Here is a short video of some serious critical cycling mass in Copenhagen, Denmark...

I'm wrapping up a final list of bike racks for our town to obtain through the Metropolitan Area Planning Council's (MAPC) Regional Bike Parking Program. Today is the deadline to order bike racks which are then reimbursed by this program. Our town administrator and school officials are excited to get the racks and hopefully, this will be another small step towards increased biking and walking in Westwood.

Here's one of the racks we hope to replace/improve:

Every horrific death of a cyclist leads to rounds of recriminations and a brief "coming together" of the cyclist community to draw attention to how, in the battle between car and bike, bike (and biker) always loses. In Toronto this summer, a prominent politician (former Attorny General of Ontario, Michael Bryant) engaged in an altercation with a cyclist--the end resulting being the cyclist clinging to his car and eventually being dragged under the rear wheels and killed. The cyclist, a 33-year old father of 3, was a bike courier.

The Toronto Cyclists Union, after some initial reaction and anger and protest, is adopting a very different and positive campaign to attempt to get drivers to notice and respect cyclists--described in the YouTube video below:

The Cyclists Paving the Way campaign aims to "flip" the negativity and emphasize positive driver behavior by encouraging bike riders to hand out little "Thank You" cards to drivers who do "small" actions that acknowledge and respect cyclists...little things like looking before opening a car door or clearly checking for a cyclist when turning.

I like the idea and although I'm not sure about the logistics of handing out cards in busy traffic, I know that I've observed--even in Boston--some standout behavior from people driving cars that should have been thanked. I was shocked one day, at the Mass. Ave and Columbus Ave intersection, to observe a driver asking a guy on a bike about whether or not he (the driver) was OK to be using a lane with a bike drawn on it for his right turn. (Yes, the bike lanes convert to "sharrows" at major intersections.) I've also noted a number of times when I could feel cars patiently waiting for me to "clear" an intersection as they approached from behind to make a right turn...and many times when cars at 4-way stops waved me through as I slowed to pause...

We tend to remember the negative 10 times more than the positive, it seems. The story of the person in a car who buzzed me or yelled at me for no reason--that sticks in my mind for weeks or months, but really, most of the time, most people in cars are actually trying to co-exist. When I have crashed a few times over the years, I've had people jump out of their cars and offer to drive me somewhere--I was embarassed, actually--it was no big deal--but we tend to forget or cynically refuse to believe that actually, most people out there are kind and considerate. If they were not--you wouldn't be able to get a mile down the road without being killed as the opportunities for mayhem are so great...and, as I said in the beginning, in a conflict between car and bike, the car always wins.

I hope the Toronto experiment works. It's not always going to be practical and presumably a cyclist motivated to be this kind of "goodwill ambassador" will be safety-conscious enough to give out these little cards without creating a distraction. But it would be great to see those kind of interactions happening--with less emphasis on the demands for enforcement, penalty and road justice that color most discussions of how bikes and cars get along.

Today is the last day in the world I'd ride my bike because it was -3 degrees when I woke up. But exciting things are happening in Massachusetts and Boston related to cycling:

Bicyclist Safety Bill

Governor Patrick signed the Bicyclist Safety Bill into law. This legislation has been underway for 8 years. MassBike has a detailed review of what the law means to cyclists and drivers, but some key items include:

• Motorists can be ticketed and fined $100 for "dooring" cyclists. That's what happens when someone kicks their car door open in front of you and you crash into the door.
• The "right hook" is outlawed. That's when a car passes you quickly so they can make a right turn in front of you. You die.
• Motorists must yield when making left turns in front of bikes. This is to avoid "T-boning" accidents where motorists don't realize how fast bikes go and turn in front of them.
• Bikes CAN legally ride to the right of traffic and motorists turning left must yield. This is what happened to me a few months ago when I crashed my bike in Dedham. Under the law now, that motorist is absolutely at fault for hitting me.

I wish I could claim credit for helping pass this law, but the credit belongs with the cycling community and MassBike in particular.

Boston Bikes Update

The city of Boston has been making great progress towards its goal of becoming bike friendly. On Thursday, January 29, at 7pm, at the main branch of the Boston Public Library, LivableStreets Alliance will host the 1st annual "Boston Bikes Report" by the city's Director of Bicycle Programs, Nicole Freedman.

This event is free and open to the public. The focus of the meeting will be on future steps needed to create the "world class bicycling city" that Mayor Menino has promised. There will be additional discussion about what could be done to significantly expand the cycling population -- and its political influence -- by attracting "traffic intolerant" bicyclists.

"Traffic intolerant bicyclists" means ordinary people who are not insane like me...who rides his bike 13 miles into Boston through conditions that prompt my wife's friends to say "how can you let him do that?" The dream is that Boston will transform, during our lifetime, into a city where cycling and walking are pleasant, preferred activities that everyone does without fear.

My primary bike is still bent out of shape and frozen in the garage, but I'm looking forward to warmer days (and a job in the city!) so I can resume my bike commuting. In the meantime, I encourage everyone who can to check out the progress being made here in Boston.

Towns, cities, developers, business leaders and activists should seize the communication opportunities available in social media to collaboratively and cooperatively plan their economic futures.

I recently blogged about how Boston World Partnerships is developing a social media approach to facilitate connections between "movers and shakers" in Boston and globally promote the city. I subsequently chatted with Eric Schoenfeld and got a better sense of how they are in the process of preparing to launch what will be a resource and affinity network--like an alumni network for the city. It could connect all those who identify with the creative and intellectual "gravitas" that is Boston in a way that fosters collaboration and cooperation. I see this project as a way to address the criticisms and comparisons of the culture of the past--most notably the Saxenian appraisal of why Silicon Valley beat Boston in the 90s race to be a technology capital.

Read more »

Update: The MBTA is constructing a temporary ramp to be completed this week.

Simple problems don't have simple solutions...in fact, the more obvious the solution, the less likely it is to be solved. I'm not talking about technical problems, but community problems--problems that are systemic in nature. Efforts to address one part of the issue upsets an underlying system and things quickly become complicated.

A specific case of this is the situation near where I live, at the Dedham Corporate Center commuter rail stop. This blog post at myDedham is a great illustration of a problem stated, information provided by the town, and the quick exposition of underlying complexities:

For several years now, train riders have been cutting through a chain link fence to reach Rustcraft Road across the tracks from the intended parking area. Promotional materials for the luxury apartments on Rustcraft Rd describe their location as only a "crosswalk away from the Dedham T Station."

There is no crosswalk. What happens every day is that pedestrians pass through a 2-foot wide break in a chain link fence and climb over a dirt embankment down to Rustcraft Road where they dart across to the apartments. It is a ridiculous situation.

For the problem-solver, this is easy. We need to open up the fence, add a sidewalk path from the train platform to the road, put in a crosswalk--ideally with a stop light, and put in sidewalks all along the apartment side of the road. Instead, the MBTA has recently begun to block off that 2-foot wide gap in the fence because they are now concerned about liability. So people just walk down the tracks to where the fence ends and cut through the woods there.

The problem here is not so simple. In technical fields--and in most business situations--we are taught to analyze the problem and find a solution. When emotional issues arise, we are told to "separate the people from the problem." Therein lies the root of why nothing has been done for so many years...

The people are the problem. Apparently, when Dedham Corporate Center was originally developed, the neighborhoods on the Rustcraft Road side were so concerned about traffic from people rushing to the train, that they demanded assurances that there would never be access to the train station from their neighborhoods. Now they are watching the construction of Legacy Place which landlocks them between Route 128/I95, the train tracks, and this new luxury living mall. Their backs are against the wall--quite literally, as the highway department just erected a sound barrier behind their homes.

When I say the people are the problem, I'm not saying that they should shut up and go away. What I am saying is that a series of decisions have been made where clearly the residents were considered an inconvenience and now they have been backed into a corner. There is not much left of a neighborhood--we are talking about 15-20 houses. But it illustrates an unfortunate outcome with "loose ends" manifested in this idiotic train situation.

If we were in China, those homes would have been bulldozed long ago. But this is America and we are supposed to do better by our neighbors than that. But the problem is that I think too often we focus on solving a problem, engineering a solution, creating something new--and disrespecting the community because we have separated the people from the problem. Planners, developers, architects--often yearn to paint a new canvas with their enlightened brushstrokes, then placate the abuttors, the objectors, the irrational folks who don't share their vision of progress.

We see a similar tempest in Westwood. Billions of dollars may (better check the markets today!) be spent to create a mini-city of Westwood Station that will grow the town of Westwood by multiples and secure our economic future...if all goes according to plan. But the project is self-contained. Residents and neighboring towns are concerned about traffic, so millions of dollars are spent to mollify the abutting residents with "traffic calming" measures while neighboring towns are negotiated with and dismissed--resulting in legislative maneuvering and political tricks designed to sabotage the project. When I suggested in a blog post that it would be nice to connect Westwood Station to the neighborhoods...it sounded crazy to the residents who want walls built and assurances that they will not get any spillover traffic...the same pattern repeats. Fundamentally conservative residents don't want their lives to change and don't want new development in their backyards because it will be bad.

So our elected officials play a tactical game of problem-solving. What do we need to do to make these people shut up or get around them? If traffic is the problem, OK, let's fix that and move on. But I believe the problem is always the people...it is about engaging the people in a respectful dialog and working with them--not just to mitigate damages, but to adapt the community to new opportunities. Maybe I am naive and optimistic, but I think many of these problems grow out of a failure of vision and the mistaken belief that if we just fix a few specific problems, then we can get on with things and the objectors will go away.

I think the opportunity to develop on a massive scale is almost a gift for the community...most of the time, there is no money to do anything...adding sidewalks, just fixing the potholes is a challenge. So when a developer shows up ready to spend millions of dollars we should figure out how to make that investment benefit our community--not just cover mitigation of the presumed damages that come from growth. Can we trust the developer? Probably not. But just like politics, you've got to be in the game from the beginning...we need to be constructively engaged from planning, through build-out, management, and even the end of life of these projects.

It may be too much to ask of our government. I don't know what the structure would be but it seems to me we need to find a way to connect our communities with development not just negotiate a set of costs and benefits for a project. Circumstances change constantly...so what seemed a good idea 10 years ago might not be so good now. But when we break the bonds of community, good luck getting any cooperation down the road when the residents have watched their neighborhood being turned into a ghetto by the policies of the town and commercial motivations of the developer.

Today, the city of Boston will announce a website that is described by the Boston Globe as a "Facebook-like social networking website." That description fails on so many levels to communicate the value of what the city is doing.

Boston World Partnerships is the non-profit created by Mayor Menino to promote economic development in the city of Boston. The concept is so much more than a website...it's how we use modern communication technology to market our talent and facilitate development. It's part of the answer to the question I was asked by a Selectman in Westwood as how a blog could play a role in a policy debate other than allowing residents to "vent."

Social networking is about using technology-enhanced media to connect people and ideas and start constructive conversations. Of course it's also about connecting with all your friends from college, but in the business and political context, we can use blogs, wikis, twitter, facebook, and even myspace to give more people more opportunity to participate. It's not just about people venting or individual citizens complaining--it is about finding, connecting, and leveraging the human capital of our communities. The Boston World Partnerships site is clearly at the business and professional end of this spectrum:

Mission: Boston World Partnerships informs business leaders worldwide about the competitive advantages that Boston offers, and connects them with the resources they need to locate and grow here. We also work to strengthen the general business climate and to help existing Boston businesses achieve sustainable success.

It is admitedly a long stretch to go from my small town blog and experiments on twitter to something of this magnitude, but the principles are all there. Use social media marketing to market a city. Connect the "movers and shakers"--whether they be individuals, entrepreneurs, non-profits, activists or whatever. There is no need to be held back due to hierarchical planning and bureacracy when we can connect the people who know how to get things done and support their efforts with an infrastructure that takes advantage of the latest technical and media innovations. This is the future--not just future technology, but the future of applying business and marketing principles to public and social policy.

On a beautiful fall day in New England, who would want to drive a car to work? For some time, I've been meaning to carry a camera along my bike ride to work and take some photos. Last Friday, I got that chance.

My trip begins on Gay Street in Westwood--a wide, tree-lined street with farm/mansions at one end and houses like mine at the other. Usually, there is a line of cars up the hill from the stoplight, but on this day, I left a bit later and found no traffic. I was unable to snap a photo of the interminable bridge construction on Washington Street crossing route 128...but perhaps, before my kids start college, I will be able to ride my bike across a new, smooth bridge instead of dodging potholes and racing cars on the currently 2-lane bridge into Dedham.

I take Washington Street through Precinct 1 in Dedham, to Dedham Square.

After the square comes the circle--a terrible idea where Washington Street meets Route 1, resulting in a mess of concrete and asphalt that divides Precinct 1 and Dedham Square from East Dedham. Often, I avoid the circle by taking East Street, but that's under construction too, so today, I braved the circle and charged on through and headed up Washington St past the former Dedham Mall.

Washington Street is a wide, 4-lane road that also serves a number of busses that make their way from the former Dedham Mall into the Boston neighborhoods of West Roxbury and Roslindale. In the moning, the traffic is not bad and although trucks and buses can sometimes come a little close for comfort, my bigger concern is dodging the ruts and potholes.

I always get caught at at least one light; this time, I'm left to look up the last stretch to Bellevue Hill and the West Roxbury Parkway/Eneking Parkway. I used to take the parkway because it is a nicer ride through Brookline, but Washington Street remains the most direct and efficient route, so I usually stick with that.

From the top of the hill, on a clear day, I can see all the way down into the city, from the clock tower at Forest Hills station on to the downtown skyline. The downhill ride is fast--sometimes 25mph or more. Coming home, this becomes a more leisurely ride, allowing ample time to experience the full ambiance of the housing projects along the way...

Forest Hills station is another cycling dilemma, not suitable for leisurely photo projects. The buses I have been competing with all down Washington Street converge on the station. But, after navigating through the maze of buses, taxis, and pedestrians, I cross the street and begin cycling down the southwest corridor multi-use path. The path take me through Jamaica Plain. The southwest corridor is a good idea...and most of the path is a great bike ride. But it can be challenging to cross certain streets. Some sections of pavement, especially around Green Street station, are so bad that most experienced cyclists opt for the road instead of the path.

The road also makes it easier to cross at Jackson Square. Jackson Square is the T stop abutting the Heath-Bromley projects. Some of these areas...I hear about them later on the news as crime scenes. But I've never felt unsafe riding through Roslindale and JP. On a bike, the biggest danger is your own lack of attention...then road/street hazards...then cars...then, maybe pedestrians.

The southwest corridar park takes me all the way to Ruggles station and the Northeastern campus.

As I ride up Columbus in the morning, I'm shielded from the bright sun by the campus buildings, then I cross Mass. Ave into the Back Bay on Columbus Ave.

I work my way through the South End via Warren Street and cut through on Waltham St to the "South of Harrison" artist district...past a big bus garage...until I encounter a highway mess.

The most difficult part of my ride is getting from the South End to Southie. It's not a long ride, but I need to go up this 4-lane road to a left turn under the I-93 overpass and along roads under the highway until I can cut over to Southie on either the 4th St or Broadway Bridge. The problem here is that these roads are all ramps and feeders and not really suitable for bikes. I've tried other routes, but there is always a trade off and just too many on/off ramps in this part of town to avoid. I was shocked to see a woman running a baby carriage across this intersection, againt the light that I was afraid to cross against...insanity.

After crossing into South Boston, the final leg of my ride is up the Harbor walk along Fort Point channel, next to the Gillette Factory. Each morning I get an awesome view of downtown lit up by the rising sun and constantly changing as new construction projects alter the Boston skyline on a daily basis.

This ride takes about 50-60 minutes. I could probably do it faster, but I've learned that is the speed I can do without breaking too much of a sweat so I can still go into work without grossing everyone out. I hope.

I have a lucky perspective on changes in Boston. I went to college here in the late 1980s and then came back 15 years later. So much has changed--even more dramatically in the past couple of years.

The Boston of my youth was what you saw on Cheers or Spenser for Hire. As a college student, everything was defined in terms of proximity to a T stop. I didn't realize how close some things were to one another--for example, I knew that Faneuil Hall was a short walk from Government Center, but Aquarium was another T stop. South Station was irrelevant unless you needed to catch a train out of the city.

The Big Dig changed all that with the creation of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. When I emerge from South Station today, instead of seeing an ugly expanse of green steel and raised highway, I see this:

I explored Boston on foot 20 years ago and vividly recall the imposing barrier that was the raised highway. From the Faneuil Hall marketplace, it was possible to duck under the highway and make your way through a dark area that was perpetually dripping something from the roadway above, eventually emerging in the vicinity of the New England Aquarium. But most people just took the T to the Aquarium stop and walked from there. Similarly, an exploration of Haymarket Square involved taking the red line to Downtown Crossing where a long underground tunnel connected to the Orange line and you would emerge in a vacant gray plaza a couple of blocks away from Haymarket. From there, one could crawl under the multiple layers of highway, again, dodging the ever-present dripping, to get to the North End.

Each destination was isolated. It never occurred to me that they could be connected. There was history and charm in these places, but they were very discrete points of interest, not really part of a connected whole. I never did manage to walk the Freedom Trail and I never got a sense of how the harbor area connected with the rest of the city.

I recently took a walk down the the new greenway and was amazed at what has been transformed.

Only a few years ago, I recall dropping my wife off for her job at 1 International Place...things were still a concrete and steel mess. Today, all that has become a park. Gazing along what used to be an impassable mass of green steel and concrete once can see an arc of green and from one vantage point, glimpse South Station and the spire of the Old North Church at the same time. It is possible to walk between all these parts of the city--and also to see the harbor. I remember how as a college student I was hardly even aware there was a Boston Harbor--it was hidden behind the highway. Today the city is connected and once can see the bay, the airport, and beyond.

On the other side of the greenway, development proceeds at a furious pace.

Russia Wharf is preserving three old buildings while excavation continues prior to building out a 32-story skyscraper that will rise above the facades of the historic buildings and create a new Boston skyline.

The effort being expended to preserve these buildings is truly phenomenal. For the past year, I've watched as work crews meticulously hollowed out the buildings, while leaving the brick facades up on all sides.

Behind the facades, workers have excavated several levels down and installed massive steel columns to support the structure that will grow out of all of this.

Next Saturday, October 4, the Greenway will formally open with a big party. I don't know if we'll manage to get down there with the kids, but I highly recommend anyone who has not been there in the past few years to check it out. It's a cliche, but you have to see it to believe it.

Over at WestwoodBlog, I write about my vision for increased walking and biking in Westwood. I include the following list of resources that are great for anyone looking to improve pedestrian and bicycle transportation:

• Dan Burden's Walkable Communities is a website with tons of articles about this topic. Walkability is not just for cities or small towns--and it is part of a whole sustainability movement. I could go on...but Dan does it better. :)
• Cambridge-based Livable Streets sends out a newsletter that compiles links to interesting articles on many transportation issues in the Boston area and nationally. They also hosts events such as this upcoming talk about how residents of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury fought back the big highway projects of the 60s to save their communities.
• walkBoston is not just about Boston; this resource hub is helping facilitate efforts in 58 communities across Massachusetts. walkBoston piloted the first Safe Routes to School program in 2000.

These are just a few resources to get people started thinking about improving the walkability of their communities. Here is a link to the topic thread of my blog posts on Walkable Westwood.