Later, she rode her sister’s smaller bike and got a better sense of balance.  She could put both feet down on the ground so she wouldn’t fall over.  Another short video:  “Easy to put feet down” method.

Fear is the biggest challenge in learning to ride a bike.  Creating a situation of confidence, as opposed to a challenge, leads to a happier little cyclist.  And, along with this, more relaxed parents.

Today I was also looking at the Moorestown Bike Plan at communitywalk.com. This site is more oriented towards people drawing their routes in. Toole Design and Urban Engineers are using this service, which costs $4.95 month.

So, today I was asked if we can develop something like this communitywalk. We actually have developed some custom sites that are database oriented, but these focus on point data only. Now, with the NJ State Bike Map, we will have a project that can utilize greater GIS/Web functionality.

I’m excited about this.

Yesterday, my daughter Jessica and I were out shopping for a gift for my wife, Sandi.  We visited several jewelry and gift shops in Jenkintown, and ended up here at This Little Gallery on West Ave, owned by an inspiring woman and life-long resident of Jenkintown named Trish Breslin-Miller. Trish wasn’t there, but we were treated so well.  Shopping here is a very special experience.  You walk in, and the music is really good.  Everything about the store makes you feel good.  Everything is made by American artists.  I took the photos above while we were here.

Sandi and I first met at Bicycle Therapy on South Street.  It was the morning of a Bicycle Club of Philadelphia Ride.  I’d been a member of BCP in the past and never seemed to make it to the club rides, but this morning Bob Ingersoll had said, “Why don’t you come along.”

I enjoyed talking with Sandi as we biked, even as this crazy ride took us over the 291 Bridge (the expressway-like bridge between the Schuylkill Expressway and the Airport).  She had a good attitude about it all, as she did when she later got a flat tire.  The next time we got together, it was just the two of us going on a bike ride from her apartment across from the 12th Street Gym, over the Ben Franklin Bridge, along the Cooper River to Cherry Hill, NJ.  We crossed back into Pennsylvania on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, and headed south into Center City (on the subway, I think).

1940 WPA walk map

So, tomorrow for Valentine’s Day dinner, we’re heading to the Valley Green Inn.  I proposed to Sandi along a hiking trail in the Wissahickon, upstream from Valley Green.  And then we headed to the Valley Green Inn for dinner.  I like parks and woods and Chestnut Hill (where we later lived before moving to Jenkintown).  And Sandi does too.

]]> http://phillymap.com/2010/02/13/something-for-valentines-day/feed/ 0 http://phillymap.com/2010/02/12/must-others-be-careful-for-you/ http://phillymap.com/2010/02/12/must-others-be-careful-for-you/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:44:14 +0000 Steve http://phillymap.com/?p=400 This little ad caught my eye as I read some 1932 copies of The Highway Magazine yesterday.  Highway Magazine is an amazing walk through history for me, partly because my grandfather edited it from the 1920′s to the 1960′s. I was reading a volume of 1932 magazines because I was interested in what was going on just before Roosevelt took over the presidency from Hoover.

Safety information is something that goes on most bicycle maps.  As a parent of two girls, I bicycle with them in conditions that aren’t ideal.  My mantra is, “Cars don’t see bikes.”

Inattentive and generally bad drivers are everywhere, even on quiet neighborhood streets with traffic calming.  A street, regardless of whether it is pleasant for bicycling or walking, is not good when you get hit by a driver who was looking for vehicles, not people.

The other day, a lady yelled at me because she didn’t see my daughter and I on our tandem as she came up on us from behind.  What can you say to somebody like this?

Cover of the PA Outdoors Plan

Last night, while the Superbowl was on, I read through the 2009-2013 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan.  Note… I’d suggest starting on page 18 and then go back and read the beginning after you’ve read the more interesting content.

On page 65, the plan says, “Serious work needs to be done to broaden and strengthen the constituency for outdoor recreation.”  If you read the content of the plan, you’ll see that it addresses needs for urban, rural and suburban populations.  Local and county parks constitute 43% of “Away-from-Home Recreation Activity.”  And it talks about goals for street trees and access of urban neighborhoods to nature.

The overall feel of the plan, however, gives me the impression of a romanticized notion of nature:  featuring fishing, camping, waterfalls, horseback riding, ATV use, bicycling and hiking trails, etc.  I love this stuff, and I think it’s important.  But I think most of the opportunities presented here are predicated on one thing:  Access (by car).

As was noted in the plan, being outdoors doesn’t have to mean traveling two hours to go to a state park.  It mentions having easily accessible outdoor activities that you don’t need a car to get to. Even street trees and community gardens are mentioned.

The Pennsylvania Wilds Conservation Landscape Initiative, which I wrote about yesterday, provides $140 million for enhancing state parks and revitalizing communities.  It’s pretty clear to me that this will never be enough. We can’t just take large areas of the state out of private ownership.  When Yellowstone National Park (our first National Park), was created, Wyoming wasn’t even a state. And there were still pressures by private interests to control it in order to make a profit.

I was thinking about the fact that 69% of respondents to the State Outdoor Recreation Plan thought there should be more bike lanes.  But in many places, there just isn’t space.  And I think this demand for bike lanes correlates to peoples’ fear of bicycling in traffic.

So, given that it’s too expensive to buy up all the land, and bike lanes aren’t faring too well outside of Philadelphia, here’s what I wonder.  What if, like West River Drive is closed on weekends, all roads in Pennsylvania were closed to cars for two hours a day?  Or maybe longer on weekends.  People could walk and bike in the streets without fear of cars.  This would immediately give people access to the outdoors.  It would immediately address the obesity epidemic.  It would improve communities.  I don’t know all the consequences of this.  I think it could start as a statewide experiment – like a four hour car-free Pennsylvania event.  It would really bring everyone together around something positive.  People could have parties in the streets.

Outdoor recreation – It’s having fun outside.  It’s not being in front of a computer or a TV, which are the biggest competition to parks, gardening or sports. And I think it’s under attack by the very modes of transportation that we think we need to enjoy the outdoors.

Accessing the Schuylkill River Trail, eastbound on Chestnut St.

Twenty inches of snow has freed our streets of cars and created a sledding slope in front of my house.  A common challenge of shoveling brings my neighbors out for friendly conversation.   I like my neighbors.

This afternoon, we drove down North Broad Street, which really looked nice covered in snow.  People were walking in Broad Streeet.  Cars were driving under the speed limit.  It felt relaxing.  Is this what life would be like with far fewer cars?  We were driving to a birthday party in Penn Valley.

After most people had left the party, I talked with my wife’s cousin Andrew about his bike commute to U Penn from Penn Valley (Bala Cynwyd).  He commented on part of his bicycle commute from 34th and Chestnut.

As he bikes east along Chestnut, he enjoys the bike lane on the right side of the street.  Then he’s faced with crossing traffic to eventually get to the ramp leading down to the trail.  Andrew commented that he feels the safest way to get to the ramp is to cross the street and travel on the sidewalk to the ramp.  This adds a few minutes to his trip.

Andrew wondered what I would do?  Personally, I would just move to the left non-turning traffic lane and act as traffic.  A lot of cyclists aren’t comfortable with this though.   What would you do?

This weekend at the park is their winterfest.  Locals  are looking forward to snow for this event.

So, I was meeting with a group working on the NE PA six counties of the CLI.  There are 7 areas of Pennsylvania where DCNR and partners are “working on creating a sustainable regional economy based on our natural resources and these links between communities and resources.”
How do you express this on a map?

Let’s take a step back…  What is the Conservation Landscape Initiative (CLI)… I really don’t know much about the CLI, but here’s an article about why it exists, and Ellen Ferretti at Pennsylvania Environmental Council is quoted.  I also found a link to another summary.

When you are involved in an initiative, it’s natural for it to consume much of your energy. I think that stakeholders involved on a day to day basis need to focus on details.  But people who would be supportive of the CLI efforts (such as local communities, state representatives, and Congressional Reps), need a much broader picture.  They need to see what’s most important in a split second.  If you’re advocating for the CLI to a potential supporter, you need to leave them with a summary that, I think is, a map, the mission statement, specific asks, a reason to be feel good, and how these asks fit into a broader context (ie, the projects total investment priorities).

The consequence of driving 4 hours for a 20 minute meeting was that I could consume about 8 gallons of gas, add some carbon emissions to the atmosphere, and listen to Ken Burns’ book  The National Parks.

Looking at the CLI efforts from an outsider’s perspective, I think of all the people in the Philadelphia Area I know who either own properties in the CLI or are looking at buying properties.  And when you romanticize the “cabin on the lake”,  “the mountain house”, or “the farmette”, the reality is that you’re buying into private lands at a cost of maybe $200,000 + $2500/year (taxes and utilities) that could be appreciated by everyone.  I explore these opportunities for fun and then realize how much nicer it is to head to a CLI area and go to a B&B or enjoy a state park campground.  And then we can invest that much more into making our homes and communities, where we live day to day, nicer.

As residents of Southeastern PA, we don’t need to know the details of the Conservation Landscape Initiative.  We do need to support it. It’s a great connection to nature.  I appreciate the efforts of everyone working on what seems a monumentally important task.

Tom Branigan  loaned me David Byrne’s book, Bicycle Diaries.  I ended up buying a copy anyway.  Byrne is coming to talk about bicycle advocacy next Thursday at the Academy of Natural Sciences.  So far, I’ve found his book enjoyable.  He shares a global perspective and writes well.

While ordering a copy of Bicycle Diaries for myself, I decided to also get Jeff Mapes’ book, Pedaling Revolution.  David Byrne reviewed Mapes’ book in the New York Times.  No offense to Byrne, but I can’t put Mapes’ book down.  Part of it is that I get to read about friends like John Dowlin.

John Dowlin was one of the creators of the 1974 Philadelphia Bicycle Map and was one of the founders of the Bicycle Coalition.  He has been an inspiration and has dedicated much of his life to promoting the joys of bicycling.  I’ve learned a lot from his Bicycle Network News books and Cycle and Recycle Calendars.  We’ve bicycled together and had conversations about Mapping Havana Cuba.  We’ve worked together on Neighborhood Bike Works.  In John’s calm, passionate way, he knows how to stick to his vision of improving the world.  Mapes quotes John as saying, “I really felt the bicycle could be for the world’s cities what the spinning wheel was for Ghandi.”

These two bicycle books have made their way in front of other books that are sitting in my pile.

Next on my list is Restructuring the Philadelphia Region, by Carolyn Adams, David Bartelt, David Elesh and Ira Goldstein.  Mark Mattson, my cartography instructor at Temple GUS Department, did the maps.

Gerry Krieg gave me the book:  You are Here – Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall, by Colin Ellard.

I also bought copies of the WPA Guide to Philadelphia and the WPA Guide to Pennsylvania.  Every Philadelphian needs to check out a copy of the WPA Guide to Philadelphia (at the library).

Our Bike Friday Tandem. An awesome commute to school.

I moved to Jenkintown from Chestnut Hill.  In the past I’ve lived at 21st and Spruce, Academy House (14th and Locust), Spruce Hill, Fairmount, and Spring Garden neighborhoods.  While very nice, none of these locations in Philadelphia can compare to the convenience of Jenkintown, especially if you have a family.  I’ll also add that I’d take Jenkintown to living on the Main Line any day.

Despite living just a few blocks from the R7 Chestnut Hill East, I really wasn’t happy with hourly rail service that’s so typical.  My wife works in Abington, and Jenkintown is a dream location for a rail commuter who doesn’t want to worry about missing the next train.  The Jenkintown-Wyncote Station is served by the R1, R2, R3 and R5 trains and is the best served station outside of Center City and Temple.

The town itself is a little hilly, but it’s compact, has a historic housing stock (in multiple price ranges and sizes), sidewalks everywhere, and beautiful old street trees.  You can live here more easily without a car than you can in Center City.  A bicyclist or walker has easy access to Acme, Whole Foods,  Trader Joes, Produce Junction, Glenside Farmers Market or Barnes and Noble.  I can walk to four coffee shops in 5-15 minutes and bike to several more in that same time.  We have inexpensive office space, good restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a remarkably nice first run community movie theater.

I can walk to an indoor swimming pool/fitness club, walk to the dentist, ophthalmologist or the doctor, walk to UPS in 3 minutes or one of two post offices in 5.  I can walk to my insurance agent, accountant, community bank or car repair place in just a few minutes.

We have two fire departments within about a 5 minute walk from my house, one of which has a 4th of July Bicycle Parade.  Our library is beautiful and houses the Old York Road Historical Society.  We have an effective police department, headed up by Chief Al.  The Abington Art Center is about a 10 minute walk from my house. Our town square is a gathering spot for events throughout the year.

Politically, it’s an interesting place.  Our volunteer borough council, school board, and borough staff work very hard.  Ed Foley, our mayor lives up the street from me and is a remarkably likable guy.  Larry Curry, our State Representative lives across the street from Ed.  I think Larry has the best environmental record in the state legislature. I’ve seen Representative Curry waiting for the 55 SEPTA Bus to head to Philadelphia Community College to teach history. Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz has both her Congressional office and her campaign office here.  I saw Joe Hoeffel, our former Congressman, current County Commissioner, and current candidate for Governor at the Drake Tavern recently.  There’s probably a reason that President Obama came to the West Ave Grille in Jenkintown during his campaign. Even State Representative Josh Shapiro (champion of distracted driving bills in the legislature) comes to Jenkintown to get coffee.

Jenkintown is really a remarkable place, and there is a reason that people move here for the schools and then stay for the next 30-40 years.  As residents get older, a lot of times they move into Beaver Hill Condominiums to stay apart of the community while downsizing their living space.

As a parent, I’m excited by the fact that my kids will be able to walk to school from K-12.  Jenkintown residents treasure their public and private schools.  We have the smallest school district in the state, and we don’t even need school buses.  We have 8 or 9 really nice crossing guards, and parents get to know each other as they walk their kids to school or wait to pick them up.  I actually bike on a tandem with my daughter to school, and a 10 minute walk ends up being a 3 minute bike ride.

I originally stumbled across our house while on a bike ride. It’s a 1920′s Dutch Colonial, and I’m told that the inventor of bubble gum used to live here.  The Kingsleys, who we bought the house from, were really nice.  And if want to describe where I live, I just say, “The Kingsley’s house.”

People here ride bikes.  Herb, my next door neighbor who is 80, both bicycles and skis.  Ted and Rosie, a couple houses away tour in Europe on their bikes.  Bert, who lives a few more houses away, bikes into his engineering job in Center City.  Bill and Elizabeth, who live across the street, both ride their Bromptons to work (one heads west to Plymouth Meeting.  The other heads to Trenton).  Josh, a lawyer in Center City rides his folding bike to work.  Tom, an art teacher in Southwest Philadelphia, brings his folding bike on the train.  A guy on Greenwood Ave bikes over to Fox Chase Cancer Center for his commute. We have a former bike racer and avid photographer named Big Al in town (He’s the guy in pink spandex).  A cyclist named Chuck lives in Beaver Hill apartments and bikes about 100 miles a week.  Adrienne (our movie discussion leader) bikes to summer camp with her son.  He’s on a trailer bike.  Bridget Chadwick doesn’t live in Jenkintown, but she bikes through all the time with her daughter.  Reverend Sandy Hull, at Grace Presbyterian Church rides a couple of times a week.  My neighbor Joe rides with his son JT on a trailer bike.  Our Borough Council President bought a bike at Guys Bicycles this past year.  I could go on and on.

Our local residents businesses here want to support bicycling.  For example, we showed the Movie No Impact Man on a Monday night and raised $700 towards bike racks.  About the same time, the Jenkintown Environmental Advisory Committee decided to contribute $500.  The Jenkintown Kiwanis Club said they’d commit $500.  Dr. Stuart Tollen, our award winning chiropractor (at Jenkintown Chiropractic), asked to sponsor a bike rack.  The Borough Council is looking into buying bike racks, and the masterplan calls for putting bike lanes on York Road…

As I’ve mentioned before, I can bike to anywhere in Center City in under an hour.  (It’s 40 minutes to Undine Barge Club on Boat House Row if I bike fast at 5 am.  And every trip into Center City can take a slightly different route.

To sum up… I could be very happy living in Philadelphia.  I don’t because we chose to live near my wife’s job and minimize her commute.  And I think that, in finding Jenkintown, we totally lucked out.  Now if we can get a bike shop to locate next to the Jenkintown Running Company or someplace else in town, this would be great.

Got this T-shirt at a wedding.

What do you get your brother-in-law who met your sister on a bike ride?  Mine gets me waterproof clothing, rear-view helmet mirrors, etc.

I got my brother-in-law a membership to Adventure Cycling Association because I think ACA has an awesome mission and succeeds in fulfilling it everyday.

From the ACA Website: Our mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle. We help cyclists explore the landscapes and history of America for fitness, fun, and self-discovery.

Adventure Cycling has first-rate publications, so even if my brother-in-law rarely gets on his expensive custom painted feather of a bike, I think he’s going to  enjoy this gift.  Actually, I think he’s already inspired to travel by bicycle.