Glorious parking spaces, ill-effects of lower gas taxes and another pregger on a bike
Here’s a Grand Vision value being implemented, (right in my hood) Traverse Heights kick starts a school-community garden initiative with $5000 grant! Nice.
Weekly Chatter
Ride me! via Farlane's Photostream
- We love our cars in Michigan and the glorious parking space is one example. This is too crazy to not just quote: “The states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin together have 1,260 square kilometers of paved parking lots…That.. more than 2.5 spaces for every car and almost five percent of urban land use.” NOT counting on-street and parking decks!
- And, what ever happened to our PARK (ing) Day organizers? Here’s some more PARK (ing) inspiration (SF turns parking spaces into parklets).
- Distracted driving? How about an iPad on your steering wheel…don’t be punked!
- This is for real, a slower ambulance speed just may save your life and also help keep your neighborhood pleasant.
- More on the true cost of car ownership (graphic) and how low-gas taxes costs us all more in the end. $300-$400 in preventable car repairs and not to mention increased bike tire punctures.
- The Washington Post prescribes how to get more bike commuters. And yes, it’s the the infrastructure stupid.
- As we approach TART’s Smart Commute week (June 7), a reminder that it’d be best if it wasn’t needed.
- In Philly, an annual commuter competition sees the bike beat the car and the subway by 6 minutes! We need a cross-town challenge in Traverse City…anyone?
- As more bike riders are out and about, the helmet and sans-helmet debate just won’t go away.
And, since we started the week talking about mothers biking while expecting, here’s a pregnant veloist riding through Barcelona…Looks nice enough. She points out the helpful infrastructure along the route to getting some blood work.
That’s it, going for a ride.
Thanks for the reminder Gary on the true cost of owning a car.
While the average figure of $5,925/yr is astounding, a better way to understand its impact is to measure that number against average personal incomes in the U.S.. Per the U.S. Census Bureau that number (for people in the workforce above the age of 25) was $32,140/yr.
Now here’s the real kick to the chest… using these numbers, the average worker in America during any calendar year works from January 1 – March 12 just to pay off their car expenses! That’s 10 weeks of work. Of course these numbers are for the average worker. Those of us privileged to earn more, pay that car off much faster. It comes down to some real economic justice issues when we begin to consider all the factors. We need to encourage communities to build the infrastructure that give citizens a choice to free themselves from this burden if they so choose.
Thanks for the taking the context one step further, Bill.
I also saw a comment associated with the graphic asking if comparisons between the “Minimum Cost for Transportation” would be more helpful to encourage people away from cars.