The Hub seeks a Youth Educator

Want a green job? The Hub of Detroit is looking to hire a Youth Educator and they want to start interviewing this week.

This summer is already here at the HUB. We are BUSY! This week is the last week for kids in Detroit Public Schools which means we are going to get even more kids around the shop than we already have. This is great! Also, we have news of a shop in Southwest that some kids are starting up and getting underway along with some schools on the north side that want to start bike clubs. With this much going on we need to hire a youth educator.

This job will include working with youth off site at their schools to help start up shops and educating kids on how to fix up their bikes, working with our Mechanics in Training at our shop and being around on Saturdays for our Youth Earn-a-Bike sessions.

So if you have bike mechanical knowledge, experience with youth and like doing both together then send a resume as quick as you can to jack(at)thehubofdetroit.org

Talking about urban mountain bike parks

A recent segment on National Public Radio talked about Cleveland’s turnaround — including Ray’s MTB indoor park.

BOBKOFF: Dan Kildee of the national nonprofit Center for Community Progress is an expert on revitalizing vacant and abandoned properties. He says city leaders tend to ignore the little projects like a mountain bike park or an urban garden, instead focusing on huge, splashy plans.

Mr. DAN KILDEE (Center for Community Progress): Build a great big casino complex. Build a great big convention center.

BOBKOFF: Cleveland has advanced plans to build one of each.But Kildee says cities need lots of little projects to turn around former manufacturing capitals like Cleveland and Detroit. Some ideas will fail, others will take off.

We made a suggestion to the Russell Industrial Center folks. They have plenty of space for an indoor mountain bike park — far more than Ray’s — and on-site food and super convenient highway access (I-75 at I-94). With a little grant money for capital investment, this seems like a good bet.

Dorais Velodrome

The web site DetoritUrbex has a little history, including some recent photos of the old Dorais Velodrome near E. Outer Drive and Mound Road. A great deal of cycling history was made at Dorais, much of it was captured in the Mike Walden/Wolverine Sports Club documentary, Catch the Wind.

Let’s Save Michigan

Bike to Work day received some coverage on the Let’s Save Michigan web site, hosted by the Michigan Municipal League.

It was great to see so many people, despite the less than perfect weather, bike to work or wherever they were going and prove that Michigan’s roads aren’t just for cars. Once we start designing our transportation system to accommodate users beyond cars, we’ll be able to develop the more walkable and desirable communities that people want to live, work and play in.

The Let’s Save Michigan campaign is teaming up with the Michigan Complete Streets Coalition to move forward to policy that will help develop the state policies that will develop a better, safer and more accommodating transportation system for Michigan. The Coalition includes groups such as AARP, the League of Michigan Bicyclists, and the Michigan Environmental Council.

The web site includes many photos from events around the state.

The 10 Things You MUST Do

Metromode has a list of The 10 Things You MUST Do Outside In Metro Detroit This Summer. Riding with Ferndale’s Defying the Law Bike Club made the list.

If Marlon Brando in The Wild One got sick of motorcycles, got a bike and developed a taste for garage sales and microbrews, he would so be in this club. It’s a cool mix of professionals, students, blue collar, and artsy types who meet up in Ferndale every Saturday to bike around and see what they can find going on or going down, whatever the case may be.

Worried you’re not exactly in shape for a bike club? No worries. “If anyone wants to ride, they just have to show up,” says Mike Kawamoto of Berkley, who has been a member of the group for three years. “It’s usually a pretty casual-paced ride.”

Ford to measure suppliers’ carbon footprints

The Detroit News is reporting on Ford’s recent announcement as part of their efforts to reduce their carbon emissions by 30% by 2020.

And although it doesn’t mention biking to work, that is one strategy for reducing a company’s carbon footprint.

Ford Motor Co. said today it will begin surveying its largest suppliers to find out how much energy they use and how much greenhouse gases they emit.

It’s part of a broader effort to reduce the carbon footprint of Ford’s global automobile manufacturing operations.

The Dearborn automaker said it ultimately plans to use the data to establish carbon-reduction goals for its suppliers.

“Suppliers play an important role as we look to reduce our overall carbon footprint and drive more efficiency in an energy constrained world,” said Tony Brown, Ford group vice president in charge of global purchasing.

Of course, we would prefer they “bike more efficiency” rather than drive, but it is Ford.

Bicycle Friendly State

The League of American Bicyclists have released their 2010 rankings of U.S. states based on their bicycle friendliness.

Michigan dropped one slot to 16th. This slip appears due to other states passing legislation which gives them additional points.

Here is Michigan’s rankings within the six categories:

• 37th – Legislation
• 12th – Policies and Programs
• 5th – Infrastructure
• 4th – Education
• 38th – Evaluation
• 27th – Enforcement

America’s Fittest Cities

American College of Sports Medicine has released their 2010 American Fitness Index report.

Washington D.C. is the top Metro area for the third year in a row.

The nation’s capital is also a well-endowed city when it comes to community recreation centers, ball fields and other places to exercise. Washington has the second-highest rate of people walking or biking to work, aided by 60 miles of bike lanes. [Ed. emphasis ours]

On the other hand, just because there are a lot of parks and bike lanes being built doesn’t mean that everyone uses them. And by giving points simply for having infrastructure, the index might favor wealthier cities or those with bigger governments. “It’s a fair point,” says Brenda Chamness, who gathers the data for the index. Chamness points out that research has found that fitness levels rise along with the building of new facilities. “If individuals do not have access to safe, convenient and affordable places to exercise, they would be less likely to exercise.”

Where’s Metro Detroit? We’re near the bottom, 47th out of 50. Metro Detroit was 44th in 2009 and 41st in 2008. The trend is apparent.

Here’s a bit of humor for bike the work day from Jef Mallett’s Frazz:

…and from Mark Fiore:

(via Streetsblog)

We’re a huge fan of Tom Vanderbilt’s How We Drive blog. While he doesn’t always talk about cycling, he almost always talks about issues affecting cycling (and pedestrians!)

For instance, we recently noted how many drivers blame all cyclists as a collective group, but not all drivers. Vanderbilt says this is a psychological phenomenon called the Fundamental Attribution Error. So it’s not just us…

Streetsblog recently interviewed him and produced this video.