Josh Voorhees, E&E reporter

President Obama’s “livability” initiative will be under the microscope this week as two congressional panels hear from federal and state officials about transportation planning and land use.

The House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee will meet Wednesday to take a closer look at the livability portion of the president’s fiscal 2011 budget request. On Thursday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will discuss how the federal Transportation Department partners with state and local transportation agencies in the decision-making process.

Obama is asking for more than $500 million for his effort to help state and local governments make more sustainable transportation investments. In addition to the funding request, Obama has also pledged to recast the nation’s overall transportation strategy to focus more heavily on such efforts and has created an interagency partnership between DOT, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. EPA to work on the issue.  DOT took its first major livability action earlier this year when it rewrote selection criteria for transit projects to emphasize reduced carbon emissions and increased economic development.

A handful of key lawmakers who will play prominent roles in crafting the next highway bill have embraced the overall livability effort. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar’s (D-Minn.) bill would create an Office of Livability within DOT’s Federal Highway Administration to “establish a focal point within FHWA to advance environmentally sustainable modes of transportation, including transit, walking and bicycling.”

EPW Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) only recently began work on her version of the next major highway bill, but she has backed the overall livability effort and has said her bill will be based heavily on Oberstar’s.
Still, the livability effort has drawn its share of critics, mostly from conservatives who have expressed concern over federal involvement in state and regional land-use decisions. In a Newsweek column last May, conservative George Will called LaHood the “Secretary of Behavior Modification” and said the effort was an attack on Americans’ right to chose where they live and how they travel.

“[L]ong before climate change became another excuse for disparaging America’s ‘automobile culture,’ many liberal intellectuals were bothered by the automobile,” Will wrote. “It subverted their agenda of expanding government — meaning their supervision of other people’s lives.”

LaHood provided critics with further ammunition that month. Responding to a question about whether the livability effort was an attempt to “coerce” Americans out of their cars, LaHood said, “about everything we do around here is government intrusion in people’s lives.”

Lawmakers representing mostly rural districts or states have also expressed concern that the livability initiative — as well as other DOT efforts — focuses to much on urban areas. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) quizzed DOT officials about the program last week (E&E Daily, March 5).

John Porcari, DOT’s deputy secretary, attempted to calm Begich and Thune’s fears, telling them that rural areas stand to benefit just as much as large cities do from the administration’s plans.

“It’s clear that livability really applies to rural areas as much as it does anywhere else,” Porcari said, adding that one of the initiative’s goals was a return “to the quality of life that many of us enjoy in small towns.”

The League of American Bicyclists is proud to be the forum for Google to announce what all bike riders have been waiting for – Grab Your Bike and Go with Google Maps.  Google is announcing at the Opening Plenary Session at the National Bike Summit that they are adding biking directions in the U.S. to Google Maps.

According to Google this has been the most requested addition to Google Maps. This new feature includes: step-by-step bicycling directions; bike trails outlined directly on the map; and a new “Bicycling” layer that indicates bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly roads.

You can visit http://maps.google.com/biking to try out this new feature.  As with all things Google, the biking directions for Google Maps is currently in Beta, but this doesn’t mean it’s not full featured!

UPDATE: a WPRI article has now released word that an eyewitness saw the boy dart out onto the road in front of the car.

Our thoughts go out to the the boy, his parents, and the driver of the automobile.   Yet another incident between a bicycle and automobile in our “local” area.

studies show that the vehicle itself is almost never the sole cause of the accident. Drivers, on the other hand, are wholly to blame most of the time.

One of the panelists, Leonard Evans is a physicist, a former employee of GM and author of the book Traffic Safety.   He believes that

the whole history of U.S. traffic safety has been one focusing on the vehicle, one of the least important factors that affects traffic safety.

Evans says his review of the data show that in the decade ending in 2008, about 22,000 people were killed in vehicles made by Toyota or Lexus.  All these people were killed because of factors that had absolutely nothing to do with any vehicle defect.

Why isn’t the American public up in arms about the loss of life caused by daily traffic accidents?  Why doesn’t the American public react seriously when a person takes another person’s life with their car?  Where is the outrage people?

For those drivers who are affected by one of the recent recalls, may I suggest looking at a bicycle or other alternative mode of transportation.  You might be surprised and actually find that you enjoy getting around without your car.  Yes, there are recalls that affect bicycles, but I have yet to be in a situation where my legs simply refused to stop pedaling or I couldn’t find some way to safely stop my bicycle.

We’ve had two months off, hopefully, everyone has taken advantage of the break and visited the RI VeloSprints!  With March, we return to our regularly scheduled advocacy meetings… with a brand new location.

We will be meeting at the Brown Bookstore (244 Thayer Street, Providence) in the community meeting room @ 6pm.  If you enter through the doors off Thayer, the room is straight ahead on the far side of the bookstore.  If you don’t see it, just ask someone at the help desk near the entrance.  The room has plenty of seats and is big enough to support significant growth.

On the agenda for this meeting:

• Merger Update
• Henderson Bridge and Linear Park Updates
• Bike-to-Work Day
• Brainstorming for 2010 Projects

… and anything else you would like to discuss.

After the meeting, we can head down as a group to join in the fun at the RI VeloSprints.

Here’s a situation you may face as a cyclist…

Uphill light.  Right lane turns right only.  Left lane for going straight on or turning left.  Through the intersection there are cars parked along the right side of the road.  The left side is free from parked cars, however.

As a cyclist going straight through (down Waterman) where would you position yourself at the light?  Would you ride down the right or left side of the road after you crossed the intersection?

Exciting! From the City of Providence’s “Art Culture & Tourism Newsletter”:

The 2nd Annual Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities
March 9 @ Trinity Rep
Hosted by Mayor David Cicilline

City of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline invites you to a panel conversation with musician, artist and author David Byrne; urban historian Samuel Zipp, Assistant Professor at Brown University; Thomas Deller, Director of the City of Providence Department of Planning and Development; and a local bicycle advocate (TBA) about how bicycles transform our urban experience.  Initiated by Mayor Cicilline in 2009, the memorial lecture honors recently deceased Claiborne Pell (1918-2009), who represented Rhode Island in the United States Senate from 1961-1997.

This is a free but ticketed event.

Beginning Thursday, February 25th, tickets will be available at the Trinity Repertory Company box office, 201 Washington Street, and must be picked up in person (no phone reservations).  Four ticket limit per person.  Due to limited availability we suggest advance pick-up.  For box office hours and directions, call 401-351-4242.  For answers to questions about the event, please call 401-421-2489 x456.

Full press release here!

RECYCLE-A-BIKE is a volunteer-based community bike education and maintenance collective that promotes bicycling as a safe, fun, sustainable, and empowering mode of transportation. We provide the greater Providence community access to the skills and resources to maintain, repair, and build bikes in a workspace where all are welcome. We are currently located in the Steel Yard.

RECYCLE-A-BIKE is working to assemble a board of directors that would have responsibilities relating to:

- periodic review of organization goals, and progress towards those goals
- suitability of location and facilities
- fundraising
- review of educational and community offerings
- review of the organization’s vision and mission statement and progress
- legal consultation
- communications to the greater providence and wider bicycling community
- continuing leadership development

We hope this opportunity is of interest to you. If so, and you would like to discuss this further, please contact me by email or phone.

Thanks for your consideration,

John Powning
401-273-9244 (Home)
jpowning@hotmail.com

That’s good news because it confirms that effectively protective helmets are available to virtually everyone.  It also points to the potential value of the youth helmet program that the RI State Health Department and the U.S. Open Cycling Foundation have been providing for the past couple of years by delivering and individually fitting hundreds of helmets to kids around the state.  All good news to those concerned about society’s health care cost burden.

One caveat – these tests, where a mass is dropped onto a helmet strapped to a simulated head, are only part of the appropriate measurement of a helmet’s effectiveness.  Whether you are a rider or the parent of a rider, you must consider three additional issues:

1. Does the helmet fit and is it adjusted correctly – some studies show that over 90% of riders wear their helmet incorrectly

2. Is the helmet comfortable and will it be worn when it is hot outside

3. Does the intended wearer find its styling attractive enough to wear?

In fact, with the tests showing that helmets offer the same amount of crash protection regardless of price, these three are, perhaps, the only questions you need to ask.

When, during Cycle-for-Health programs in schools around the state, I ask kids why they don’t wear helmets, they usually say because they are good riders.  So we talk about famous, helmeted athletes ranging from Tom Brady to Tony Hawk to Lance Armstrong.  I try to make one point: that being a great rider – or athlete – doesn’t mean that you are immune from things you can’t control…like wayward dogs, potholes or drivers…the avoidance of which can cause you to fall and bump your head.

The good news from these Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute tests is that – as long as it is on your head correctly – one helmet is as good as the next.

- Durishin

Per the normal pattern, those opposed to the city’s proposal spoke earliest, loudest, and most stridently; so loudly, in fact, that it might have seemed like the crowd was mostly opposed to the plan, even though there were really only 6 or 8 people stridently opposed.  Ultimately, many voices also spoke in favor of the city proposal, thanking the City Engineer’s office and DPW for presenting a thoughtful plan which brings the “complete streets” ethos to the neighborhood.  Word is that Councilman Solomon has already determined to support at least some elements of the plan, and will meet with the City Engineer for fine-tuning.  What the end result will be is anyone’s guess at this point.  It’s not too late, however, to ask Councilman Solomon to support the plan in its entirety; he can be reached at his city email address: ward5@providenceri.com.

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