Put it in Gear

Portland puts a bird on it. Detroit puts a fist. PassingLeft has an neat Detroit bike T shirt for sale on Etsy.

Green Garage Update

Final construction is underway with the Green Garage in Midtown. The Garage will make it easy for tenants to bike to work.

The Green Garage added an indoor bike rack and a shower to their building plans as well. “If we are encouraging employees to bike into work here, it only makes sense that we give them everything they need to truly be green” Mrs. [Peggy] Brennan told me.

Could they become another Bicycle Friendly Business in Detroit?

Hostel Detroit Bike Pavilion

We saw this interesting slideshow about a Detroit Bike Pavilion and we had to learn more. They were good enough to write a summary of the project:

The Detroit Bike Pavilion is a Design/Build project run as a summer graduate studio as part of the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The project team consists of two professors and 9 graduate students, including myself. Our mission is to design, fabricate and install a (roughly) 300 sq/ft pavilion in Detroit which will act as a place to store bikes, hold concerts and other various community events.

Our client is Hostel Detroit, which is a non-profit organization recently established in the corktown region of Detroit. In addition to serving as a youth hostel, they routinely rent out bikes and thus are in need of a place to store them.

Detroit Bike City

Jason Hall from Bikes and Murder posted this article entitled Detroit Bike City. It highlights some of the Detroit bicycle scene.

We sometimes forget what the world is really like outside of our little bubbles. What I mean by that is when you’re in a car driving with your music up, it’s easy to forget to look around you and see what’s really going on. I had become a victim of that very thing. I would drive my car three blocks for a soda, a mile to see a friend. When I got on a bike I had to face realities and fears that keep us grounded. I saw neighborhoods I hadn’t EVER seen. Went places I had never even gone in a car. I soon became a converted bike rider.

Suburban Critical Mass

Yes, the Detroit Critical Mass is a great time. This Friday’s event already has 401 attending and 227 maybe attending on their Facebook page. It’ll be huge, but it’s not making much of a statement. It’s a city that’s already super bicycle friendly with city staff are becoming quite supportive of biking as transportation.

It’s quite the opposite story in most of the Detroit suburbs. That’s where a Critical Mass ride could serve its original intent.

So on July 22nd there will be the first Suburban Mass Ride starting at Royal Oak Farmers Market parking lot. It meets at 6:30pm and rolls out at 7pm. There is additional information on Facebook.

New Pistons owner

At a recent press conference, Piston’s owner Tom Gores noted the difficulty (Okay, near impossibility) of inner city families getting to the Palace of Auburn Hills without a car. He said he couldn’t see Piston games as a kid because he only had a bike to ride. Though Gores didn’t mention it, if the stadium was in Foxtown, those transportation hurdles go away.

Chicago’s mayor wants more bike lanes

Chicago’s new mayor, Rahm Emanuel is also a “bike enthusiast” and wants to add 100 miles of protected bike lanes in Chicago — the first of which just opened. He also wants Chicago to be the “bike friendliest city in the U.S.”. He cited bike facilities as an essential tool for quality of life and economic development.

Mopeds are the “ultimate gas savers?”

According to Tom Greenwood’s column in the Detroit News, mopeds are the ultimate gas savers. Really? More than bicycles, walking, electric vehicles, and public transit?

Green Leaders

The Free Press recently honored green leaders throughout Michigan. Many of them have a connection to biking and trails:

• Among other green things, Orin Gelderloos rides his bike to work everyday. He’s quoted as saying, “The idea was to always be close enough to ride to work.”
• The Reverend Faith Fowler created the Cass Green Gym for her shelter residents which includes 10 stationary bikes (that happen to generate electricity for the shelter.)
• The Greening of Detroit is more than just urban forestry and urban agriculture. This year they received grant funding to hire a crew of local young adults who are charged with maintaining three of Detroit’s greenways. They’ll not only provide the maintenance, but will lead community events along the greenways that will build neighborhood stewardship. This outstanding program is very unique in the U.S. — and it’s creating green jobs.
• Yes, the Green Garage is all about sustainability, but Tom and Peggy also plan to make their building very bike friendly. And their nearby green alley will provide a funky back door bike route to Motor City Brewing.
• Last but not least, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is one of the primary forces behind greenways in Southeast Michigan. They built excitement for greenways among private foundations which really gave the movement its forward momentum. There are very few greenways in Southeast Michigan that haven’t benefited from their efforts. Trail design and construction isn’t free, and given the tight resources within this area — especially Detroit — the help from the Community Foundation was invaluable. The Free Press has posted a Dequindre Cut photo gallery as well.

Dequindre Cut Closure

And speaking of the Cut, our friends at the Wheelhouse Detroit just posted this information on their Facebook page: “Yes, the rumors are true. The Dequindre Cut will be closed between Lafayette and Woodbridge on weekdays for 4 months while the Larned and Lafayette bridges are rebuilt.” We knew this was coming, but… ugh.

Also, the Wheelhouse got a great (and well-deserved) plug in the Living in the D blog for their Detroit architecture tours.

Bike Tunnels

Filmed by Bike was held last weekend in Portland. There was an entry from Detroit that made a tongue-in-cheek (or serious) call for underground bike tunnels. You can watch the Bike Tunnel video on-line.

Complete Streets

We’ve noted that Detroit’s Health and Wellness Promotion Department recently applied for and received a grant to pass a Complete Streets ordinance. The city of Ferndale is also looking to pass a Complete Streets proposal. We don’t have a timeline for when this might happen, but it’s in the works. There’s also some interest or discussion among other neighboring communities. If you haven’t already signed the Michigan Complete Streets petition, please do so.

Royal Oak Non-Motorized Planning

Planning has not yet begun. The city of Royal Oak is just waiting for the Department of Energy (DOE) to sign off on their much larger energy efficiency plan — and release the funding. The planner is ready to go.

Bike Parking

The city of Berkley and their DDA are still mulling over bike parking policy. The city of Ferndale is also dealing with parking both for motor vehicles and bicycles.

Woodward Avenue Non-Motorized Planning

There’s been further discussion among the Southeast Oakland County communities that border Woodward Avenue from Eight Mile to Maple. There appears to be consensus that Woodward needs a better balance of transportation options for those traveling along or crossing the corridor. How that is implemented is yet to be determined. One factor that greatly affects what’s done: future mass transit plans. Stay tuned.

Next Thursday, May 14th at 5 PM I’ll be giving a presentation at the Model D Speaker Series.

The topic is greenways and trails in Detroit and Hamtramck. I’ll bring everyone up to speed on what’s been going on through my work with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.

I’ll also be introducing our brand new Detroit Greenways Network brochure, a hint of which is shown at the right.

The location is the Green Garage in Midtown at 4444 Second Avenue, conveniently located just around the corner from Motor City Brewing Works.

Bil Lusa will also speak about this September’s epic Tour-de-Troit bike ride.

This is a free event though you’ll need to sign up.

Link: More Information

This could be one of Detroit’s shortest yet coolest greenways for peds and bikes.

It’s called the Green Alley Project and it’s located in Midtown near Second Avenue and Canfield. This Green Garage project will eventually connect to the planned Midtown Loop.

The project’s goal is “to create a model for sustainable alleys of the future for our city and region… yeah, maybe the world.” For now, we’d settle for it being a model for other Detroit alleys.

There is an opportunity to take leadership action in creating a new vision for one of the most under utilized assets of Midtown and the City of Detroit…our alleys. Today our alleys look abandoned with trash, broken pavement, overgrown weeds, and neglected sides of buildings. They are ribbons of blight throughout our communities. Imagine if one by one we changed our alleys into beautiful greenways that people wanted to be in because they expressed the best of our community.

This project represents that leadership action. We plan to transform one of our worst abandoned alleys in Midtown into a beautiful greenway for pedestrians and bicyclists to enjoy the beautiful gardens, stop and shop at the business establishments or gather with a few neighbors to talk about the day.

This is already a very bike-friendly part of town, but what makes this extra special is its proximity to the Motor City Brewing. This may be a great opportunity to emulate Buffalo’s Rusty Chain Beer program and raise funds for the bike racks to support the alley concept or to add more bike racks around town.

We’d raise a Ghettoblaster to that effort!