You're entitled to my opinion and there's ample time, so here are a few random links.

I'm always making notes and collecting links with the idea that they might become blog posts.

Of course "stuff" happens; in January, I began "political distancing" from anti-social Gahanism, then came the disruptions of the planetary pandemic. In short, the notes and links have accumulated, and so here's a helter-skelter collection.

To kick off the chronology, you'll not be surprised that this particular publication is suspicious of Piketty.

A bestselling economist sets out the case for socialism at The Economist

Thomas Piketty’s new book may prove as famous—and controversial—as its predecessor.

In “Capital” Mr Piketty shared Karl Marx’s goal in the work of the same name that he published in 1867: to reveal the economic logic of the capitalist mode of production. “Capital and Ideology”, by contrast, is closer to the sociological writings of Marx and his followers, especially “The German Ideology” (1845-46), which sought to explain the social and political means by which capitalists maintained power over the working classes.

How many times have I heard a New Albanian return from vacation, praise a walking- and biking-friendly locale far, far away, then sigh: "too bad we couldn't ever do that here." But couldn't we -- I mean, if we weren't so stupid and cowardly about it?

Why Do We Think Walkable Towns Are Only for Tourists? by Daniel Herriges (Strong Towns)

I wrote a piece a few weeks ago about Irish villages. It was intended to make the point that it's not only possible, but utterly normal in much of the world, for some of the best walkable urbanism around to be located in smaller cities or even tiny rural towns.

In such places, the village is compact, with bustling streets and little wasted space. However, if you walk to the edge of town, you are immediately in farm fields. There is a stark line between town and country, not the suburban-style blurring of the edges we often find in car-centric North America, where the edge of town consists of a mile or two of chain restaurants and gas stations.

Earlier this year when the town of Clarksville released its ideas for much needed positive changes to the design of Brown's Station Way, the automobile supremacists came immediately out of hiding, among them Wynken (John Gilkey) and Nodd (Lindon Dodd). We know Blynken is out there somewhere, but don't worry, car fetishists -- it will be a while before the town gets around to doing the rational thing, freeing you to remain Luddites.

DODD COLUMN: Road plan full of potholes (by Nodd, in the local chain newspaper)

Brown’s Station Way — a very short, simple, unassuming stretch of mostly ignored if not forgotten road that has apparently suddenly been discovered by engineers, architects, local political types, safety experts, and developers.

Of course the local chain newspaper is unaware of safety by design, and proved it with an editorial from Terre Haute. The conclusion is correct, but it would be instructive to see Gilkey's former employer show an aptitude for modern thinking about complete streets. After all John lacks it.

EDITORIAL: For safety's sake, ban cellphones while driving

No law is going to prevent every crash or bring an end to distracted driving. But banning cellphone use while driving can help make vehicular travel safer for everyone. It’s time for Indiana to become part of that solution.

Another look at the utter futility of painted (and ignored) sharrows on roadways.

Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says, by Aaron Short (Streetsblog)

A 13-year study of a dozen cities found that protected bike lanes led to a drastic decline in fatalities for all users of the road.

Perhaps even more important: Researchers found that painted bike lanes provided no improvement on road safety. And their review earlier this year of shared roadways — where bike symbols are painted in the middle of a lane — revealed that it was actually safer to have no bike markings at all.

One can only imagine the phone sex between Gahan and Duggins as they plot to turn the coronavirus crisis into some way of demolishing public housing in New Albany. Why? Because that's what opportunistic slaves to money do when people aren't looking.

For Those Living in Public Housing, It’s a Long Way to Work, by Sarah Holder (CityLab)

A new Urban Institute study measures the spatial mismatch between where job seekers live and employment opportunities.

Depending upon which zip code they call home, researchers found that the average person using some form of government housing aid is likely to face tougher odds of getting a job near their neighborhood than the average job seeker who isn’t using assistance, even those who are extremely low-income. “In fact, the average assisted household is surrounded by 6,032 more nearby Snagajob seekers than Snagajob postings, compared with 3,056 more for unassisted, extremely low–income households — nearly double the amount,” the report reads.

Of all assisted households, those living in public housing had the biggest difference between the number of job seekers and the number of jobs nearby; next came housing choice voucher, or HCV, recipients.

And, to conclude with topicality.

A Tale of Two Plagues, by Katha Pollitt (The Nation)

Tips on self-isolation from Daniel Defoe and Giovanni Boccaccio

I’ve been catching up on the classics. For example, Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, an early example of the nonfiction novel, written in 1722 about London’s Great Plague of 1665. After a slow start—the novel begins with a lot of statistics to establish its factual reliability—it picks up, as Defoe’s narrator, H.F., a prosperous saddlemaker, misses his chances to leave London and finds himself trapped in town, where he alternates between prudent isolation indoors and restless wanderings through the streets ...

... They’re definitely not having as much fun as the wealthy young people in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, who escaped the 1348 plague by holing up in the Florentine countryside, flirting and telling sexy stories.

Pedestrians and bicyclists in Amsterdam -- and Deaf Gahan's Nawbany.

On Monday I was walking down the sidewalk on the south side of Market when I saw a bicyclist riding down the sidewalk toward me. At this time of the morning there were no cars whatever on Market, and yet there she was, so I politely asked if she would stop for just a moment and entertain a question or three in the interest of science, and she was amenable.

From a former to a current bicycle rider, do you always ride on the sidewalk?

"Yes, almost always," she said.

But shouldn't bikes be on the street?

"It isn't safe out there -- there's no bike lane."

There's a bike lane on Spring Street.

"Sort of. The traffic still moves too fast, and anyway the bike lane ends and I'm back on the sidewalk again."

What do you think of sharrows?

"You used to ride a bike? Then you know sharrows aren't safe."

---

I thanked her and kept walking, confident that this brief conversation of two or three minutes was two or three minutes linger than any chat ever held between Jeff Gahan's inept minions, his corrupt contractors and a real human being on an actual bicycle.

By the way, there are problems in Amsterdam, too.

Can Amsterdam’s Cyclists and Pedestrians Learn to Get Along? by Sophie Knight (CityLab)

As Amsterdammers jostle for space, the city government is trying to ease conflicts between those on bikes and on foot.

Urbanists around the world swoon over Amsterdam’s cycling culture: residents trundling around cobbled streets with a child balanced on their handlebars or a friend on the back, everyone blissfully free from the road rage that infects car-heavy cities such as London and New York. What’s not to like?

Well, a few things, if you’re a pedestrian. An oncoming cyclist may barrel through a red light or crosswalk or suddenly swerve onto the sidewalk. Cyclists in Amsterdam often park their bikes haphazardly, cluttering street corners and blocking the passage of strollers, wheelchairs, and suitcase-bearing tourists.

And woe betide those who accidentally step onto a bike path. “This is Amsterdam!” is one of the kinder reactions.

“Cyclists are even more antisocial than drivers,” complains Jennifer Brouwer, 37, who is registered blind and who moved to the city’s quieter outskirts from its busy West district because she was tired of conflicts with cyclists. “They’re more likely to think, ‘Oh, I can get away with that,’ like cutting people up, cycling a hair’s breadth away from you… There is just no enforcement.”

Efforts to educate cyclists or tame two-wheelers are met with opprobrium in anti-authoritarian Amsterdam, according to “street coaches” hired by the city to do so. Nevertheless, the local government is trying to balance the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. Aware of pressure on public space as the city’s population swells, the municipality said in 2017 it would prioritize both groups, not just cyclists, in its five-year Bicycle Plan starting that year ...

Mouth breathers and bicycle lanes: "From congestion to cost, there are many entirely misguided arguments in circulation."

It would be nice if we had a newspaper.

It would be nice if we had a newspaper willing to ask questions of public officials.

It would be nice if we had a newspaper willing to ask questions of public officials, as whenever Jeff Gahan assumes full credit for a new miracle, the reporter asks: and what exactly are you doing to connect these various miracles by some form of mobility that isn't another automobile?

But we don't have a newspaper, and this isn't nice at all, because it means that Gahan and his car-centric ilk continue to utilize the ol' bait 'n' switch, pretending that infrastructure projects are about mobility options, when they're typically no more than another driver pacification scheme.

We don't have a newspaper. It really sucks.

Ten common myths about bike lanes – and why they're wrong, by Peter Walker (The Guardian)

From congestion to cost, there are many entirely misguided arguments in circulation

Cycle lanes have been in the news recently, as have the many often entirely misguided arguments that opponents use against them.

For all the (slight) progress in some UK cities over mass cycling, we are still at a stage where a leaflet from a local branch of the party of government (see below) will state falsehoods about bike lanes as if they were the undoubted truth.

So perhaps it’s time to demolish 10 of the most common myths about cycle infrastructure. Do by all means suggest more in the comments below.

1. Cycle lanes increase congestion (and thus pollution)

This is perhaps the most common myth, possibly because critics confuse what feels like it’s true with what actually is true: the assumption that if you take some road space from motor vehicles, you get more traffic jams – as with (a commonly used parallel) forcing water down a smaller pipe.

But fluid and traffic are not the same thing, as shown by 60 years of governments trying and failing to road-build their way out of congestion. The idea of induced demand – more road space brings more cars – has been known for decades, and it also works in reverse. This is especially so with bike lanes, which are such an efficient use of the same space that they can often mean the same amount of space carrying more people overall.

Yes, traffic jams have worsened in some cities where bike lanes have been built, but studies show this is largely down to other factors, for example the growth in the number of Uber-type private hire vehicles and Amazon delivery vans.

Most compelling of all, of course, is the fact that motor vehicles cause the congestion in the first place, and the only real way to reduce traffic congestion is to have fewer of them on the roads.

Snip

10. There’s no need

This is, in effect, the message of the critics: not this, not now – let’s try to get away with unambitious schemes without proper infrastructure, which will never change much.

You could write a whole column – even a book – about why this is absurd, but it’s always worth stressing this point to the cycling naysayers: OK, what’s your solution to gridlock, pollution, a climate emergency; to cities that are noisy, dangerous and unjust? They will not respond, because there is no answer.

Video: "They really enjoy their cars. They think the street belongs to them, and they just don't want to share the road."

"A new video from Streetfilms assembles the most head-scratching attacks employed by bike-lane foes, such as: Don’t let the terrorists win!"

Watch Bike Advocates Vent About the Silliest Anti-Bike Lane Arguments, by Laura Bliss (CityLab)

City Hall says we have "sufficient" bike lanes to accommodate e-scooters. It's probably a good idea to follow the money before getting excited about the prospect.

Photo credit.

It's difficult to fathom the change.

In 2015, New Albany's Board of Works and Public Safety famously dithered for months about a harmless street piano.

Bluegill summarized:

First, there was a request to place a piano on a public sidewalk in New Albany; a fun, harmless, and completely normal happening around the world. Then there were months of city officials sidestepping and ignoring that request. Then there were additional weeks and multiple meetings of artificially constructed and wholly irrelevant hurdles put in place. Then there was media attention and, by New Albany standards, an expression of public support for the piano and exasperation with the City sizable enough to embarrass the officials involved. And then there was finally approval, with an almost equally embarrassing rearguard attempt to claim officials had supported it all along. I wish any of that was out of the ordinary but it's a near perfect example of what ordinary is here, even and especially when the stakes are much higher. Playing a new tune couldn't be any more welcome.

Now, seemingly at the casual drop of a chapeau, BOW's gatekeeper Warren Nash is striking a youthful pose with regard to Bird e-scooters.

"It's (an up-and-coming) thing, and it's working in other places."

Ugh. Can a hipster beard be far behind?

Before we risk life and limb atop one of the Bird e-scooters to be turned loose to navigate New Albany's streets of screams, let's define the term.

We tried it: How the new Bird scooters work and what you need to know, by Kirby Adams (Louisville Courier Journal)

Courier Journal reporter Kirby Adams and executive editor Joel Christopher try out the Bird scooter in downtown Louisville Kirby Adams, Louisville Courier Journal

Like a flock of starlings suddenly swooping into a city park, a pack of Bird electric scooters are landing in Louisville and a lot of curious Louisvllians want to know how to hop a ride.

So, we took a ride on a Bird scooter (when they prematurely arrived a few weeks ago!) to give you the ins and outs on what to expect.

Here's how it works

First and foremost, riders must have a valid drivers license and be 18 or older to use a Bird.

When Courier Journal Executive Editor Joel Christopher and I decided to take a couple of Birds to lunch, the first order of business was to download the Bird app on our smartphones and locate where two scooters were parked.

See the interesting thing about Bird scooters is they're not parked in any particular spot, like the bike sharing racks that dot Louisville's downtown. (In case you didn't know, Louisville's bicycle sharing program, LouVelo, has been in operation since May 2017 and has more than 25 docking stations or kiosks around the city.)

Instead, with Bird, you cruise the app to ping a scooter's location.

We got lucky and found a couple just a few blocks from the Courier Journal on Fourth Street near the Louisville Palace, 625 S. 4th St.

There are certain parallels between the advent of e-scooters and ride sharing. One thing to bear in mind is the existence of more than one e-scooter supplier seeking a piece of the action. Because cities have since learned the rules of the game, regulators are involving themselves with the laborious task of picking winners. 

The bare-knuckle tactics Uber used to get its way with regulators are not going to work for scooter startups, by Johana Bhuiyan (Recode)

Cities have the upper hand this time.

... Cities are also not instating an outright ban on scooters — regulators are simply being selective about which companies will operate those scooters. And governments, like Santa Monica’s, are using their power to demand compliance, collaboration and a commitment to equitable access to transportation — not just in their cities, but everywhere.

Having watched Uber and Airbnb grow around the world, these lawmakers are under no illusions that a noncompliant company in one city will magically be compliant in theirs. Santa Monica’s scooter permit process, for example, included a scorecard, where companies were judged on how well they comply with local, federal and other laws.

Bird scored among the lowest.

We all know what this means. What do you do to improve your performance? Hire a lobbyist, of course.

Exclusive: Bird plucks prominent Nashville lobbyist to lead regional efforts, by William Deshazer (Nashville Business Journal)

Sam Reed has left The Ingram Group to lead a new government relations team for his former client, Bird.

Accordingly, we already know the likely next step in this process; insert Gahan re-election fund donation here, because it's almost certain to appear on the mayor's 2018 books.

I'll let you know when this can be verified, but I'm supremely confident it will.

Apart from the near certain donation, the Bird scooter discussion is surfacing at this moment because of several considerations unrelated to tender concern toward the commonweal.

For one thing, I'm not the only critic of the city's street grid neglect. Officials have been thin-skinned about those pointing to their lack of resolve to make the city safer. I think publicly dabbling with scooters sends a message to the doubters, and also hoists a tepid middle finger: "See, the city is so very safe we can allow scooters to dart through it with no worries."

Be scared ... very scared.

There’s also an election coming, and local Democrats want desperately to believe in the possibility of a "blue wave." Mention of e-scooters is code language directed toward a handful of purported progressives, implying that in spite of the dull sluggishness of the city's and party's pay-to-play patronage machine, bureaucratic local Democrats are achingly hip to modernity.

Total fabrication, zero intent.

The article below duly notes an ongoing examination of liability being conducted by the city's corporate attorney, which is likely to translate into draconian restrictions on usage even if the requisite donations are made, and the city actually approves e-scooter use.

Here's the part that should give you pause.

E-scooters are required to ride in the bike lanes or close to the right curb. New Albany officials say the city has sufficient bike lanes to accommodate the scooters.

Sufficient bike lanes?

How much Bud Light Lime has to pass down one's gullet before our bike lanes are sufficient for bikes, much less e-scooters?

Recalling that Spring Street already is the nexus of justifiable complaints about City Hall's unwillingness to protect all users of the street grid, it's also the only downtown street with bicycle lanes -- in spite of Jeff Speck's recommendation that we include them everywhere.

One can readily imagine Nash and Gahan, beaming happily as e-scooters travel up one side of Spring Street and down the other, pausing only to be obliterated by speeding drivers whenever they try to cross to the other side.

Will attorney Gibson also be researching what's likely to happen if a Bird inadvertently wanders into one of New Albany's signature non-functional sharrows?

New Albany officials look to bring Bird scooters across the river, by Jessica Bard (WDRB)

Officials in New Albany are trying to determine whether they should make a push to bring e-scooters to southern Indiana.

 ... Louisville Public Works announced Monday new rules for riders, including where they can’t ride. Waterfront Park is off limits.

“You're allowed to ride generally within the Watterson Expressway,” Adams said.

Across the river, officials in New Albany are keeping a close eye on what's happening. They’re trying to determine whether they should make a push to bring e-scooters to southern Indiana.

The president of the New Albany Board of Public Works, Warren Nash, said he supports the movement, and the city has reached out to Bird. The city attorney is doing research on what happens if something goes wrong.

Aside from New Albany, "Designing greener streets starts with finding room for bicycles and trees."

The pain of missed opportunities.

Designing greener streets starts with finding room for bicycles and trees, by Anne Lusk (The Conversation)

City streets and sidewalks in the United States have been engineered for decades to keep vehicle occupants and pedestrians safe. If streets include trees at all, they might be planted in small sidewalk pits, where, if constrained and with little water, they live only three to 10 years on average. Until recently, U.S. streets have also lacked cycle tracks – paths exclusively for bicycles between the road and the sidewalk, protected from cars by some type of barrier.

Today there is growing support for bicycling in many U.S. cities for both commuting and recreation. Research is also showing that urban trees provide many benefits, from absorbing air pollutants to cooling neighborhoods. As an academic who has focused on the bicycle for 37 years, I am interested in helping planners integrate cycle tracks and trees into busy streets.

Street design in the United States has been guided for decades by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, whose guidelines for developing bicycle facilities long excluded cycle tracks. Now the National Association of City Transportation Officials, the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have produced guidelines that support cycle tracks. But even these updated references do not specify how and where to plant trees in relation to cycle tracks and sidewalks.

In a study newly published in the journal Cities and spotlighted in a podcast from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, I worked with colleagues from the University of Sao Paulo to learn whether pedestrians and bicyclists on five cycle tracks in the Boston area liked having trees, where they preferred the trees to be placed and whether they thought the trees provided any benefits. We found that they liked having trees, preferably between the cycle track and the street. Such additions could greatly improve street environments for all users.

At Strong Towns: Three reasons drivers should be celebrating and championing bike lanes.

Every time you see one of these ...

 ... think instead of this:

The word "sharrow" is a synonym for abject capitulation. It's a white flag flown by cowardly public officials, of which New Albany unfortunately enjoys an annual bumper crop.

A sharrow enables planners to pretend they're protecting cyclists, while actually doing absolutely nothing except praying drivers might occasionally share the road.

Maybe HWC's engineering guru Jim Rice can tell us more:

(insert gurgling sounds about immutable INDOT regulations) 

Are drivers a privileged class, Jim?

The Constitution fails to mention it, but then again, it says nothing about robber baron capitalism, either.

Now say hello to Rachel, who'll try yet again to penetrate your thick car-centric skull.

Why Drivers Should Support Bike Lanes, by Rachel Quednau (Strong Towns)

 ... In the last month, I’ve gotten back on my bike after several months of infrequent riding. Every trip reminds me how perilous this mode of transportation is when coupled with fast-moving vehicle traffic.

But every trip also reminds me how practical and affordable bike riding is. Each minute on my bike is a minute I’m not using up gas and incurring wear-and-tear on our family’s car. Each time I lock my bike at a new destination, I’ve saved myself $1.75 in bus fare. Each pump of the pedal is time spent in practical exercise, not at a gym that costs me $40 a month to utilize.

More significantly, every time I ride my bike, I’m saving my city money by riding a lightweight vehicle that doesn’t damage the road and rack up maintenance costs for which my local government has likely not budgeted.

What I’ve realized, as someone who both bikes and drives, is that drivers benefit a ton from bike lanes; they just might not realize it. The average driver’s reaction to a bike lane being installed in their neighborhood or along their commuting route is anger that precious road space has been taken away from cars and given over to bikes.

Here are three reasons drivers should, instead, be celebrating and championing bike lanes ...

Peak Gahanism: $5 million for a single mile's road work, all the while pretending it will benefit pedestrians and bicyclists.

It's important to clearly understand after six-plus years that any infrastructure project touted by Team Gahan as miraculous and conducive for non-automotive road users will be such only by the barest of legalistic margins, if at all (see press release below).

As such, an extra traffic lane on Charlestown Road will contradict any pretend-improvements for non-automotive users, and on Main Street, there'll be bike lanes solely drawn inevitably as spacers, leading to and from nowhere, except deadly sharrow symbols painted in invisible ink on the roadway.

None of it did this guy any good. From last night:

On Spring Street today by Breakwater, a bicyclist riding in a bike lane was hit by a driver.

Meanwhile, the city's own memes are starting to bear an uncanny resemblance to our pieces of blog satire, and the content of press releases like this one is intended to dazzle the eye of readers like my councilman, who are captivated by a neat, clean and sanitary surface sheen, which removes the need to examine the details.

As he never bothered to trouble himself with two years ago.

Remembering Chloe Allen -- and the unfinished task of making streets safe for all users, not just drivers.

We are awash with money, evidently -- and as these projects progress, so will several of Jeff Gahan's more reliable campaign donors.

Summers announces plan to "Walk the Walk" by enhancing car-centrism via the Market Street medians. We advocate nuking them to outer space.

By the way, the lowest bid by a substantial margin for the Market Street median-fluffing -- so low, in fact, that it might impel cosmetic surgery for another whole block -- was submitted by Allterrain Paving, which makes frequent deposits to the advancement of Gahanism in our time.

Move along, folks; nothing to see here. A bid 30% lower than the next closest competitor?

As Dear Leader himself has said, "if shit happens, those checks still come through the US Mail."

---

$5 Million Worth of Infrastructure Projects Approved

Two major infrastructure investments were approved at this morning’s Board of Public Works and Safety meeting. The Board approved contracts for the Charlestown Road Infrastructure and Road Improvement Project along with approving contracts for the East Main Street Infrastructure and Road Improvement Project (from State Street to East 5th Street).

These two projects total nearly $5 million worth of infrastructure improvements in New Albany.

“These two road improvements projects add to the growing list of roadway, stormwater, sewer, and other infrastructure improvements currently ongoing or planned for the near future in New Albany,” stated Mayor Jeff Gahan.

The improvements along Charlestown Road will span from Hedden Court to Genung Drive. Planned improvements include the full construction of a curb, gutter, and 6-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road to help improve pedestrian safety throughout the corridor. A newly constructed storm water system will also be in place to assist in drainage. The road will also be milled, widened, and then repaved to 31 feet wide, allowing for a new lane of traffic. This new lane will allow for two-way left-turn lanes, improving the flow of traffic along Charlestown Road.

Infrastructure improvements along East Main Street will span from State Street to East 5th. Planned improvements include addition of on-street parking on both sides of the street throughout the project. Bump out features and bike lanes are planned to assist with bicycle-users and pedestrian safety. Sidewalks will also be updated with ADA compliant crosswalk ramps and new construction where needed. Lighting improvements are also part of the project, which will help improve pedestrian visibility and safety.

On Spring Street today by Breakwater, a bicyclist riding in a bike lane was hit by a driver.

A friend just wrote that her husband was riding his bike home from work this afternoon on Spring Street and was hit by a driver, who claimed to be "watching for cars, not bikes" while pulling into Spring from a side street.

It happened right in front of Breakwater.

The bicyclist, who was using the bike lane exactly like he should, suffered two cervical fractures in his neck.

And the driver?

Brain dead, but seriously, there'll probably be no other ramifications because there never are.

It's always an "accident" when a cyclist or walker is hit by a driver, isn't it?

When there's further information, I'll update this.

Bicycles and sidewalks? As always, New Albany's legal stance is as clear as mud -- and City Hall gazes at the ceiling.

Behold, another Rosenbarger bike lane triumph.

We've all been here before, but the fake factoids never cease, so let's have another look at the question of whether it is legal to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk in New Albany. Not unexpectedly in a state with its own contradictory laws, sections of the official code of ordinances in New Albany don't jibe.

§ 73.01 OPERATION OF BICYCLES.
(A) Every person riding a bicycle upon a street shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle. Every person riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to a pedestrian.

(D) No person 14 years of age or older shall operate a bicycle on the sidewalks located within the geographical incorporated boundary limits of the City of New Albany ("city").

73.01 seems to suggest that since no person 14 years or age or older should be on the sidewalk anywhere within the city limits, everyone else should be riding on the street.

Then it gets weird.

§ 73.03 RIDING ON SIDEWALKS.
(A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, it shall be legal to operate a bicycle upon a sidewalk when sidewalks are available and are not congested with pedestrian traffic. If the sidewalk is congested with pedestrian traffic, any bicycle operator using the sidewalk shall walk the bicycle.

(B) No person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk in a business district or upon or along which signs have been erected by authority of the Board of Works prohibiting such bicycle riding.

In 73.03, it's legal to ride on the sidewalk with no reference to age, except in a business district, which isn't defined (here or elsewhere in the code), or wherever signs prohibiting bicycling have been erected.

Which is it? Maybe BOW can spin the wheel during its next meeting. In truth, it doesn't matter much because there is no enforcement of any conceivable interpretation.

As for which direction a bicyclist should travel when riding on a street, it should stand to reason that if the code of ordinance explicitly holds bicyclists riding in the street to the same duties of motorists, and it does, then these duties include riding in the same direction as traffic, seeing as a driver wouldn't decide to drive against traffic -- for the very same safety reasons as a bicyclist shouldn't.

You were taught to ride against traffic? Sorry, but you were taught wrong.

DEBUNKING WRONG-WAY RIDING, by Jamie Wine

Lots of us were taught as kids to ride facing traffic ... this sense of safety is tragically false, but that doesn’t stop it from being widely believed – especially if your last lesson in bike safety was when you were seven.

Even closer to the center of the target:

When you see someone riding the wrong way on a bike, the chances are good that they have chosen this as a crummy alternative to an even crummier series of major roads and horrifying intersections.

Yesterday during a conversation at Facebook, some guy living in Harrison County insisted that bicycle licensing is the answer to all these issues: "I believe that it (licensing) should be on the books and enforced. Especially with bike lanes now prevalent like never before."

Bike lanes prevalent? It's hard to believe bicycle lanes in New Albany amount to more than a few single digit percentage points of the street grid's total acreage. Perhaps it seems like more for folks living in mobile homes by a cornfield.

Bizarrely, until recently, the city of New Albany had bicycling laws on the books, dating from the aftermath of the Great Flood.

Rewind: Bicycles, mopeds and the ordinances not governing them.

§ 73.20 LICENSE REQUIRED BEFORE OPERATING BICYCLE.
No person shall ride or propel a bicycle upon any public highway, street, boulevard or other public place in the city, unless the same shall be licensed as herein provided.
('71 Code, §73.28) (Ord. 4120, passed 3-6-39)

In summary, city government's relationship with the street grid is devoted roughly 95% of the time to assuring drivers that car-centrism is king. There are no stated policies v.v. bicycling (or walking), no goals for improving non-automotive access, and no evident will to improve. If you're interested in this changing, then it's time to begin holding feet to the fire -- and next year, when there's a municipal election, you'll have the opportunity.

Rant over.

Satire sinks into farce as Minneapolis "bikelash" marchers park their cars to protest "Nazi Lanes."

Photo credit: Look at all those angry white male drivers.

I hesitate passing along this information, given the existence locally of satire-resistant automobile supremacists. They might get ideas -- then ram the ideas with their monster trucks.

But allow me to offer this prediction: If such a protest occurs in New Albany, the aggrieved won't (in many cases can't) get out of their cars to walk the parade route.

I mean, who wants to carry that bag of Rally's Archer Daniels Midland Burgers through the Nazi Lane when it can rest so very handily right there on the front seat?

How a Satirical Call for Bikelash Became a Real, Invective-Laden Protest, by Jared Goyette (CityLab)

People carried signs reading “Nazi Lanes” at the Minneapolis anti-bike lane demonstration, which several political candidates attended.

You probably haven’t heard of internet prankster Jeremy Piatt, but you may be familiar with his work. A mock GoFundme campaign to “Get Kanye out of debt” was widely covered in the press as serious, with Kanye’s camp eventually having to clarify that no, he didn’t want the money.

Piatt, a graphic designer, recently pulled off a sequel of sorts by stirring up the hornet’s nest that is the the current bike-lane debate in Minneapolis ...


 ... But some people took his invitation seriously. On Sunday, a small crowd of about 15 to 25 people showed up to protest at the designated place, the intersection of 26th and Hennepin Avenue, including two city council candidates, Joe Kovacs and David Schorn.

The protest was even more intense than Piatt had satirically called for: As Minneapolis’s ever-present political Twitter account, @WedgeLIVE, noted, people carried signs that read “Mafia Lanes,” “Suck it Lanes,” and “Nazi Lanes.” For extra effect, sign posts were painted red to look like they were dripping with blood.

Grid Control, Vol. 10: City officials predictably AWOL as HWC Engineering falls on its sword over striping errors.

You know, the striping errors first brought to the community's attention here at NA Confidential, about which we informed newspaper management, which might repay the favor by acknowledging the tip. If this blog and its friends hadn't been paying attention, would the newspaper?

I think you already know the answer, but small victories, people.

Holding contractors responsible for their work, if not a fluke in this instance, would represent a huge shift in the city's institutional monetization culture, but let's not forget that the design submitted by the engineers at City Hall's clueless direction is a colossal missed opportunity in terms of bicycling infrastructure.

Meanwhile, baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice of HWC flails and prevaricates, but eventually settles into the litany. Oddly, as he focuses on a "particular location on Spring Street" near 10th, there is no reference to church curb striping controversies, as we referenced yesterday.

And the parking depth shortfall affects "five spots"? That's hooey. The disparity is consistent on the north side of Spring all the way all the way from Vincennes to State, albeit it with different defaults when the bike lanes cease at 4th.

And by the way, Jim, those traffic lanes outside my house are 10 feet, not 11. They should have been 10 feet throughout downtown, but Jeffrey's scared of the trucking lobby, isn't he?

Engineering firm to pay for, fix error spotted in New Albany street conversion striping, by Elizabeth Beilman (Mews and Tribune)

Mistakes affect Spring Street striping

NEW ALBANY — Engineers who designed New Albany’s two-way street conversion are paying for the likely more than $10,000 in costs to fix a striping error they made.

Hannum, Wagle & Cline Engineering is evaluating ways to correct bicycle buffer lanes between the vehicle lane and parking spots on the north side of Spring Street ...

 ... (Rice) said an HWC technician simply drew the lines in the opposite direction — and it was missed during reviews.

“If we design something and we make a mistake … we want to fix it,” Rice said, adding a few people with the firm “feel terrible right now.”

Engineers are evaluating whether to modify the width of some parking spots along Spring Street, as well. Drivers of some cars and trucks have been unable to fit their vehicles inside the spots, wheels parked over the marked line on the pavement. Rice said it affects about five spots.

In that case, contractor Ragle Inc. didn’t follow design plans properly, Rice said.

When the reporter Beilman tried to get a comment out of Jeff Gahan's City Hall, the spokesman (Mike Hall?) referred her to HWC. That's chickenshit, isn't it? Then again, when your own people missed the errors, too ...

Small victories. Microscopic, but still.

---

Previously:

Grid Control, Vol. 9: "This was supposed to be discussed with us," but Dear Leader doesn't ever discuss, does he?

Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.

Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?

Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.

Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.

Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?

Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.

Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.

Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.

Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.

Miraculously, there has been two-way communication of the sort that always eludes Jeff Gahan's bunker-bound City Hall team.

In cut 'n' paste format:

"Hi Roger – Thanks for your question. HWC did complete design work for this project, and the bike buffer was installed in accordance with the plans. I understand your concerns, and I appreciate you sharing them with us. We’re dedicated to completing this project successfully. We are currently working with the city of New Albany to determine the safest and most effective solution. I’d be happy to provide you with an update once more information becomes available. Thanks!"

And did the topic arise at yesterday's morning's BOW meeting?

Publicly discuss an error?

Those pretend-Democrats would sooner vote for Donald Trump -- as most of them did.

HWC's answer is cloaked in obscurantist bureaucratese, but it's an answer. In "our-way-IS-the-highway" New Gahania, two-way conversation always is to be applauded.

Now, over to the blog's junior editor, Jeff Gillenwater, whose Facebook comment excerpts from Friday characteristically summarize the situation.

It still blows me away that the single largest public works project in and around downtown New Albany in decades is happening in front of our house as I type and I (and everyone else) has to wait until they literally paint the lines on the street to know what it's going to be. Everyone in city government involved in the plan - administration, council, board of public works, planning department, engineering - should be ashamed of themselves ...

 ... Per my other post this morning, not voting for any of the minions currently involved. There's not a currently sitting council member or administrative sycophant who's deserving of public authority or money. I'll actively campaign against any of them as necessary, using their own record ...

 ... I was at the library earlier today and found the federally required environmental study for the street conversion-- probably a hundred pages or so in a big, thick binder. Know what wasn't included in all that (as legally mandated) publicly available information? A copy of the actual plan.

Of course, the "safest and most effective solution" might prove to be nothing at all, and replying to a Facebook question is a low bar, indeed. However, it's a bar the city routinely trips over. Thanks to HWC for answering the damn question.

Previously:

Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?

Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.

Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.

Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?

Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.

Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.

Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.

Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?

To reiterate, it appears that all "grid modernization" striping measurements were made from the south side of Spring, all the way from Vincennes to State. For whatever reason, whether by design or negligence on the part of City Hall's HWC Engineering concubine, if you park on the north side of the street, you get 6 to 8 inches less in terms of parking depth. Meanwhile, the half-a-foot greater depth is remarkably consistent on the south side.

Expect to see tires on curbs, but there's more. The cross hatching (buffer stripe scheme) is "aimed" the wrong way on the north side of Spring. The lines should be giving at least the subliminal signal that you should keep your west-moving car to the left of the buffer, but as painted, they imply that you should veer right.

The intersection of Spring and 10th literally is an accident waiting to happen, though we've already covered this bizarre bend.

Given narrower parking spaces on the north side of Spring, and with the prospect of wide vehicles like the one pictured above blithely encroaching by a foot and a half into the bicycle lane, cyclists face a far more confined route apart from the enhanced prospect of being "doored."

World class? My ass. It didn't have to be this way, did it?

As for the impression City Hall's timeless self-aggrandizing incomprehension leaves amid the "grid modernization" effort currently being implemented, here is the blog's junior editor, Jeff Gillenwater, whose Facebook comment excerpts from Friday characteristically summarize the situation.

It still blows me away that the single largest public works project in and around downtown New Albany in decades is happening in front of our house as I type and I (and everyone else) has to wait until they literally paint the lines on the street to know what it's going to be. Everyone in city government involved in the plan - administration, council, board of public works, planning department, engineering - should be ashamed of themselves ...

 ... Per my other post this morning, not voting for any of the minions currently involved. There's not a currently sitting council member or administrative sycophant who's deserving of public authority or money. I'll actively campaign against any of them as necessary, using their own record ...

 ... I was at the library earlier today and found the federally required environmental study for the street conversion-- probably a hundred pages or so in a big, thick binder. Know what wasn't included in all that (as legally mandated) publicly available information? A copy of the actual plan.

Autocentrism lives in New Gahania.

The proposal Jeff Speck submitted to New Albany included a fresh and significant biking infrastructure component that if implemented, would have made New Albany the undisputed regional leader.

At the time, NA Confidential warned you that Jeff Gahan would find a way to strip most of Speck's biking infrastructure ideas from the two-way plan, subverting the reversion into as lowest-common-denominator citywide paving project, diverting as much slush as possible into campaign finance coffers, declaring victory, and erecting another plaque to the usual suspects.

It's happening as I write, but of course there is little joy in being proved spot-on when so many opportunities are being squandered at so great a cost.

The Board of Public Works and Safety dozes tomorrow morning. Delusional excuses are to be expected, but the most important question: Will the feet of engineers and contractors be held to the fire, and these striping errors corrected?

Or, as usual in New Albany, do we condone incompetence? Don't look for admissions of responsibility, as these would imply City Hall conceding error, and that's something a garden variety flawless Dear Leader simply cannot do.

---

Previously:

Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.

Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.

Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?

Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.

Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.

Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.

Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.

The Green Mouse thanks an intrepid onlooker for pointing to something we've missed.

"Buffered bike lanes are conventional bicycle lanes paired with a designated buffer space separating the bicycle lane from the adjacent motor vehicle travel lane and/or parking lane."-- National Association of City Transportation Officials

The hash marks in the buffer are called cross hatching. As you can see from the two diagrams, cross hatching in the buffer should be "aimed" forward.

In what will be the new eastbound lane on Spring Street, the cross hatching is painted correctly.

But in the westbound lane, it's backwards.

The cross hatching is "aimed" the wrong way on the north side of Spring. The lines should be giving at least the subliminal signal that you should keep your west-moving car to the left of the buffer, but as painted, they imply that you should veer right.

Not only that, but as we observed previously, the parking spaces on the north side of Spring are consistently 6 to 8 inches less deep from curb to line, enhancing the prospect of cyclists being "doored."

Not only that, but this subliminal cue stands to make an already bad situation at Spring and 10th even worse.

I'm told HWC Engineering's top-dollar engineers drew up the cross hatching the wrong way, and the contractors did exactly as they were told.

Will the cross hatching error be fixed?

And if not, doesn't HWC owe taxpayers a refund?

Previously:

Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?

Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.

Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.

Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.

Did HWC Engineering read this? "The Quality of Bike Infrastructure Matters."

How Speck wanted us to do it (we won't be).

This excerpt from Merchant Meeting notes:

Beginning on May 1st the two way street project will begin, no street shut downs, lane changes, and Pavers are out, decorative cross walks are planned, ADA ramps. Dedicated bike lanes on Market and Elm, Market St some shrubs coming out and trees being planted.

Although unmentioned, we'll assume the Spring Street bike lanes remain on the plan (prospective Spring Street homeowner Duggins wouldn't stand for it otherwise), and observe that the as-yet-undisclosed design of these lanes will play a large role in what comes next.

Guess what? Actual research supports this observation. Will Team Gahan get this right in the "grid monetization modernization" build-out?

Study: The Quality of Bike Infrastructure Matters, by James Brasuell (Planetizen)

Another study shows what should be obvious by now: the higher quality the bike infrastructure, the better the results in terms of safety and mode choice.

"A new study [pdf] published in the American Journal of Public Health has concluded that physical separation from motor traffic is “crucial” to reducing the higher than average cyclist injury rates seen across the U.S.," reports Mark Sutton.

SNIP

It is crucial to provide physical separation from fast-moving, high-volume motor vehicle traffic and better intersection design to avoid conflicts between cyclists and motor vehicles. More and better bicycle infrastructure and safer cycling would encourage Americans to make more of their daily trips by bicycle and, thus, help raise the currently low physical activity levels of the US population.
The study's exhibit A is provided by Minneapolis, where the city "grew its cycle network by 113% between 2000 and 2015, delivering a 79% reduction in severe injuries per 100,000 cycle journeys," explains Sutton. "This also tallied with a 203% growth in cycling in the areas where safe infrastructure was present."

Welcome back, Branden and Broken Sidewalk! Now, a look at what Louisville's doing right for bicycling, since Sharrows Rosenbarger keeps getting it wrong in NA.

This bicyclist seems mistrustful of the Main Street sharrows (2015).

First things first: Branden Klayko, we're damned happy you are feeling and doing better. We need you on the case. Welcome back!

Louisville becoming a more bike friendly city, but has room for improvement (Broken Sidewalk)

While I was gone, Louisville received some major recognition in its efforts to become more bikeable. First up, Bicycling magazine named Louisville the 31st best biking city in its biennial look at American cities. Rankings were determined based on an analysis of Census data, discussions with national and local bike leaders, and key bike-friendly indicators like the number of female bike commuters. The magazine cited the opening of Louisville’s bike and pedestrian Big Four Bridge connecting Waterfront Park with Jeffersonville, Indiana, among the city’s success stories. Since it opened in 2014, the bridge has been wildly popular, promoting walking and biking throughout the community ...

... These infrastructure improvements are also critical for Louisville to reduce its dependency on automobiles. Research has shown that the better a city’s bike network, the more people bike. Louisville’s network is beginning to reach a critical capacity with easy to use bike lanes and Neighborways where biking becomes a very comfortable and safe option for for a larger percentage of the population. Options like well-designed protected bike lanes can help encourage people who haven’t commuted by bike to give it a try. And with only 0.4 percent of the population saddling up to go to work, there’s plenty of room to attract new audiences.

What’s on your bike wish list for Louisville? Do you commute by bike? Share your vision in the comments below.

"Our city should be responsible for ensuring the safety of all citizens using our streets, not just the convenience of drivers."

Twitter here.

Just remember at all times that if Bob Caesar can't comprehend what you're talking about, it means you're on the right (shared use) track.

ON THE AVENUES: For New Albany’s Person of the Year, the timeless words of Mother Jones: “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.”

We've linked to this Frisco coverage previously, but it never hurts to reinforce useful information, whether principled action on behalf of bicyclists, or walkers, but for the most part both.

Like Caesar, most time servers in New Albany municipal government are mystified by the notion of non-automotive transportation. We'll have to help them understand, won't we? The realm of ideas is a non-starter with them, so we'll have to render these concepts tactile.

Building DIY Bike Lanes as a Form of Activism, by John Metcalfe (City Lab)

Meet the shadowy group that’s arguably outpacing San Francisco when it comes to protected bike lanes.

When it comes to bike lanes in San Francisco, there’s SFMTA—the official transit agency—and then there’s the thorn in its side known as SMFTrA. Their names may look the same at first glance, but don’t be confused.

The San Francisco Municipal Transformation Agency is a group of anonymous traffic-safety activists who formed in response to two deadly hit-and-runs on local cyclists on the same day in June. They’ve performed scores of interventions in areas known to be hazardous to cyclists and pedestrians, typically fortifying bike lanes by lining them with orange traffic cones, or even installing white soft-hit posts in the road.

They’re building the protected bike lanes they want to see around town, and they’ve caused a bit of a headache for local planners this year. Officials have complained the illicit cones and posts violate the city code, impede the work of street-sweepers, and must be removed. As such, the installations usually only last for a day or so. But in October, the SFMTrA scored a victory when the city bowed down and allowed one of their enhanced lanes to remain.

CityLab contacted SFMTrA to find out more about why they do what they do. This conversation has been edited and condensed.

What do you make of your campaign, given it's one San Francisco ideally shouldn't need? And how far are you willing to go?

We wish that we never had to do this. Our city should be responsible for ensuring the safety of all citizens using our streets, not just the convenience of drivers. But because our city was not acting with the urgency required, we felt compelled to do some work ourselves.

We are willing to use any reasonable strategy to increase safety for street users and put pressure on city officials to rapidly increase their work to create safe streets.

A sharrows symbol might as well be the Mark of Blithering Idiot on Jeff Gahan's forehead.

Here's what we know, to date. It's isn't pretty.

1. Mayor Jeff Gahan has spent millions of dollars on park units connected to each other not by walking or bicycling infrastructure, but by roads intended for use solely by cars. These roads require constant upkeep and paving, which in turn provide numerous conduits for campaign finance sluicing, but you already knew this.

2. Whenever "safety" is used as a mantra for street grid change, however fleeting and incremental, it is a dog whistle intended to describe conditions for motorists, not walkers or cyclists, because they're incidental in the grand scheme of beak-wetting.

3. During five years in office, all Gahan has done to guard against the eventuality of toll dodging is implement a grotesquely ballyhooed road diet on Spring between Vincennes and Beharrell, describe it in terms exclusive to automotive "safety", build no bicycle infrastructure whatever between Beharrell and Silver, then draw a few scant sharrow symbols on the pavement and create unprotected bike lanes from Silver to Vincennes, after which they continue ineffectively and still unprotected along high-speed, one-way Spring until petering out downtown.

4. None of these existing bike lanes are connected to any other, or to a park, or to the city's downtown commercial area, or evince any design of being connected to anything, now or in the future. They begin and end nowhere, and not once has a city planner ever revealed a comprehensive design that might convince us otherwise -- when they've bothered to answer questions at all.

5. Insofar as consultant Jeff Speck recommended protected bike lanes throughout the street grid as part of converting one-way streets to two-way traffic, 95% of his recommendations were tossed from the grandiosely tagged "Downtown Grid Modernization Project" in what might be termed as a late-term abortion.

6. While hideous, HWC Engineering's recasting of Speck's downtown street network proposal didn't materialize from the ether. It came at the behest of Gahan and the usual timer-serving suspects among city officials, among them David Duggins, the city's presumed economic development director, whose wife works for HWC, seeing as nepotism is job one with Gahan and not proposals representing genuine progress (see "beak-wetting" above).

7. And, just for the hell of it, if the opportunity presents itself to reduce shade along this botched and unrealized street grid by felling trees, Gahan's stellar team of suburbanites does this first, then insists that in spite of the absence of evidence to the contrary, far more trees are being planted than clear-cut. When we ask for the evidence, we're told that the poor, underfunded Tree Board can only do so much.

Think about the preceding.

Then consider that the very same time-serving paycheck endorsers instituting street grid mayhem as outlined above presently are seated on a steering committee to write a Comprehensive Plan to carry the city forward two whole decades.

To more of the same?

Who are you going to believe, John Rosenbarger or your own two eyes?

Today's photos are courtesy of Bicycle Lobby, on Twitter here.

Recent documentation of conditions in the civic asylum:

WITHIN CITY LIMITS: Episode XII, How Do I Join the New Albany Planning Committee?

The composition of Jeff Gahan's comprehensive plan steering committee guarantees yet another business-as-usual silo, and compels me to vomit.

New Albany's new Comprehensive Plan to be happily midwifed by precisely the same old suspects.

Jeff Speck on HWC Engineering's bicycle-free, two-way streets abortion: "I guess that's what you get when you ask engineers who do not value biking to change a plan."