Here’s the news that caught our eye this week:
– Bend, Oregon continues to be the choice of big-time race organizers. They’ve been chosen to host the 2011 and 2012 Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships.
– The final 150 mile gap of an off-road biking and walking path running from Washington, DC to Pittsburgh will be completed soon.
– The Wall Street Journal takes a look at cycling fashion, and as an afterthought, bicycle transportation. Meanwhile, the NY Times takes a look at cargo bikes.
– The Mayor of Los Angeles fell and broke his arm after someone driving a taxi abruptly entered the bike lane he was riding in. The high-profile incident might help bike advocates push for a safer bikeway.
– The federal government continues to throw itself behind the domestic industry for electric car batteries.
– New York City has cut out 570 bus stops, and Streetsblog is calling on the city to use the space for something other than car parking.
– The NYC police officer who tackled a Critical Mass participant and was found guilty of falsifying paperwork about the incident has been let off without a sentence.
– In Portland, TriMet bus and train operators are now prohibited from having cell phones turned on while on the job.
– More TriMet news… new General Manager Neil McFarLane sat down for an extensive interview with Bob Richardson of Portland Transport (first video in a series).
– Who should be served by public transit? The Next American City takes a look at one controversial project that would bypass a low-income area to serve people traveling to the airport.
– London held a poster competition and came up with some beautiful designs promoting bicycling in the city.
– And a final, inspiring note: A video of the happy hundreds who turned out for Critical Mass in Detroit last month.
But of course Joe Rose hates all critical masses, even ones he’s never seen, so we’re not supposed to link to anyone having a good time at one.
Thanks for the shout-out regarding our Neil McFarlane interview. Just to note that while I produced it, the questions were compiled from our readers and David Hogan was the on-camera interviewer.
London is doing bike lanes marked in blue but this report
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10648330
shows problems keeping vehicles out of them. Plus they have problems with left hook turns.
Thanks for the Detroit love. So far, no tackles or Tazes in the Motor City.
Upon checking out the London Poster Competition above, how many people immediately wanted a chainring like that in Frances Castle’s Cycle Revolution?
I want mine to have Portlandia, the Steel & the St. Johns bridges, the Zoo Bomb monument, the Convention Center towers, City Hall, Mt. Hood, a beer mug, a coffee cup…
TriMet hasn’t allowed operators to use phones while driving for some time. What has changed is that now the phone actually has to be TURNED OFF and out of sight, instead of just out of sight.
makes me really happy that you’ve been highlighting Detroit biking lately, given the popularity of this blog.
The law that Patrick Pogan was convicted of breaking has a minimum mandatory sentence if committed by an officer of the courts, which includes lawyers, judges, and COPS! How on the gods’ green Earth did he get by without even probation? What does NYPD have on that judge?
Sorry, I find your headline for the Next American City article to be misleading – there isn’t a low-income part of town being skipped over for service to the airport. The article’s author is stating that they think the money would be better spent on other transportation projects and make an argument with about as many holes as a block of swiss cheese. The only controversy, IMO, is whether that author should continue being allowed to write for that blog.