FLCC> Commuting and Climate Change

[Peter Ozolins]

What about approaching it from the employer end? For me at least, the 
biggest headache is dealing with bringing stuff, what to do with stuff 
when  I get there, and of course dealing with being dirty and wet. 
Promote employers promoting bike commuting.

In CA, there's a law that you're entitled to the cash value OR a parking 
spot if ine is offered at your job.

At Qualty  Bicycle Products in MN,employees win sone hefty prizes for 
most miles comuted, etc.

These kinds of thugs could add up to a hefty pr coup in thus day and 
age. it just needs to be promoted or sold.

 Peter Ozolins
 peter[at]peterozolins[dot]com
 607.592.1997
 Sent via mimi
_____________________________



Wayne Gottlieb wrote:
> Daniel, this has been an ongoing discussion among FLCC
> people, sometime on-line, sometimes on the bike. 
> There are many of us who bike commute and would like
> to see bigger numbers.  It seems that higher gas
> prices and the whole global warming thing makes this a
> good time to promote bicycle commuting. It seems that
> Ithaca has particular difficulties, despite our image
> of being a progressive town.  We have those darn
> hills, those 6 month winters and our roads just aren't
> very bike friendly.  There's this catch 22 that nobody
> wants to ride because the roads are too dangerous, and
> the city won't consider bicycles in their plans
> because not enough people ride.  How do we help people
> overcome their aversion to riding and how do we
> convince the city that many more will ride if roads
> are planned accordingly.  If we are made aware of a
> specific action that we can take to promote this
> issue, I think you will get many people in the club
> helping out.  Perhaps some of us should be writing
> letters to the editor for a start.  I would love to
> have more people to ride to work with and I would love
> for there to be less cars on that ride.  By the way,
> don't hold your breath about the parking lots. Wayne
>
>
> --- Daniel Kidney <daniel.kidney at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> I was going to peg this on to my Tuesday sum up, but
>> figured few would even
>> make it to the end of my cornering talk, so here it
>> is folks, climate
>> change, large as life! Love it or hate it, it's
>> here. I like that it has
>> made April dry for me, ultimately I may regret it
>> when the garden doesn't
>> yield. Anyway, I was looking for something catchier
>> than just "commuting"
>> for a subject, but commuting is what I'm really
>> getting after here.
>> Concerned about the environment or not, bikes are
>> prettier than cars, plus,
>> if we get people out of their cars and build little
>> houses and shops on the
>> parking lots, then no one will have to go so far
>> between things (because
>> they won't need to drive by so much parking lot
>> space) and then more people
>> will be able to use bikes to get where they need to
>> anyway! This is the idea
>> at least.
>>
>> Recently I attended the monthly meeting of a group
>> called Tompkins
>> Sustainable. Transportation was the theme of the
>> evening. Bikes almost took
>> a back seat at the event, shamefully, but a seat
>> filled by some fiery folks.
>> RIBs was there, so was BPAC. BPAC is something I
>> never knew about before:
>> the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Council (to the city
>> of Ithaca). Talking
>> with members of the council I found that they high
>> hopes for bicycles as a
>> means of transportation in Ithaca, but with little
>> evidence of public
>> interest coming to their office, they held little
>> power over the city budget
>> to improve and promote commuting by bicycle. For a
>> city so painfully hip as
>> Ithaca, the commuting cyclist population is not all
>> that significant. Many
>> of the streets are less than friendly to cyclists.
>> At this meeting BPAC
>> discussed ideas as grand as closing some streets to
>> cars and having them
>> only open to bicycles... currently the City doesn't
>> see the public interest
>> though to justify such projects.
>>
>> I know that many of us ride more for sport than
>> transportation or morals,
>> but I think that our involvement with the community
>> could certainly be
>> improved. We already have excellent free clinics in
>> the Spring, but the
>> publicity is mostly within the club and Cornell
>> Cycling. I would like to see
>> us more as a group promoting local cycling,
>> especially commuting, not just
>> racing. When I brought up the FLCC with the BPAC
>> folks they were certainly
>> aware of us, but felt that we weren't really
>> involved in commuting and
>> promotion thereof so much; I know the former isn't
>> true (maybe some of us
>> don't wear our flashy suits when commuting and
>> aren't pegged as FLCC) and
>> the latter doesn't have to be true!
>>
>> Honestly it is quite late and I need to work early,
>> but I've been meaning to
>> write the list about this and wanted to get the ball
>> (or the wheels) rolling
>> on this. If you are interested in letting the city
>> of Ithaca know that there
>> really is interest in a more bike friendly city,
>> Kent Johnson is the head of
>> BPAC (the aforementioned Bicycle folks) and said
>> he'd love to hear more from
>> cyclists about our wants and needs, especially in
>> the bicycle transportation
>> sector. His email is kjohnson at cityofithaca.org and
>> his office number is
>> 274-6528.
>>
>> Let's get some more bikes out there, and fewer cars!
>>
>> Daniel
>>     
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>     
>
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