Yesterday, the League of American Bicyclists announced their updated list of Bicycle Friendly Communities. The closest town to Boston is Brunswick, Maine...and, in the past, Burlington, Vermont has been a winner. Both communities won the Bronze designation.

Despite some recent improvements, the City of Boston is not on the list yet. I would argue that their recent efforts make them a strong candidate, but the reality is cycling in Boston is still perceived as a life-and-death adventure and an award, at this point in time, would stretch the credibility of the League.

To win designation as a Bike Friendly Community, a community of any size (award winners range from Chicago and New York City down to Sitka, Alaska and Oxford, Mississippi) submits an application to report what has been done to make their community more bike friendly. It can be both a recognition of efforts and a promotion to encourage more residents to consider cycling.

The 28-page application is, itself, something of a roadmap for change. As communities review the application, they will quickly self-select whether or not they should be applying yet--and gather ideas for steps to take towards making an application credible.

We should be putting Massachusetts on this map. If Sitka and Oxford can be bike-friendly, then, with a bit of work, so can Westwood. Other towns like Brookline, Newton, Milton, Concord and Lexington are probably farther along, but all share significant cycling and cycling advocate populations and official town advisory boards. I would love to see one of these signs posted at the entrance to our town...of course, I'd love to see some bike lanes first!

Of course it would not be fair to just post signs without having made things any safer or friendlier. But as we deploy bike racks, involve our advisory committee in the repaving of roads (a small project next week on Gay Street is taking into account our committee's recommendations), promote our schools participation in Safe Routes to Schools, and look for more and more ways to support and encourage cycling, I believe we should make these efforts as visible as possible--not to "claim credit" but to send a message that bicycles are a welcome part of our community.

A few weeks ago, I set up an IdeaScale web site to gather suggestions for ways to improve Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety in Westwood. It has turned out to be an effective, easy way to collect ideas and our challenge now is to do something about those ideas.

The site is simple to use--that is its principal virtue. I have experimented with other online tools to help improve communication and/or organize things before, with mixed results:

• The WestwoodWiki went nowhere--I think mainly because it requires a great deal of participation, awareness, and faith that one's investment of time will be meaningful. A wiki is a website anyone can edit--allowing group collaboration in drafting documents, etc.--and although I believe it can be a great tool to foster civic engagement, and there are great examples of this in larger cities like Melbourne, Australia or Davis, California, it is hard to get the ball rolling, so to speak.
• WestwoodBlog has been successful, but inconsistent. It totally depends on my effort to stir up news and events and is most valuable when there are "hot" issues in town. If I post something about Westwood Station--the controversial development project that is now stalled due to the economic slowdown--it generates a ton of activity. If I encourage and solicit candidates for Town Election to post their ideas, this generates some commentary. And the topic I created for Walkable Westwood, has been a good place for me to publicize our efforts on Ped/Bike Safety...but the blog is a very general purpose, news-oriented site that many read, but few contribute.

The IdeaScale Site has generated 44 ideas and included several hundred people participating by voting those ideas up or down.

• I seeded the site with many of the ideas our group had already been talking about. This gave us a place to document and discuss those ideas. We had talked about circulating spreadsheets and drafting a group report, but I found publishing the ideas moved us forward more effectively.
• The site was relatively easy to use. I had a few reports of difficulty...and very few people went to the trouble of creating a login account--but as anonymous, guest users, they were able to quickly submit ideas and comments (60-plus comments so far).
• The "discussion" has stayed on track. On the blog, things can go off on tangents since there is no overall purpose, but on the IdeaScale site, it is so focused on a single purpose, I think this has avoided some of the community management problems that could result from just posting a blog item and asking for feedback.

The big question is "what next?" I believe our committee has had great discussions so far and is building an increased awareness of active transporation issues in Town, but I want us to start creating some "small victories"--little accomplishments that demonstrate we are putting ideas to work.

At our last meeting, we began to work through the ideas submitted. I exported the ideas into an Excel spreadsheet and, based on suggestions from other members of the group, created scoring columns for urgency, population impact, and relative effort--summing a 3-point scale so that when addedd together, each idea received a score ranging from 3 to 9. Then, we can sort the ideas and identify the most urgent (immediate safety issues) ideas affecting the largest number of people with the fewest obstacles to implementation as projects we should form subcommittees or working groups to address.

We began by sorting the ideas by their IdeaScale vote score and then working down through the list. The process of discussion itself was valuable--given this framework for approaching it. I projected the spreadsheet on a wall from my laptop and edited it in real-time. For each idea, I clicked on the hyperlink from the spreadsheet to a web browser that allowed us to read the full idea submitted and see the comments. In another browser window, we used google maps to view satellite imagery of the specific locations involved.

As a group, we then reached a consensus on the 3 ratings for each item. Unfortunately, our meeting was already running very late, so we only managed to review the first ten ideas--but along the way we have already begun to identify some projects and priorities and talk about solutions with people in the room who can make a difference--e.g. the Town Engineer, Safety Officer, Town Planner, Planning Board members, PTA representatives, DPW representatives, and other interested people. At our previous meetings, we have had a lot of discussion, but I believe this more structured approach is leading us towards a more methodical review of ideas.

It's early. This was just one meeting and as it approached 10pm, I was torn between the desire to get things done versus the reality that everyone needed to get home to their families. It was not a simple, "that's a 1, this is a 3," kind of discussion as people have many perspectives on each idea and it is incredibly valuable to hear that input as a group. But we began to get into a rhythm of discussion and then a conclusion that, ok, that sounds like it affects the whole town...or, ok that will require work, but it is not impossible..."

I'll report more as we progress.

My job at Mass.Gov, as manager of the Massachusetts Recovery website, ended on September 30. I have hesitated to blog about it here for two reasons: 1) I do not want to "burn any bridges," by writing negatively about an experience that did not work out for me and 2) I need to honor the standard contractor confidentiality agreement I was asked to sign before I was told my contract would not be renewed.

The job was not a good fit. The people at Mass.Gov are doing great things and the Governor's Office in particular is embracing social media and interactive communications as part of an engagement strategy that will positively change the way our government works. They--the full time staff--are laying the groundwork for the future that will be adopted gradually as leaders responsible for results see the value in these tools.

But it was an awkward situation for me. First of all, while I worked for Mass.Gov, my real "customer" was the Massachusetts Recovery Office--an oversight agency that was in the process of being formed. My position was a contract job--and contract jobs have to be renewed every 90 days, so technically, I was not fired--the contract was just not renewed for me. I should have had no expectation of automatic continued employment. But I never thought of it as a just a contract job.

My leaving was not for performance reasons--in fact I was told repeatedly that I had accomplished a lot, my work was appreciated, but the Recovery Office wanted a more junior person for this particular role--to focus on just posting content to the web site. The requirements of the role changed significantly over the course of a few months--and I wanted my role to be more expansive than it was.

I'm sure for many, my presence was a mystery. How could someone with my experience be happy managing a web site? Some people felt I was "overqualified." But I saw the job as an opportunity that fit into a larger vision of how I thought I could do something good for others while developing relationships with influential people in state government. I canceled a final round of interviews with another company because I saw the potential of this role to allow me to make a significant contribution by using my talents in communication, technology, and social media to help economic recovery.

I think that ambitious attitude wasn't perceived as altruistically as I'd like. I don't know really. I felt as though there was something wrong about me. I didn't understand why people did not want to take advantage of what I thought I was offering.

I had similar frustrations years ago working for a legislative committee staff in Washington State. The role was non-partisan--a summer internship in 1992--but I was most definitely identifiable as a Democrat when I attended the 1992 Democratic National Convention as an alternate delegate for Paul Tsongas. I was careful to separate those things--as careful as I was to separate my own personal blogging from my work with mass.gov--but I think there is just a fundamental conflict that makes bureaucrats and staff uncomfortable. When people did not assign me projects...I sought them out. People were polite but non-responsive. I created projects and tried to find work to do. I remember creating study of all 50 states welfare reform initiatives. When the summer ended...no followup, no explanations, no invitation back.

What have I learned? I think I will never be comfortable sitting in the chairs behind the people at the conference table. I was not patient enough for that when I was in my 20s; why would I want that in my 40s? I need to work and make money--we all do. But for the things I want to do with my life, I need to just do them and not look for someone to hire me. I would rather serve as an official in my town than be the Governor's chief of staff. I would rather see a single bike lane painted in my town...or a crosswalk improved...and have a neighbor thank me for doing something that matters to them--than draft "the solution" to health care reform.

So now I focus on what next...and fill out my work search log and file my weekly claim.

to be continued...

According to land use strategist Chris Leinberger, speaking at the Walk21 conference in New York City yesterday and reported on StreetsBlog:

If the American Dream of the Baby Boomers was all about being able to have a car and a house in suburbia, the new American Dream is having the choice between living in drivable suburban places and walkable urban ones.

This summer, CEOs for Cities released a study showing how the walkability of a neighborhood increased the value of homes in that neighborhood. In Charlotte, NC:

Controlling for all other factors including size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, age, neighborhood income levels, distance from the Central Business District and access to jobs, “if you were to pick up that house in Ashley Park, and place it in more walkable Wilmore, it would increase in value by $34,000 or 12 percent,” Cortright said.

But it is not an "either/or" challenge. Some important distinctions:

• According to Leinberger, "About the the same number of people want to live in a pedestrian-friendly environment as those who want to live in a drivable suburban one..." In other words, there are always many factors at play in the personal preferences of home buyers, but desire for walkability is playing an increasing role. It is not necessary that everyone be walking...but the trend appears to favor walking which is beginning to translate into measurable economic value.
• Most of the discussion so far has been about urban vs suburban--a distinction I find stereotypical and non-applicable in my New England town. Although we are only a dozen miles from the center of Boston, we have two "villages" separated by relatively rural spaces. It's not quite "farmland," but the town has set aside conservation land in a community that has evolved over several hundred years--limiting the amount of cul-de-sac sprawl. Getting across town on foot is currently impractical but within these villages, many amenities are accessible on foot. There is a great opportunity here.

We all know the potential advantages of living in an urban village, but most of us in towns and suburbs have weighed those advantages against much higher disadvantages which include the following perceptions:

• urban schools are unsafe and less integrated into the community
• urban living is more expensive
• parking is a nightmare and cars are still a necessity
• personal safety is a concern
• "anonymnity" is less desirable as we "settle down"
• most people still want "space"

I'm just listing those perceptions to illustrate, not to start a debate. Most people like where they live and it is an arrogant and presumptive mission to tell them they should change their attitudes. Instead, we should focus on the opportunities to get the best of both worlds.

We can transform our suburban towns into walkable communities, retaining the strengths and advantages of already desirable communities. When more residents can walk to amenities like shops, parks, schools and small local restaurants, the economic viability of these highly localized services will be strengthened. It does not mean "no more trips to WalMart," but perhaps a few more customers per week at Cafe Diva or Islington House of Pizza will prompt them to stay open longer or be able to hire another person. Perhaps the foot traffic to these places will result in a new customer walking into the "Ski Shop" or choosing to drop off dry cleaning at the Crown Cleaners instead of using a chain store. As activity increases, perhaps a new business will open...

Over time, one new customer at a time, we grow. While we grow, our children become healthier as they walk to school and our playgrounds, spending less time in front of video games and more time outdoors. We see our neighbors more often and the strength of our community grows. Isolated houses sit on the market for months while starter homes on 10,000 sf lots get multiple offers. It all feeds together into an economic and social revitalization that begins, literally, with a few steps...

Today is International Walk to School Day--but not for some communities where walking and biking have been banned. Two recent news stories are discouraging on many levels, but do not represent the norm as more and more communities are, in fact, adopting alternatives to driving.

• In Saratoga Springs, NY, a woman and her 12-year old son are defying school officials who, on the day before school started, advised all parents that "walking and biking to school would not be tolerated."
• In Marblehead, MA, the town's participation in today's event was cancelled while the school works out "issues related to program administration, safety, and liability."

These stories are "easy targets," for walkability advocates and that is my first complaint. The newspaper coverage of the New York story in particular follows the pattern that has become so typical of print-based media's clumsy attempt to remain relevant in an online world. Controversy-baiting stories leave little room for reasonable discourse as dozens of intemperate commentors react to the story that has set up the town for criticism without providing adequate context to explain why presumably reasonable adults in the community made decisions and now find themselves on the online hot seat. Online media (including this post of mine, to some extent) jump on the bandwagon as the Sarasota Springs story makes it to the Huffington Post, shows up in my LinkedIn Groups, and will undoubtably be a feature item in the many Pedestrian and Bike update email newsletters to which I subscribe.

Maybe the folks in Saratoga Springs ARE idiots, but I suspect there is much more to the story...the policy has been in place since 1994. The parents and administrators are probably focused on 100 other issues and it is unfair-based on the limited information reported-to leap to conspiracy and anti-progressive theories. But it is more fun to do that and it sells papers and generates online traffic. Meanwhile, the parents and community members probably feel angry and misunderstood, but dare not venture into the online argument of anonymous people who know nothing and judge everything.

In Marblehead, the local newspaper, the Marblehead Reporter, does a better job of providing context. Parents, administrators, and school officials are not characterized as opposing walking, but it seems the promotional effort "got ahead of itself." The town had recently experienced a tragedy when a high school sophmore was hit and killed by a motorist...then, a "Wellness Committee" coincidentally launched a promotion of Walk to School Wednesdays. School Board Chairman Dick Nohelty said that the program was not passed through the proper channels before launching.

The Marblehead story is a cautionary tale for walkability advocates about the importance of inclusion and consensus. These ideas--promoting walking and bike-riding--are not self-evident truths or causes "against" anyone. In fact Marblehead, like my town of Westwood, is fully signed-up for the Safe Routes to Schools program. School Superintendent Paul Dulac noted that he'd like to see that program "more integrated" before a walking campaign takes place.

It should not be controversial to organize a walk to school or choose to ride a bike. But anything involving the safety of children is an extremely touchy issue that, when it makes people uncomfortable for whatever reason, will prompt conservative reactions. I'm learning for our own committee, it is easy to make mistakes and to not include the right person, talk to people the right way, promote an idea prematurely, etc.--but I think it can be managed by maintaining a positive attitude and accepting criticism as a learning process. We can't lose sight of our overall goals as we navigate the details.

Update: a torrential downpour here has cancelled today's walk...so perhaps next week, I'll report on how this went.

I recently reviewed the mission statement of this blog and was struck by how it sums up my own "mission."

The purpose of this blog is to connect topics in economic development, community development, and new media technology and identify practical actions readers can take to make a difference in improving our society.

I want this to be more than a writing project. I wrote a series of posts about a business plan, a sort of thematic arrangement of content topics I would write about to create a popular blog. That's not really a business plan--the business plan was just to get more traffic and use google adwords to make some money off clicks. But for that to work, I need hundreds of thousands of visitors...I need the blog to be an end unto itself...and that is not what this is about.

The blog is a tool, a communication medium that has connected me with people who share ideals and passions about improving society. I think there are many of us who are engaged in what Ed Morrison of the I-Open Institute describes as "Strategic Doing." Some of the things I'm "doing" strategically are to:

• create a blog in Westwood to encourage greater participation of residents in our community
• form a Pedestrian/Bicycle Safetey Committee in Westwood to look for opportunities to make the town more walkable
• get a Community Access Television station up and running in Westwood

Now what does any of this have to do with economic development?

The older, traditional ideas about economic development were about attracting business to locate in town. It was about creating a regulatory climate friendly for business and identifying opportunities--then clearing obstacles. I'm not a practitioner and I cannot claim expertise about the work that continues in that conception of economic development. But I think there is a "New Innovation" growing based on an increasingly engaged and creative Citizen 2.0.

If we can find ways to connect the people who are innovating--problem-solving individuals who care passionately about issues of sustainability and growth--I believe people will be begin to see opportunities to invest. This will become "Enterprise Collaboration."

Again, what does it mean?

To revitalize a town, you need people, not just business. You need the people who will shop there and the people who will open stores. You need people who live there and care about the community and who choose to make their stake in town, rather than hopping in a car and driving to a job in the city where they can collect a paycheck and go home to sleep and watch TV. You don't need EVERYONE to do this, but you need a critical mass of a few people who are no longer fighting the good fight alone, but who network with each other, draw strength from each other, and see opportunities they would not have seen alone.

It is the same principle in schools--to make them better, we don't need more money alone, we need parents to be involved. We need that elusive and powerful force of responsibility and activism that is more evident in its absense in the anonymous suburbs and isolated communities of regions in decline.

What next? What do I do?

That's the $100,000 question, really. I need to find a way to take these ideas and passions and not only accomplish things, but generate income for me and my family. My website describes one approach of the type of consultative advice I believe I could deliver. But talk is cheap...or, more realistically, just sitting around talking about theory is not something cash strapped town can afford to bankroll.

I could create a non-profit, an association not unlike a chamber of commerce, but more of a business facilitator...then choose projects to tackle and start delivering value to the members of the organization. Perhaps opportunities come out of more of these discussions...perhaps it is as basic as helping civic organizations set up blogs and facebook pages. But I think fundamentally, I need to identify some real, specific needs of the community and find how money is currently being spent towards that need--then propose a less expensive alternative.

There is a great article in the Globe today about the Charles River Wheelmen and their Saturday Morning Fitness Ride in Needham. The weekly ride has proceeded uninterrupted for 617 weekends, including a few during blizzard conditions.

Read more »

UPDATE, 6/15/2009
Please consult the Mass.Gov website for improved information regarding unemployment benefits.

UPDATE Please read my more recent posts about health care, starting with the most recent one here.

DO NOT PURCHASE ANY HEALTH INSURANCE THAT FAILS TO MEET MASSACHUSETTS MINIMUM CREDITABLE STANDARDS. The policy I described in this post originally, is not a valid policy and should not be allowed to be sold in Massachusetts. Through a legal loophole, it is technically legal to purchase, but if you purchase such a policy, the state will fine you up to $1000. If you must purchase private health insurance, go to the Massachusetts Health Connector website for more information and ensure that the policy you purchase meets those minimum standards as described in my more recent posts linked above.

No legal advice. This blog post relates my experience only. I cannot advise anyone as to their rights or help them with their situation. Please do not ask me for an opinion.

Text of original post follows...

Rachel Levy and I have both been blogging about our searches for work. If you know anyone looking for a marketing professional, please go visit her site and hire her. My blog is not only about looking for work--check out the archive to see the breadth of things I've covered in the past two years...but today, I want to talk unemployment.

The Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance website has a great deal of information, but there is very little to answer the specific questions real job seekers have and no way to actually do anything of value there. Once you have filed your initial claim, you will be able to go online to file your weekly claim. But in the beginning, there are so many simple, basic things they do not tell you. So I'm going to list what I've learned here and invite people to comment and fill in the details...

Top 7 Tips for the Unemployed in Massachusetts

My purpose here is not to tell you how to find a job. It's just about the hoops you need to jump through to get the insurance benefits you are entitled to receive while you are looking for work. I recommend you just do these things and don't get hung up on lots of questions or debates about why the system is the way it is. We have a pretty good deal in Massachusetts compared to other states, so check your attitude at the door and don't let the bureaucracy and cesspool of negativity you may encounter distract you from finding a job.

Read more »

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.