverse City put in a ‘Barnes Dance”?

Immediate ideas:

• Cass St. and Front St. downtown intersection would be perfect. A clear sign that the city takes walkability and pedestrians seriously.
• I envisioned something like this as the fix for Grandview Parkway and Division St. With an ‘on demand’ system it would only halt traffic occasionally and even at that, briefly (20 seconds).

Where else?

Have you used a Scramble?

Maybe we should just create a scramble downtown this summer…whose in?