My Wheels are Turning

Movie Reviews

As viewed from behind the handlebars

Will You Marry Us

Tom Vanderbilt, writing for his Slate column, recently bemoaned the poor portrayal of the car-less in film. The piece, titled “Dude, Where’s Your Car?‘ highlights a list of films, that is much longer than expected that take advantage of the stereotype that not owning a car is for the misfits, degenerates, losers, pedophiles, drunks, the socially flawed.

The romantic adventure scene.

Vanderbilt focuses on Hollywood films. Thankfully, these are films that Michael Moore & the Traverse City Film Festival tend to treat with suspect. Festival goers are spared most of the formulaic films that seem ripe to use base cultural stereotypes for a laugh or flawed-character development.

In the case of Will you marry us, set in a small town in Switzerland, the main character Rahel Hubli (Marie Leuenberger) utilizes a bicycle for basic transportation exactly how it’s intended: as a mobility tool. It’s a non-issue. The bike scenes are used for transitioning and showing-off the quaint Swiss town where she lives. When used for a lighthearted moment between Rahel and Ben Hofer (Dominique Jann), it isn’t overplayed. Again, the bike is just a transportation tool. One of many modes that the film exhibits, including extensive walking.

The small Swiss city appears to be a perfect setting for active transportation. It’s dense, streets are narrow and there are plenty of segregated bike paths where needed. Parking for cars is almost non-existent. It’s a cities-for-people activist’s dream where bikes have on-street parking at the front door of businesses and homes; car use is limited in the city center. In fact, most streets are more woonerf than anything else, with walkers, bikers and motorists all sharing the same space with priority to the slowest.

The romantic comedy unfolds as predictably as any other romantic comedy, and the city is a mere backdrop. Still, it’s a model backdrop for dreamers.

Auto*Mate

One of the critical-mass rides in Prague

This is in stark contrast to the scene in Prague, where the film Auto*Mate takes place. Instead of a quaint Swiss city, this documentary delivers a vivid, street level perspective on the dominance of the automobile in one of the world’s historical cities. It also happens to be a leading example of how the automobile dominates public space, infrastructure policy, culture, economics, the environment.

Auto*Mate introduces us to a movement pushing back. In 2003 the film’s creator Martin Mareček and others started to organize to protect their neighborhoods. They combined street antics  as well as direct participation in city government to gain respect, space and commitment for non-motorized  & public transportation. The ride is enjoyable. The film is personal, humorous and playful.

Auto*Mate is also sobering and realistic. At one point, Mareček admits there needs to be a point where the idealists are able to turn it over to the experts. With a politicized infrastructure policy and a culture so myopically tied to prioritizing for the motor vehicle, it is difficult for an activist to let go; to trust. Yet, they persist and they become more refined in their actions. At one point, Auto*Mate organizers address the city government, set up like a parliament, to counter the economics of a major new road project. They are smart, informed and, more importantly, involved.

In the opening, he introduces the audience to both film and movement, a monologue worth citing:

I lived in downtown Prague, in the ‘heart of Europe.’ In Prague, ‘the mother of cities,’ as well as ‘the city of cars’… according to statistics, one of the most handicapped cities in Europe. Six years ago, I met my neighbor in the hallway. He was moving: ‘Well, we’re off, we can’t take this anymore.’ I replied: ‘Yeah, I understand, it’s the cars, isn’t it? That noise, that smell…’ The neighbor smiled, puzzled: ‘Not really, it’s more that there’s nowhere to park.’ Is that story absurd? Is that neighbor autistic? No. I think that most of us city folks are this automatic… We’re all in it… Automatically we swear, automatically we drive. Slowly but surely, our game ends with our own auto-mate. Can anything be done about that? I realized that to make a film is not enough. It will only turn into another short essay automatically saying the well-known, addressing the usual receivers. Another submission into the Intellectual Aquarium. Therefore, I’d slowly turn from a film director into a civilian activist, an artistic radical, a political lobbyist. A multi-layered organism, Auto*Mate, was conceived.”

The result is a historical perspective of a very current movement in the Czech capital. It could be almost any city in the world.

This includes Traverse City, with its historical precedence of wide streets, sprawl, self-centered development and a feisty allegiance to the car. In size and scale, Traverse City has more in common with the city in Will you marry us? In practice, we may have a lot more in common with the activists in Prague who have to beg, borrow and steal for even an ounce of respect from city officials who celebrate expensive new freeways through, around and under the ancient city. Admittedly, it’s on a different scale, but the arguments are the same.

As Vanderbilt describes, too often our perception of the carfree and the car-less reflects more of the typical Hollywood portrayal. It’s as if those of use who prefer to walk, bike or bus are doing so out of some social fault, like too many DUI’s. Both of these films portray a different side. One that educates to the car-dominated-mind how completely normal a car-less city can look and operate; another that accurately portrays the informed, empathetic and community orientated character of the staunchest of active-transportation advocates.

Did you see either film, what’d you think?

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Auto*Mate, the movement, has it’s own website at www.auto-mat.cz (use Google translator to access).

A passing thought

I was dreaming about a getting a cargo bike. A dutch model. Then I had this thought.

What if 100 or 200 of us chose to ride these front bucket bicycles in Traverse City. That’d be enough for us to be seen everywhere. I suspect, we’d occasionally be considered a nuisance.

We’d take up more space on the road. We’d take more space parking.

Where would we park? On the sidewalk? In the street? In a parking deck slot?

There would be many people outright annoyed; they would even tell us so. I can hear it now, “real nice. Do you have to block people from getting somewhere? Do you have to take up so much space? Park over there! Get off the street! Get off the sidewalk!“

Then, they’d get back into their sport utility vehicle, empty except for a bag of milk, bread and packaged cookies.

They’d drive away. Oblivious.

Reclaim the streets, beginning with your own.

Part II: Giving up my car

by guest contributor, Bill Palladino

In Part One, I described the direct financial implications of purposefully going car-less. My own wallet was one consideration, but certainly not the end of the decision process. Along with personal financial impacts, I also analyzed the estimated financial effects on my local community. Beyond these immediate impacts there were other, less measurable, but still significant effects.

Bill Palladino can be seen around TC with his XtraCycle, which is an extend frame that transforms a bike into a useful cargo bike. (photo: Gary L Howe)

The convenience of convenience

A question that going car-less will teach you to ask is, “Do I really need to use a car for this?” It’s a question of need over convenience, and I believe it is the key to understanding our dependence on automobiles and our addiction to carbon-based fuel sources. If the car is there in your garage, lease paid, gassed up, insurance premium current…it’s unlikely that you’ll ask the above question.

Beyond monthly vehicle expenses the most significant economic impacts I’ve experienced from going car-less are the reductions in frivolous shopping and purchasing. Unfortunately, this kind of thing is difficult to measure, so in fairness I won’t venture to put any economic value on it beyond my own.

Shopping Habits

When I had the car, I’d head out to Meijer in the middle of the night out of boredom. Once there, I’d fill up the car with groceries and non-essentials and head back home. Today, with only my bike, a trip to Meijer from home is easily in reach, but its a trip I weigh carefully. I ask things like, “do I want to fight with Division Street and that parking lot madness tonight?” And, “do I really need this stuff?”

These days I tend to shop more frequently, but in smaller quantities and closer to home.

Bringing home the produce from Birchpoint Farm on the TART.

Buying Local

In a constant effort to maximize my personal economic power locally, I concentrate purchases on local products when at all possible. From milk, meat, chicken, and produce to the types and origins of the breads I purchase. Many of these things have shorter shelf-lives than their commercial counterparts. That’s because they often have fewer preservatives, less packaging, and are picked when they’re ready to eat, not when they’re ready to ship thousands of miles.

This in turn requires me to be more thoughtful in how I plan to consume them. I’ve enjoyed learning again to be this thoughtful and to look at piles of produce and recognize that I know the farmer who grew and picked them; there’s real economic power there. Look at the work of the Michigan Land Use Institute’s Taste the Local Difference program for proof that it works.

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s Just Canned

I rarely buy anything in a glass jar or a metal can anymore. First off, they’re very heavy to carry and then packaging is still there when you finish the product. For me that means having to either recycle the container or return them somewhere for a refund. I’ve learned to bring my own bags and containers to the store. Refuse and reduce. I also make my own yogurt and kefir, stew my own tomatoes, and squeeze my own orange juice. These things, while far from being convenient, are all pleasantly satisfying to accomplish.

I’ll admit, living in northern Michigan makes this a challenge. We can only produce most food products during a very short season. Produce, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers have a narrow ninety to one hundred twenty day growing window.

But here again, I’m learning to hearken back to the ways of our ancestors. Preserving the local fresh goods as soon as they’re picked is a useful and necessary skill. I’ve become expert in the subtle art of freezing, drying, and canning most anything that comes from my CSA (community supported agriculture) on any given Tuesday. I can only eat so much in a week… the rest finds its way into my larder for the winter months.

Physical Health

From a health perspective things have changed too. Part of my daily regimen is riding my bike to and from the events that make up my days. Because of that, I’m in pretty good shape for a guy my age with a hunger for strong beer. I put on a hundred miles a week on my XtraCycle just in and around Traverse City each week. That’s before I log my training miles on my road bike or mountain bike.

I’m a cancer survivor and putting myself on a bike every day of the year helps provide me with a good measure of where I stand in that battle. I just couldn’t get the same connection to my body if my first choice was driving a car.

Mental Health

It took a while, but what I noticed after being without the car was a decided decrease in my stress load. The act of driving the car as a part of a daily regimen was causing me a very specific type of stress. I was nervous and angry at times, especially in the car, but there was a residual effect that seemed to carry over into my other activities. I never understood it until borrowing my friend Dennis’ car on a couple of occasions after going without driving for a time. Within a minute or two of getting in the car, I’d be mumbling under my breath at the impertinence of other drivers or talk to them out loud things like:

“Get out of my #&*$% way!” “What are you waiting for, the light’s green?!”

This very effect has been researched extensively. The following quote is from an article by Drs. Leon James and Diane Nahl, (2002) titled Dealing With Stress And Pressure In The Vehicle:

My cumulative research using the self-witnessing reports of hundreds of drivers, reveals an agitated inner world of driving that is replete with extreme emotions and impulses seemingly triggered by little acts. Ordinary drivers can display maniacal thoughts, violent feelings, virulent speech, and physiological signs of high stress.”

Wow, that’s it exactly. So I’m not alone in this.

Here’s a partial list of key stressors associated with driving a car, even for a short time: immobility, constriction, regulation, lack of control, being put in danger, territoriality, denying our mistakes, cynicism, venting, unpredictability. The list is amazingly similar to what a soldier on a battlefield experiences.

An interesting side-note here from this same article is how this type of stress likely affects the perspective drivers have of bicyclists. Have you ever felt these effects while driving?

Worker health and productivity have also been measured. In a study by White 1998, comparative groups of commuters using cars, buses and a test group show astounding results – “those that drove showed increases in pulse rate and blood pressure. Those that rode via bus showed opposite effects and the commute times were essentially the same.”

Topping off my tank

Summing this up, after getting rid of my car I’ve had to make changes in my lifestyle, and those came easily. The financial savings were significant. The health benefits of having my bicycle as my first transportation choice, while difficult to measure, are nonetheless real. An added bonus are the social benefits of having a primary transportation source that allows demands that I interact with people along the way; it keeps a smile on my face and contributes to a my own sense of community. A lot of people in this community know me because I ride my bike everywhere. They see me because I’m moving slowly, without a glass and steel framework to hide behind. I’d also like to think the constant reminder that I bring to my friends and colleagues in the business community, that you can do this and not look like a freak, is critical to breaking down resistance.

Opportunities abound to go car-less

The opportunities today are many for individuals and groups wanting to shed a vehicle or two. You can donate your car to charity and take a tax break. You can join a ride-share or car-share group. You can ride public transportation, catching up on a good book as you commute.

You might even get to know your neighbors better if you have need to ask for their occasional support. I do, and it’s been fun!

Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting that the whole world get rid its precious cars. I am saying, doing it doesn’t hurt. And that we could have several hundred more crazy people like myself in Traverse City and it wouldn’t make a dent in the economy. But it might make the place feel different; a bit more hip and urban, a bit more like that elusive “cool city” Richard Florida defines in his book, The Rise of the Creative Class. A bit more like that place so many of us here see when we close our eyes, squint into the light of what might be, and think “Yes, that’s the place I want to live in.”

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This is Part II of the two part series. Part I explores the economics of going car-less.

Bike Portrait #3

This one comes a la photographer extraordinaire Brian Confer, who kindly allowed usage of these images shot for the story ‘Rain, snow, sleet, sweat: These smart commuters bike all year round‘ published online at Northwest Michigan’s Second Wave.

The story includes a profile of Johanna Schmidt who races for team Hagerty, and also self-propels around Traverse City to run everyday errands, go to work and or drop the kids off to school. The Schmidt family has been highlighted before in local press for their choice to keep it simple.

“Most of it is it’s just easy to do. We just hop on our bikes and go. Living in town, it’s just easy,” she says in the Rain, sleet, sweat article.

At work for Munson Medical Center and suited up for Team Hagerty.

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Do you have some images of yourself and your bike?

MyWHaT is looking for your submissions to feature here, send me a message. Still holding out for someone with kick-ass walking shoes as well.

With permission, we’re re-running an excerpt from the following article originally published in 2009 by MyWHaT partner Michigan Complete Streets Coalition. Thank you to the author, John Lindenmayer, for providing some of the history of ‘good roads‘ and how bicyclists were at the forefront of the movement. Today, as the full article describes, the coalition for complete streets is broader than just bicyclists. It includes advocates for transit, pedestrians, disability networks, public spaces as well as advocates for the environment, sensible driving and small businesses.

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How Michigan bicyclists paved the first road in America

By John Lindenmayer, Associate Director – League of Michigan Bicyclists

The Good Roads Movement, led by the “Father of Good Roads,” Michigan’s own Horatio Earle, demanded better road conditions for the growing community of cyclists across the country.

The boom of the bicycle as an object of pleasure and a symbol of progress resulted in a natural desire by bicyclists for smooth, safe roads to ride upon.  This led to organized efforts to clear the roads of mud, horse droppings, and hazards like crumbling cobblestones and an unpredictable crisscross of streetcar tracks.

Horatio Sawyer Earle (1855–1935)

The Good Roads Movement banded millions of American bicyclists together at demonstrations, rallies and other political actions.  With a motto of, “Where there is a wheel, there is a way,” cyclists took their campaign for better streets to the streets, quickly gaining the ears of politicians across the nation.  In fact, many of those cycling advocates successfully ran for elected office themselves on platforms focused on better road conditions.

Introducing: Horatio Earle

Horatio Earle, who came to Michigan in 1889, quickly became entrenched in politics, giving the Good Roads Movement a fervent supporter in our great state.  Having gained a seat in the Michigan Senate, Earle pushed through legislation to create the State Highway Department, now known as the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).

The Good Roads Movement also successfully lobbied the Michigan Legislature to pass the County Road Act of 1893, which permitted each county, by a vote of the people, to establish its own county road commission and levy a road tax.  All but one of Michigan’s 83 counties eventually created road commissions.  The state’s 82 separate road commissions unintentionally produced a perplexing system of road management, which many Michigan citizens find confusing and difficult to participate in to this day.

Horatio Earle also gave Michigan bragging rights for the world’s first mile of concrete highway.  Built in 1909, Woodward Avenue between Six and Seven Mile Roads in Detroit attracted builders far and near to witness how concrete stood up under the heavy traffic loads of the period.  Woodward Avenue proved a success, helping to spawn our modern highway system.

“I often hear now-a-days, the automobile instigated good roads; that the automobile is the parent of good roads. Well, the truth is, the bicycle is the father of the good roads movement in this country.“– Horatio “Good Roads” Earle

Automobile Industry Rises

Also unintentionally, the historic fight for better bicycling set the stage for the rise of the automobile industry.  Bicyclists successfully gained better surfaces to ride on, but they soon realized it that they now had to share the road with more than just other bicyclists, horses and trolleys.

The internal combustion engine created congestion and, ultimately, the first “Share the Road” campaigns.  However, the political clout of cyclists waned as the automobile took the nation by storm.  Membership in the League of American Wheelman slipped heavily by the turn of the 20th century as national bicycle sales dropped from 1.2 million in 1899 to 160,000 in 1909.

In the 100-plus years since our “high-wheeling” ancestors spurred our modern network of paved roads, the automobile has taken over our culture and never looked back.  As people became able to live farther from work, suburbs upon suburbs sprawled farther and farther from the urban cores.  City centers, once filled with life and vitality, became blighte as people moved to the “’burbs” to claim a piece of the “American Dream.”

For many Americans, the norm has  become hour-long commutes along three-lane superhighways lined with strip malls and congested with single-occupancy SUVs filled with obese, road-rage-prone drivers distracted by fast food, cell phones and iPods.

Moving People to the Fringe

Somewhere along the line, engineers, planners and politicians — following the general public — dismissed bicyclists as a fringe group.  Our roads were no longer built to move people, but solely to move motor vehicles.  By the end of WWII, society had redefined the bicycle as a “toy,” forgetting or even ignoring its lineage as a legitimate and efficient form of transportation.

We certainly will have to deal with a lot of problems as a society before cycling will once again be recognized as a legitimate form of transportation. Since the 1990s, however, as road cycling’s popularity has strongly rebounded, so too has bicycle advocacy.  One could argue that the Good Roads Movement has been reborn in the modern-day effort to “complete the streets.”

So, who will fill the shoes of Horatio Earle and pioneer a 21st Century gilded age of cycling?  Unfortunately, we don’t yet see many politicians running on bicycling platforms.  There is, however, plenty of exciting cycling advocacy underway that does require your attention and action.  It remains to be seen whether Complete Streets will become the new Good Roads Movement.  But, with its diverse supporters, the Complete Streets Movement has at least as much potential to create Good Roads in America once more — for cyclists and non-cyclists alike.

To read the article in its entirety as well as to read a comment by Earle’s Great Grandson, visit: How Michigan bicyclists paved the first road in America

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A recently received email titled ‘Preggers on a Bike‘ asked:

“I’m into my 6th month of pregnancy and getting a little out of balance. People have been warning me to give up biking but it’s hard to imagine a summer without bike. I’ve decided that I’d be willing to ride a tricycle for a couple of months but I missed out on the only one I’ve seen offered for sale. Do you think you could put a notice out on your blog or keep your ears open for someone who might rent/lend/sell a trike? I’m pretty sure I’d only need it for a couple of months.“ (Leave a comment if you can help.)

Ultimately, riding a bike is one of the safest modes of transportation around. Statistically, the raw numbers show that it’s safer to bike than walk in the United States. From 2000-2007, pedestrians were involved in 11.3% of all traffic fatalities, bicyclists 1.8%.

Still, I completely understand the concern of acceptable risk with a baby on board. Thankfully, there are a lot of moms out there sharing their experiences.

The star of the show at the BLOG 'A Most Civilized Conveyance' rides in comfort in a bucket bike.

One BLOG that is instructive on the topic is A Most Civilized Conveyance, which grabbed my attention with the post Baby on a Bike! back in January. Posts here cover a range of issues involved with choosing to be ‘car-free’ and to “thrive without it.”

Sure this mom lives in Portland, but it’s not like her and her partner don’t have to contend with their share of cars, potholes and disconnected infrastructure, as well as a midwife who was really concerned about her walking the mile to the birth center. (They took a pedicab home with their newborn.)

In April, San Francisco’s Street posted a piece by writer Regina Hope Sinsky about her pregnant pedaling experience. The two responses she receives while out and about: ““You go girl!” or “You shouldn’t be doing that, girl.”.”

Sinky’s main advice:

To be safe, I don’t ride in the rain, stick to streets with bike lanes, and avoid areas with heavy traffic. Fortunately there are lots of streets in San Francisco that fit the bill. I also always wear a helmet and multiple blinky lights. Duh. From what I’ve read, some women experience balance issues in their third trimester… if that’s you, then, well, maybe a stationary bike?

Families are choosing to go car-less all over the world, not just Portland and Copenhagen and even in little ol’ Traverse City mothers and mothers-to-be are thriving with less motorized miles driven.

I shared the message above with area writer and mom-on-two-wheels Cari Noga. I sat down with Cari back in January after I heard about her commitment to biking whenever possible, even while pregnant. She explained that it wasn’t that big of a deal once she had the routes plotted out. There were certain parts of town she simply avoided, but she got around fine.

Today, Cari posted an entry at TART’s blog, Inspiring Active Living that is a response to tricycle question, titled: Pedaling pregnant. With Smart Commute week around the corner, she answers the tricycle question with a general answer for all of us.

“What I can tell her – and everyone, X or Y chromosome, who might be thinking of trying bike commuting during Smart Commute Week – is that they key to success isn’t your wheels. It’s your confidence.” She concludes, writing,”if that expectant mother feels she’ll be safer on a tricycle, then she’ll be more confident riding it. Likewise for the person who’s overweight/got a bad knee/uses an inhaler/fill in the blank. With your doctor/midwife/health care practitioner’s blessing, do what you have to do to accommodate your particular needs. And then?… Giddy up.“

There’s more car-less moms out there, for certain. If you rode, or are riding, while pregnant what was the biggest surprise? Difficulty? What made it easier than you imagined? If you’re thinking about it, what questions do you have? If you know someone out there with a story to tell, please pass this on and encourage them to post a comment.

And, if you have a trike that can be loaned out, let us know.

Guest Writer: Lee Maynard

Setting the Sense of Place as Places with People

“There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary.”–Edward Abbey

Traverse City’s strong local energy, natural beauty and ever-increasing ‘coolness’ is inspiring. As the State motto goes: “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.” This is the most beautiful place on earth.

Poet Gary Snyder also expresses it well:

You “hear histories of the people who are your neighbors and tales involving rocks, streams, mountains and trees that are all within your sight. The myths of world-creation tell you how that mountain was created and how that peninsula came to be there. This knowledge provides the skills to take the pulse of place and foster its health.“

The Sense of Place concerns the creatures you meet on daily travels. The water you drink. The trails you hike.  Stories are accessible to everyone; gradually accumulated & discovered over a lifetime. A commons.

Unfortunately, as a nation, we have largely lost touch with the particular knowledge of particular places, and the result is the place-less sprawl of Anytown, USA (South Airport Rd. comes to mind).

The Legend of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes by Farley is a local example of how places came to be.

My Vision

A vision I carry for Traverse City is a mish-mash integrating local culture with the cool places, and people, that I have learned from.  Places like Portland, Denver, Hilton Head Island, Washington, D.C., Ohio, Georgia, New York, Texas, Michigan, Australia, New Zealand, and, hopefully, Denmark.

Thinking about a Sense of Place, I kept coming back to public squares. Squares stole the spotlight as my topic for this post. Public Squares, to my surprise, beat out topics such as nearby nature, parkland (large and vest-pocket size), urban green space, community gardens, and conservancy trails. Why? Because Traverse City could use a square or a pedestrian street.

Cities and towns around the world are losing their heart and soul. Or, fighting hard to bring them back. Public squares are part of that development.

“What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people.”- William H. Whyte

Victoria Square is a formal green space in the city’s center with paths, plantings, sculptures and water features. Although flat, mountain biking was one of the most common uses due to the built environment.

Inspired by Whyte, author of The Social Life of Public Spaces, I observed Victoria Square in Christchurch, New Zealand for 12 weeks. As unobtrusively as possible, using participant observation, I watched people and used hand written notes, photography and maps to chart the use of space by people.

This is a great exercise. What you find is, that although spaces are deemed ‘public‘ people are not permitted to behave or use the space freely due to social constraints.  We model our behaviors according to others; this creates social norms). When a behavior violates a social norm, it can create conflict in the space.

Although I studied Victoria Square, I lived my social norms in SOL Square just down the road from Victoria Square in Christchurch, New Zealand.  SOL Square stands for “South of Lichfield” Street. It’s a very popular place to shop, dine or just hang out having a few drinks. It’s a kind of spot that people are surprised to find in Christchurch (by New Zealand standards, Christchurch is thought as being a very conservative city).

Bringing it Home

I used to live in SOL Square in Christchurch, New Zealand (my apartment used to be the open window on the 3rd floor, pictured above)

In Traverse City, when I pass by the backside of our downtown buildings, I imagine having this kind of cool public art as well as a ‘SOB Square’–a square South of the Bay, for our own. A place filled with live music, buskers, a gigantic fireplace, old couches and bean bags line an alley 24/7 in SOL Square. I frequently imagine how cool this kind of set up would be outside of Union Street Station along that alley…

I imagine the space (which includes the street) between Right Brain, Kilkinney’s, North Peak and the Bus Depot as having potential to eventually become a SOL SOB Square for Traverse City…(Woonerf like).

Please share your thoughts, visions and any wacky ideas you imagine for the places where you live. Nothing is impossible.

My favorite website about public squares (and more): Project for Public Spaces

SOL Square at night. This place provides a chill outdoor spot, with an indoor-vibe; year around (thanks to heaters, a retractable awning and wind screens)

GUEST WRITER: Lee Maynard grew up swimming, building forts and climbing trees with lots of pets in Athens, GA. Her family escaped the heat every summer on Bois Blanc Island (Boblo), Michigan in the Straits of Mackinac; her favorite place on earth. She majored in Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University and studied The Environment, Society and Design for graduate school at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand. After crashing with friends in Chicago and Portland she moved to Traverse City last June. She absolutely loves her job working for the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy as an Engagement Specialist and living Up North. According to Deering’s Meat Market gossip, she has a “wafty” bike riding reputation and does not pay careful enough attention while cruising around town. She’ll try to improve on that and says, “sorry y’all!”…she says she is nervous and honored to write for MyWHaT…whatever…we love guest writers; the honor is all ours.

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This past week’s warm weather and sunny blue skies is getting people outside. Rightly so! This video is via Two Wheel Technique of 2WT’s posse’s first group ride of 2010.

If you’re interested in learning skills like the ones shown in this video, contact Jonathan Pool via his BLOG or show up with your bike and your helmet at one of the Two Wheeled Tuesdays.

Or, if you see them out practicing–>join in! They don’t bite…

It’s free. Full of passion. And you’ll come away with a massive confidence boost.

NOTE: MyWHaT will publish an interview with Pool later this spring to learn more about TC 2WT.

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MyWHaT’s second guest writer, Bill Palladino, reports back from the NAHBS.

This past week found me in Richmond, Virginia attending the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, (NAHBS).   It’s the premier conference for custom bicycle frame builders attracting artists and craftsmen from around the world.  Most of the 120 or so booths at the Richmond Convention Center were occupied by small businesses often made up entirely of one individual.  There were also a collection of larger builders, still building custom frames, but with some more support behind them.

My interest at these shows is partly leisure, partly business.  I interview people for Dennis Bean-Larson’s Fixed Gear Gallery, where I often write reviews and create stories about the experience of riding my bike around the U.S. and elsewhere.  My emphasis at shows like this tends towards innovation.

Who’s taking us to the next place in bicycle practicality?

Rasmus Guesing of CykelMageren in Copenhagen. (From his website)

For one, Rasmus Guesing from Copenhagen, Denmark.  Rasmus heads up a small company that builds bikes, and most interestingly, creates its own custom crafted bicycle components.  His booth featured a tiny, hand-drawn sign for the company CYKELMAGEREN.

Everything was in shades of black and silver; from the drapes, to his clothing, and to the bikes and components themselves.  And there were candles.  I showed up to his booth early on Sunday – the last day of the event – and asked for an interview.  “Sure.” He said with a smiling face through strong, but broken English.  “I must first light the candles, please.”  All around the booth were small votives that he painstakingly lit one at a time.

We then started a delightful conversation about his design philosophy, his work, and the bike culture in his native country.  All of his creations shared a common design aesthetic that shouts out Scandinavia.  They are simple, practical pieces whose appearance is driven by intention.  A set of hubs that are user-buildable in several configurations.  A micro-sized stick shift for a Shimano three-speed hub.  A “lever-less” brake lever that uses the cable housing alone as the way to apply force.  Everything clean and pleasant to look upon, like the heyday of Swedish sports cars or Danish furniture design.

Bike design school

A Guessing design taken at the 2010 NAHBS show (Photo: Bill Palladino).

I asked him what schooling brought him to such cutting-edge design work.  As an American, I was anticipating a treatise about some long internship at a manufacturing company, or an advanced degree in mechanical engineering.  His off-handed response set me on my heels a bit, “I went to bicycle school in Denmark.  There, we choose to make a career out of this, like you would choose to be a doctor.”  He then mentioned that in Copenhagen, bicycles are so popular as a form of daily commuting that there is a constant shortage of bicycle mechanics!

NMC Bicycle Mechanic School…

So, I’m now left closing my eyes to imagine my hometown, Traverse City. What would things be like if the demand for bicycles was so high that NMC offered advanced classes in bike maintenance?  Maybe MTEC would have a special facility, (connected to the TART of course) and maybe the State of Michigan and Michigan Works would pay businesses to train employees for such work.

We have a long way to go in Michigan before bicycles and the culture that surrounds them are taken seriously, especially as a form of economic development.  I have a vision for this region that includes it being a magnet for all manner of businesses that contribute to the economy through their connection to the bicycling, walking and skiing community.  Bike shops, messengers, frame builders, tour groups, welders, web-sites, and innovators, all choosing to locate here because it’s simply the hippest, friendliest and most profitable place to do business for people in this sector.

I can’t imagine anyone saying that Brick Wheels, or McClain Cycles, or Boardman Paddle and Pedal are anomalies.  They are real businesses, not very different from any other retail store or manufacturer.  What they produce however contributes in a much more focused way to creating the type of community so many here seem to envision.  Let us find ways to support and encourage the creation of more businesses like these as a matter of practice.

John W. Gardner, writer and former secretary of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare famously said: “We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.”

We need to build demand and capacity for transportation alternatives in northern Michigan. When we ask for our leaders’ commitment to a vision so many of us played a role in creating, let us not take “no” for an answer.  And let us not accept that such a vision won’t work in Michigan simply because it hasn’t worked here before.  The auto industry, and by association the state of Michigan, are shadows of their former selves.

Who will be our next Henry Ford? Who will be Michigan’s Steve Jobs?  What role will Traverse City play in making it possible for these people to be recognized here, start businesses here, and claim ownership enough in this community that they will choose to stay here?

FYI: Prolly is not Probably has a video tour of this year’s NAHBS

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Bill Palladino is owner and principal consultant for Krios Consulting based in Traverse City. He provides strategy planning and leadership development for businesses and organizations around the world. In July of 2009 he gave away his perfectly good car, committing to ride his bike every day when at home. He can often be seen making his way to meetings around town on one of his fixed gear bikes with his brief case slung over his back and a sly smile on his face.

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BATA's Empire Connector hitting the city limits. The route serves a growing number of city workers choosing to ride instead of drive. (photo: Gary L Howe)

Since starting this BLOG, I’ve talked to several people who have gone car-less or as a household have gone down to owning one car. It’s possible. They all discover so many options even without a car-share company in town.

Still, most of those people live in or near Traverse City.

Michigan Land Use Institute‘s staffer Jim Lively and his family are proving that people living in the outlying areas can do it as well. He parked his personal car , left it behind and got on the bus.

He now takes the BATA Empire Village Connector for his daily commute to MLUI’s downtown offices. As he explains in a recent BLOG post:

I live 22 miles from my office in Traverse City, where I need to be most every day. I have two girls still at home—both several years from driving age—who are very involved in a variety of after-school activities. And my wife works a couple of part-time jobs in Traverse City. That’s pretty much the profile of a two-car family.

But it’s working just fine. In fact, now that I’ve been successfully commuting for nine months without a car, I’m starting to brag about it.

Brag away Jim.  You can read the entire piece, including the hidden benefits, at: I’m Out of the Car-Commuter Game

Makes me wonder:

Could the city capture some-form of a city income-tax to fund a BATA boom?

Could this alleviate the perceived need for another $10 million parking deck?

As always. Just asking. Waiting for answers.

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A summary of the results of the recently completed BATA Survey are viewable at www.batasurvey.com

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