Lords of the Sharrow? This blog's editors discuss cycling opportunities in Jeffersonville as compared with New Albany.

Bluegill posted a characteristically insightful thought about cycling.

Jeff: I listen to Jeffersonville’s mayor touting increased cycling opportunities there. Then I look out the window here in New Albany where preexisting infrastructure is actually better suited to cycling opportunities but our mayor and planners have worked to specifically remove bicycles from nearly every plan and space. That’s a big difference, one for which New Albany will pay for a long time if not corrected.

I replied.

Roger: And of course we both recall our purportedly (is puppet-edly a word?) council rep Greg Phipps stating aloud that Jeff Speck’s views on the matter of bicycling were just crazily out of sync with mainstream New Albany (read: alien to Gahanism) and merited adjustment (read: outright removal). But there they are, all the Phipps signs in the yards of “progressives,” who’ll praise Jeffersonville’s Republican Mayor for bicycling initiatives even as they vote for Phipps and Gahan, otherwise known as Lords of the Sharrow. #IronyFreeNawbany

Jeff: Yes, on all accounts.

Roger: That's what I thought, although occasionally we all need a bit of verification to make sure we haven't gone insane ...

Jeff: “Well, sure, I prefer the policies of so-and-so, but this time I’m voting for the one in the blue shirt, because I really like blue shirts, too.”

Roger:

Jeff: LOL. Three Republicans and a dentist’s office.

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Democratic mayoral candidate David White understands that change begins with a whole lotta scrubbing, and NA Confidential advocates just such a deep civic cleansing. 

After eight years on the job, Mayor Jeff Gahan's list of stunning "achievements" is long, indeed: tax increases, budgetary hide 'n' seek, self-deification, daily hypocrisy, public housing takeover, non-transparency, pay-to-play for no-bid contracts, bullying city residents and bullying city employees. Eight years is enough. It's time to drain Gahan's swamp, flush his ruling clique and take this city back from Gahan's Indy-based special interest donors. 

NA Confidential supports David White for Mayor in the Democratic Party primary, with voting now through May 7. 

The Warm Showers Community: " For Road-Weary Cyclists, a Room, a Couch, Maybe Even a Meal."

Who wouldn't want to host these upstanding citizens? (Tournai, Belgium in 2004)

Boy, did we need this (or something like it) in the Czech Republic in 2006.

Warm Showers

The Warm Showers Community is a free worldwide hospitality exchange for touring cyclists. People who are willing to host touring cyclists sign up and provide their contact information, and may occasionally have someone stay with them and share great stories and a drink. All members agree to host others either now or in the future, but for some members hosting may be in years or even decades in their future.

The mainstream media coverage has commenced.

For Road-Weary Cyclists, a Room, a Couch, Maybe Even a Meal, by Katie Kramon (New York Times)

 ... Warm Showers started small in 1993, but its website now lists 39,000 hosts and 89,000 bicycle tourers — people who hit the road for extended long-distance trips — in 175 countries. It is built, the website says, “on 100 percent reciprocal hospitality.” Hosts offer what they can: a couch, a room, or a place outside to pitch a tent, and sometimes meals, too. They receive no benefit other than the chance to make new friends and hear stories of the road. And unlike the for-profit Airbnb, Warm Showers is run by volunteers.

A wonderful ideal, indeed.

“In our society right now, we don’t know our neighbors, and we aren’t looking out for each other,” he said. “Warm Showers reminds me of something I loved as a child: trust, and taking care of each other, and stopping by the side of the road to help someone in trouble. That’s the kind of world I want to live in.”

Weekend reading: "How to get a city cycling."

Thanks to W for the link. In New Albany, we know quite well how NOT to get a city cycling: Let John Rosenbarger design streets on behalf of the DemoDisneyDixiecratic Party.

Following are ways to promote cycling through infrastructure and design, so as to encourage the alteration of habit.

How to get a city cycling, by Katia Moskvitch (BBC)

It all started with dead horses, during 1816 – the “year without a summer”. Temperatures had plummeted around the world, because of the eruption a year earlier of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora. It was among the most violent eruptions on Earth in recorded history, and the fallout of dust and sulphur caused crop failures across Europe. As horses died of starvation, the German inventor Karl von Drais came up with an idea to replace horses: a contraption with two wheels but without pedals. It was the predecessor of today’s bicycle.

Back then, it had a different name: draisine – or velocipede in French. Pedals came in due course, and soon the two-wheeled mode of getting around became popular.

Today, it’s known as the most efficient method of self-powered transportation by far.

"There is an evolutionary pressure pushing motorists towards hatred of cyclists."

At Facebook, on the topic of Jeff Speck's Downtown Street Network Proposal, a person who lives in Jeffersonville and works in Louisville wrote, "I love downtown New Albany! Please no bicycles."

Including Bike Lanes

Cycling is the largest planning revolution currently underway. . . in only some American cities. The news is full of American cities that have created significant cycling populations by investing in downtown bike networks. Among the reasons to institute such a network is pedestrian safety: bikes help to slow cars down, and new bike lanes are a great way to use up excess road width currently dedicated to oversized driving lanes. When properly designed, bike lanes make streets safer for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike -- page 39, Speck New Albany proposal.

So, why single out cyclists?

Moreover, why do drivers become so angry with cyclists? The BBC's Stafford says it is because cyclists "offend the moral order."

Do you agree?

The psychology of why cyclists enrage car drivers, by Tom Stafford (BBC)

Something about cyclists seems to provoke fury in other road users. If you doubt this, try a search for the word "cyclist" on Twitter. As I write this one of the latest tweets is this: "Had enough of cyclists today! Just wanna ram them with my car." This kind of sentiment would get people locked up if directed against an ethnic minority or religion, but it seems to be fair game, in many people's minds, when directed against cyclists. Why all the rage?

I've got a theory, of course. It's not because cyclists are annoying. It isn't even because we have a selective memory for that one stand-out annoying cyclist over the hundreds of boring, non-annoying ones (although that probably is a factor). No, my theory is that motorists hate cyclists because they think they offend the moral order.

Louisville bicycling progress: "While we are painting bike lanes and sharrows, other cities are doing much more."

Note that in New Albany, the current regime intends to do precisely that: Chart cycling progress by gallons of paint purchased to inscribe meaningless sharrows symbols on otherwise unaltered city streets.

Opinion: Louisville needs more than bike lanes to achieve real cycling progress, by Chris Glasser (Insider Louisville)

... Yes, it is true that in the last two years Louisville has invested more in its on-street bike infrastructure than ever before. But it is also true that while we are painting bike lanes and sharrows, other cities are doing much more.

Fundamental traffic calming and a willingness of political leaders to take ownership of the project? Two more aspects we shan't be seeing in New Albany any time soon.

1) We need to stop thinking simply in terms of bike lane miles and start building infrastructure that vastly improves safety and convenience. We should be implementing cycletracks like those in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati (and lots of other places), providing fully-separated, on-street pathways for bikers. And we should be investing in traffic-calming measures like they have in Seattle and Portland — speed humps, traffic diverters, or simply just more four-way stop signs on residential streets.

2) Since it’s not really about money, we need local political leaders (from neighborhood associations to Metro Council members to Mayor Fischer) to really go to bat for this idea. Mayor Bill Peduto in Pittsburgh has done it for his city, while Seattle neighborhood associations have spearheaded massive change there. There will always be bikelash, but the argument for biking is sound and easy to make: it’s good for the health of citizens, good for their pocketbooks, good for the local economy, and good for urban revitalization. Louisville needs a voice that will simply say this as many times as it needs to be said.

Road ID for cyclists.

I've gotten back outside on the bicycle four out of the last five days, with visits to the YMCA sufficing on Sunday when it rained, and earlier, on the snow and cold days. Last year proved to be a fine comeback biking year, with my highest kilometer total since 2006, and I'm looking to be out on the road as much as possible this year.

Some time back, N forwarded this link to Road ID. It isn't conventional biking season yet, but this sounds like a solid idea.

Road ID ... and a bit more comprehensive driver education?

(Re)cycling idea(l)s.

Streetfilms again. Copenhagen again.

Copenhagen: City of Cyclists.

The first in a five part series on Copenhagen cycling, the very first episode of A Billion Bikes:



We should open or build cycling bridges and lanes first before any other transportation construction occurs. Anyone living in or near downtown New Albany or Jeffersonville could get to downtown Louisville and its surrounding neighborhoods (and vice versa) easily and safely, making all the above more valuable in terms of quality of life and hard dollars.

Smart Alert: Pucher on Europe in Louisville