August 18, 2006
If you look back long ago on my blog, I was showing pictures of the damage that motorized vehicles were doing to the bike trail along the Hiawatha Light Rail.
I emailed my city council representative, Cam Gordon on May 20, 2006. I also attempted to find the “Bicycle Advocacy Committee” that is part of the Minneapolis Public Works Department. I was extremely late to sit in on the meeting because it took 40 minutes to find someone who knew about the committee, the meeting room, and who oversaw the committee. Yes, they need a “Meetings in City Hall Today” information sheet. Once I arrived at the meeting, they were in full swing, and about to undertake their “visioning and direction” exercise among those seated at a big round table. There really wasn’t any way for me, Joe Citizen to participate, so I left.
Anyway, almost 3 months later, here’s the response from Cam Gordon’s office.
Scott,
Cam asked me to write you back about the police cars on the bikeway.
Though police cars are exempt from the prohibition on motorized vehicles
on the bikeway (as they are in parks, on the greenway, etc), I agree
that it’s not the ideal situation. I use the path to bike to work here
every day, and I hear what you’re saying about the difficulty of passing
the cars. We’ve passed your concern along to the first police precinct
and the metro transit police, along with your request that bike patrols
be used for the bike path.
Thanks for contacting the office,
Robin Garwood
Council Aide,
Second Ward Council Member Cam Gordon
612.673.3654 (office)
651.338.7699 (cell)
http://secondward.blogspot.com
I’m frustrated that these processes dealing with government can take so long, and that in the end, you begin to feel like you aren’t meant to be “plugged in” to leaders and departments of the city. I think I will stick to my approach of working outside the power structures and institutions, and maybe finding ways to inspire at the grass roots.
July 20, 2006
My knee seems better! I didn’t push myself this evening and only went about 12 miles. I climbed some hills again with a relatively high level of attack, and I didn’t feel any discomfort. I also didn’t push to go fast all the time, and I think that helped.
I did buy a knee brace to take with me just in case I need it on the 50 and 60 mile days in Oregon.
I placed a picture of feet in the middle of a labyrinth on this post to give me some inspiration. When walking a labyrinth, often times, like life, you feel as if you are walking the farthest point from the “center”, or where you would like to be. The labyrinth takes a quick turn, and all of a sudden you are one more turn away from your “center” that you’ve been seeking.
This week has been challenging in the fact that I couldn’t bike much. The last few weeks have been brutal with humidity and heat. I’ve had to resort to riding after sundown, and because of weather and my knee strain, my training hasn’t been what I wanted it to be. I also believe that I need to graduate to a different bike in order to comfortably ride more than 30 miles continually.
But, I’m very hopeful that the physical demands will be fine. I’m excited to learn from the people I meet on this trip, and to sink my heels in and do some service projects along the way. I’m ready to jump out of my skin and experience something great!
As always, I’m forever grateful to those who have helped me fundraise, and have encouraged me. You’re support has made a huge difference!
Stay tuned!!
July 2, 2006
Controversy. Conflict. Demeaning and sometimes violent or mean dialog. I wish that people didn’t feel the need to react so horribly at times, but they do. Any time a person cries “foul play” for almost anything, I think a knee-jerk reaction is unfortunately part of “American Culture”. I know that we all have our own opinions and feelings, but sometimes we can express them in horrible ways. We call people names, we say “they deserved that”, we make fun of others or ridicule them. Sometimes I’m just as guilty of a few of these “communication mishaps”. But I often wonder how we can get past this faster, and get to the real feelings and needs behind what people are saying in retaliation.
(more…)
June 19, 2006
The tune up of the bike went well. Gotta love a 90-day free tune up service. However, the bike shop is ordering me a new pedal because mine is going THUNK THUNK THUNK every time the left pedal comes to the top of it’s revolution. The bike has a year warrantee, so I don’t think it will be too big of a deal.
I had a near collision on the Midtown Greenway the other day. My speed craving had me coming down an exit ramp very quickly, and I had to land off the exit in a soft patch of dirt alongside the bikeway. It was bumpy, but I managed to stay upright on the bike, but ended up banging my left leg and maybe slightly spraining my wrist at the thumb. Next time, I will use breaks. Another “Duh Scott” moment.
Been biking around town for lots of fun and frolic lately. I went to the new Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis over the weekend, and it is SPECTACULAR. I promise to go again and bring my camera!
Summer I’m finding is construction season everywhere. This makes traveling by bicycle as challenging as motorized travel. It’s only extremely difficult if a bicycle trail is under construction or closed. Then I have to think of an alternate route on the fly, and if I do, hopefully it’s out of the way of traffic.
Many thanks to those helping me with fundraising for my bike trip down the Oregon Coast. So far I’ve raised about $200 of the $800 I’m needing! Many thanks to those who’ve helped out!!
May 20, 2006
First, my apologies for not posting in a while. We were dealing with the loss of a family pet recently. We will miss her dearly.
I’ve uploaded photos to my Flickr photospace of some discoveries I made while on the Hiawatha Line LRT bike/pedestrian trail. Between the Cedar-Riverside station and the Franklin Avenue station, there are distinct tire markings, along with damage to both the trail and grasses alongside it.
I’ve seen many a police car driving up and down this trail that has distinct signs reading “NO MOTOR VEHICLES” at its entrances. While I do think that a police presence makes this area safer, I’m wondering if they are abusing their privilege to drive on this trail.
I will be writing letters to my city councilor, the mayor’s office, and a few transit, bicycling, and trail advocacy groups to see what might be done. Again, I’m not saying that police shouldn’t patrol the area, but perhaps they could patrol the area on bikes or smaller (and lighter) 4-wheel all-terrain vehicles. On one occasion, I was coming around a corner to get on the trail, and I almost hit a police car. There may be a safety concern for bicyclist with this too.
If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to comment and point me in the right direction!
