Here’s the news that caught our eye this week:
– Sometimes a news story comes along that just sums everything up: In Utah, a mother has been cited for criminal neglect for allowing her son to walk to kindergarten after his school bus route was canceled.
– A new academic research study has found that people who live in walkable neighborhoods are “more socially engaged and trusting” than those who don’t.
– In the department of high profile anti-bicycle grumbling: The SF Chronicle proposes greater enforcement targeting people on bicycles. The Wall Street Journal is vexed by all things bike related, but does manage a moment of admiration for the independent spirit of the urban rider. And the New York Times casts all sorts of cantankerous aspersions (accompanied by an equally querulous cartoon). Streetsblog, as always, comes through with a gallant response.
– Meanwhile, also in New York City, a nice story about a guy who didn’t have time for the gym. When a new bike lane was installed past his work, he traded his subway commute for a bike and hasn’t looked back.
– Wooden bicycles, or chukudus, are the main form of family and commercial transportation in the town of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
– In Groningen, the Netherlands, 50% of all trips are by bicycle. In the late seventies car infrastructure was replaced with bike infrastructure over the objections of business leaders–who now want even fewer cars and more bikes.
– Out of Fresno, California, a jubilant expression of love for bicycling almost makes car culture sound nostalgic but passé. Almost.
– The latest place to embrace bike sharing is Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The contract is signed, folks. It’s coming.
– A magnetic “yellow card” is proposed as a way people on bikes can express their distress to someone who has just driven past them too close and at high speed.
– A man in Pittsburgh attempted to confront a man who had just sideswiped him on his bike and ended up in the hospital.
– UC Berkeley campus police are cracking down on cycling violations. Students are protesting the fines, which are equal to those given for committing traffic violations in cars.
– Toronto has a new mayor, who was introduced at his inauguration by a conservative television personality wearing a hot pink jacket “for all the pinkos out there that ride bicycles.”
– Some practical tips on making the case for cycling to a conservative audience.
– It’s possible to run a respectable team of 12 professional female bike racers for 5% of the budget of a men’s team. But it’s difficult to find sponsors at all when women’s racing doesn’t get the attention or airtime that men’s racing does.
– Are you a real transportation geek? Find out here.
– Video of the week: A bicycle tunnel in Marin County, California, 30 years in the making, has opened at last.
