Here’s the news that caught our eye this week:
– Organizers guess that 100,000 people turned out on Sunday for CicLAvia, Los Angeles’ first open streets event, where 7.5 miles of streets were opened up for bicycling, walking, and hanging out. Check out this short video with on-the-street interviews and great footage:
– There are a couple of cars out on the freeway today with nobody at the wheel…Google is testing a robotic driving system that will, presumably, free people up to text to their hearts’ content one day.
– Bike advocates are still crunching and pondering the new census commute numbers. Here’s an analysis of Pacific Northwest transportation stats. And here’s one that focuses on the third bikiest city in the nation, behind only Boulder and Eugene (nope, it’s not Portland).
– Are you a cyclist or a person on a bicycle? Is it wrong to use these labels, or is it good for building identity? A transit advocate tackles the question.
– Haters will hate, and bicycling is, sadly, often a target. This editorial addressing the backlash against a proposed cycle track in Vancouver, BC, and this one addressing responses to Maryland’s new bike safety laws, both do a bang-up job refuting the lies and paranoia. And finally, here’s an excellent outline of the current political ins and outs of bicycling in Toronto.
– In NYC, a disgruntled neighbor invites kindred spirits to take a stand against the new 1st Ave bike lane.
– An exploration of the state of bicycling in post-Katrina New Orleans.
– In Tampa, six people have been killed while bicycling in the last two months, and advocates are responding with anger and concern.
– Inspired by recent media focus on cycle chic, one blogger wonders if the emergence of fashionable bicycle clothing is related to an increase in women bicycling.
– In Boston, a new company allows you to make extra cash lending out your car to neighbors who don’t own one of their own.
– If all goes as planned, the first ten houses of Carfree City (previously dubbed Bicycle City) will soon be built in a wooded area in South Carolina.
– A New Zealand inventor has designed a monorail along which individual compartments are transported by pedal power. The first prototype is being built.
– Videos of the week… There are a lot of potential winners in this category, from a clever trick for opening a bottle of wine with a bike pump to a preview of a documentary about Cincinnati’s abandoned subway system, but this this Senegalese man‘s unique feats of balance and grace on his single speed bicycle take the cake for fun and inspiration.