Spaulding Court is offering a $450 monthly rent discount if you live car free.

This is serious savings given that the normal rent for the newly renovated townhouse is $1,200 a month.

These community-owned townhouses are in North Corktown, which is very bikeable. Their brochure even provides ride times to nearby locations, including:

• 7 minutes to the Honey Bee (grocery store)
• 8 minutes to Downtown
• 11 minutes to the Riverfront

The townhouses also include free water, wireless Internet access, brand new kitchen and appliances.

We asked what was the motivation to offer such a deal to those living car free. Is this a program underwritten by a generous foundation?

We’re not getting any funds for it though a major consideration is the future cost of parking arrangements.  Since our mission is broader than just the building, the benefit to the neighborhood of having folks who are disinclined to spend their time/money too far afield is a big plus as well.

Model D Media recently wrote about the restoration efforts:

Two years ago, the stone walls of the Spaulding Court townhouse complex housed nothing but blight and trouble for the North Corktown neighborhood. As the first completely-renovated townhouse unit comes available for rent in the 99-year-old structure, it represents a victory for neighborhood resident Jon Koller and the work of 9 other residents, most of whom live within 150 yards of Spaulding Court, who worked together to redevelop the building.

Koller calls North Corktown an undiscovered haven of “rural Detroit.” A second townhouse will be available for rent or sale by the end of the summer. For more information, visit spauldingcourt.com

For more information, email rent.spaulding@gmail.com or 313.288.9255.

I spent time last week at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Urban Pathways Initiative in Cleveland, Ohio. This was their second summit with last year’s being in New Orleans.

This was a very good opportunity to learn what others are doing to making biking and walking more prevalent in urban centers primarily through building trails. Too often trail building discussions focus on the easier-to-implement trails in more rural or suburban environments. This conference looks at trail building in urban areas where greater density and land use creates more challenges.

Also, this pathways summit was an opportunity to present on all our positive efforts in Detroit. There was a Detroit-specific panel while I presented on another regarding stewardship and partnership.

Here are some of the big takeaways.

Building Diversity

The U.S. bicycle advocacy movement is mostly white. Some national organizations talk the talk, but it seems only the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is walking the walk. They are not only sensitive to the lack of diversity, they’re are trying to do something about it – though they admittedly acknowledge that they have much to learn.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) advocates for equitable investment in underserved communities while promoting the health, transportation and environmental benefits of trail use. RTC staff has engaged local partners, focusing on programs and improvements that enhance access and foster community ownership of trails in urban areas.

There was a session on lessons learned in communities of color. It brought forward some interesting perspectives from Compton, Camden, Milwaukee, and more. Much of the discussion was on increasing participation in bicycling and less on diversifying our organizations, which is also critical.

Pedal for Prizes

This was one of the more unique bike-oriented events we heard about. It’s like an alley cat with less mayhem that can build support for local business.

Registration will begin at 11:30am, and riders will be sent off with their maps and stamp cards in tow at 12:30pm sharp.  Ride your bike to as many of our twenty-two destinations as you’d like until 3pm.  Make your way back to Loew Park by 3:30pm to turn in your card for raffle tickets that you can put towards any of seventy-five prizes valued anywhere between $10 and $625 that will be displayed on a table.

There is more information on the Pedal for Prizes web site.

Cleveland, Ohio

In my short stay, Cleveland struck me as a smaller, cleaner, less vacant city with better transit. On the flip side, their Lakefront Bikeway was disappointing. The pavement condition was horrific.

However, they do have tremendous amount of bike parking within their downtown. It was mostly simple, no-nonsense loops that just work.

I also visited their Morgana Run trail, which is quite promising except for their road crossing treatments. It seems Detroit’s traffic engineers are much further ahead when it comes to on-road designs.

Our reprieve from cold rainy weather couldn’t have come on a better day.

And today I’ll be giving ride updates via Twitter (MTGA’s DetroitGreenway account) — but not while in riding.

It’s also worth mentioning that there is a new web site for biking to work, www.biketowork.org. It includes resources for planning bike to work events, a discussion forum and more. The site funded by the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

Finally, here is a appropriate comic strip for today. It’s actually yesterday’s Frazz. The author, Jef Mallett lives in Huntington Woods which is just off the Detroit bike to work route on Woodward.

The Michigan House recently passed a resolution recognizing May as Bike Month in Michigan. The resolution was introduced by its primary sponsor Representative Harvey Santana from Detroit’s Tenth district.

“I’m proud that the House passed this resolution to help me encourage others to discover the love of biking that I share with countless cyclists in our great state,” Santana said. “Biking to work is an efficient and fun way to get the exercise you need without having to find extra time to work out, as well as a great way to get around town. And this year, with gasoline prices as high as they are, biking to work makes more sense than ever.”

Santana added that while many people think of country roads as a great place to bike, he looks at his own west side Detroit neighborhood as the perfect spot to enjoy a few miles of biking.

“The Tenth District is a perfect place to enjoy biking with Rouge Park being a major part of the district,” he said. “It contains many miles of paved and unpaved trails that residents can safely enjoy. Spring has sprung and the warm weather beckons all of us to get outdoors and enjoy it.”

I’ve known Harvey for many years and worked with him on the Rouge Park hike/bike trails. He was a prolific volunteer and a mountain bike racer.

When Harvey was elected, he asked what legislation could be passed to improve biking in Michigan. I suggested changing making right-hand turn signaling legal for bicyclists. As we’ve mentioned before, the current left-hand in the air sign looks like a wave and is certainly ineffective. We shouldn’t be educating cyclists to use something that few on the road understand. State law should support cyclists using common sense hand signals.

Besides, this change in state law will give a boost to Michigan’s rankings in the Bicycle Friendly States list.

Below is the Michigan Bike Month resolution, which contains some interesting facts about bicycling in Michigan.

Read the rest of this entry »

Press release from the Hub of Detroit, one of America’s largest bicycle co-ops:

Contact: Bradley Iott and Jason Fiedler

BIKE DONATIONS FOR YOUTH BIKE GIVEAWAY

The HUB of Detroit seeks donations of youth bicycles for its biannual Youth Bike Giveaway. Last year, the program gave away over 100 bikes. This year the HUB will distribute approximately 100 bikes to children ages 4-8 on June 18th and 21st. Additionally, the program will educate children and their families on safe riding habits though an informative safety packet given with each bike. Diligent volunteers will be recycling and refurbishing donated bikes prior to the giveaway. We ask that bikes have wheels 20 inches or smaller to accommodate this age group, but any bike will be accepted.

Donated bikes can be brought to The HUB’s retail shop at 3611 Cass Avenue Detroit, MI 48201 during shop hours:

• Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM-6 PM
• Sunday 12-2 PM
• Monday by appointment

If you work for an organization that helps out families that could benefit from a free bike or if you would like to volunteer at The HUB, please contact Jason Fiedler at jason@thehubofdetroit.org.

If you have a child ages 9-16 years old, they may be eligible to get a free bike through the HUB’s Earn-A-Bike program. For more information about that program, please contact Darrin Brouhard at darrin@thehubofdetroit.org.

The HUB of Detroit is a non-profit bike shop in the Cass Corridor. It’s mission is to provide cycling education and services with a focus on youth development, sustainable practices, and community access. To accomplish these goals, The HUB offers a variety of youth programs, including Youth Earn A Bike, Mechanics in Training, and the Youth Bike Giveaway.