Issue #24 / April 2008
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IN THIS ISSUE:
- StreetTALK Tuesday Apr. 29 7pm: The New Amsterdam Project: Human powered cargo trikes; paving the way for sustainable delivery services
- Hostelling International invites you to Martha's Vineyard to Help Clean up the Bike Paths! Sat May 3 / Sun May 4
- moveMASS presents: A View from Washington: The Policies and Politics of Transportation with Jane Garvey Fri. April 25th, 8:10 AM
- LivableStreets calls for recall of health insurance ad that discourages bicycling
- BAY STATE BIKE WEEK! May 12-18, 2006
STREET TALK! (This coming TUESDAY)
The New Amsterdam Project: Human powered cargo trikes; paving the way for sustainable delivery services
Tue. Apr. 29, 7 - 8:30 pm
by Andrew Brown, founder and CEO of the New Amsterdam Project
@ LivableStreets office space, 100 Sidney Street, Central Square, Cambridge [ map... ]
free and open to the public, donation suggested, beer/sodas provided compliments of Harpoon Brewery!
We invite you to attend, learn & be inspired by the recently launched, Cambridge-based bicycle delivery service, the New Amsterdam Project (NAP). NAP provides human-powered pick-up and delivery services for local businesses, organizations and universities. Founder and CEO, Andrew Brown will be discussing the inspiration behind the cargo-trike fleet and how the company will transform the Boston metro area.
When it comes to urban delivery services, the New Amsterdam Project's fleet of human-powered trikes is quickly becoming a strong competitor to conventional vans and trucks. Thanks to their compact design, these cargo vehicles --which accommodate up to 600 lbs.-- can easily navigate urban congestion and require a fraction of the space otherwise needed for parking/ delivery by a car, van or truck. And, as a zero-emissions transportation service; the NAP is able to offer clients and their communities an environmentally sound alternative for their transportation needs. Their clients include: Boston Organics, Taza Chocolate, Petsi Pies, and many others.
The New Amsterdam project was recently featured in a Christian Science monitor article: "Cargo trikes nudge delivery trucks in Cambridge, Mass.; A Cambridge, Mass., delivery company is using industrial tricycles to deliver goods in efforts to curb global emissions." [ full article ]
This event is sponsored by LivableStreets Alliance
Click here for more information
Hostelling International invites you to:
Martha's Vineyard to Help Clean up the Bike Paths!
Sat May 3 / Sun May 4 2008 (you can arrive Friday if you want)
Free stay!Summer time will be here soon and it's time to get the bike paths cleaned up and ready for summer riding. On Saturday and Sunday May 3 & 4 we will be trimming back branches and doing some cement patchwork. Stay at the Hostel for free! The bike path borders a beautiful state forest. Come help out for a few hours, and still have time to do some biking. There's even a Bonanza Bus that takes you to the Ferry, if you wanted to make the trip car-free. (LivableStreets President Jeff Rosenblum was just biking there yesterday, and the report is that it is really beautiful!).
Email Jeffrey Munroe about getting involved: caudex44@yahoo.com.
Click here for a bike map of the island.
TOMORROW
moveMASS presents: A View from Washington: The Policies and Politics of Transportation
with Jane Garvey (FAA Administrator, 1997-2002; FHWA Deputy Administrator, 1993-1997)
Friday, April 25th, 8:10-9:30 AM
@ Brown Rudnick, One Financial Center, Eighteenth Floor, Boston (across from South Station)
Please RSVP to movemass@usa.net to be added to the visitor's list for building services. Photo ID is required for entry to building.
Click here for more information.
LivableStreets calls for recall of health insurance ad that discourages bicycling
The Massachusetts Health Connector, an arm of the MA Department of Health and Human Services, just released an advertisement campaign for health insurance, but picked an image and constructed messaging that sends the wrong message about health and transportation. It says, "bicycling in our city is dangerous, and is one of those extreme sport things." Not only does this campaign contradict and oppose the efforts of all of us working to increase the levels of cycling, it's just downright offensive to cyclists and embarassing to Governor Patrick. Repeated requests to both the Health Secretary Bigby's office and Health Connector Executive Director Jon Kingsdale's office asking them to pull the ad campaign were denied. We acknowledge that the ad unintentionally discouraged cycling-- we aren't accusing them of actively developing an ad to discourage cycling. We are requesting that the ads be removed immediately, and replaced with an ad that accomplishes their objectives without negatively affecting other very critical social objectives, namely bicycling.
The situation is especially disappointing in that the Secretary of Health and Secretary of Transportation, at the urging of advocates, has identified the need to work better together. At the Moving Together conference on October 17, 2007, Executive Office of Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen announced: "I’m particularly happy to be joined by my colleague, [Health] Secretary Judy Ann Bigby – and I thank her for taking the time to share the podium with me today...This past July, Governor Patrick announced the Massachusetts Mobility Compact which is meant to address the fractured nature of transportation governance...Too often, and for too long, we have had organizations that don’t talk with each other, and have had little or no incentive to work together. I think, until recently, the same could be said for EOT’s relationship with Health and Human Services. Our Secretariats do not have a history of talking to each other or working together – and where there has been collaboration, it hasn’t been broad and sustained. Today, with public health challenges like obesity, diabetes, and asthma, it is strikingly clear that my office needs to be working with Secretary Bigby’s team if we want to accomplish our shared goals of making Massachusetts healthier and more mobile..."
Click here for more information and to take action.
BAY STATE BIKE WEEK!
May 12-18, 2006
Thanks to an infusion of energy from the City of Boston's new bicycle coordinator, Nicole Freedman, this year's bike week, now called the "Bay State Bike Week," has even more events open to the public. For the past decade, the local Transportation Management Association's (TMA's, formed by companies and institutions to help get employees out of their cars and into transit or on bikes) has been taking the lead, and therefore focused on their members and employees only. Though the City of Cambridge has been a local leader in a program to pass out "goodie bags" to bike commuters to say "thank you", bike week in the Boston area hasn't in the past been all that exciting for the public (except of course for the big Red Bones bike party!). This year hopefully marks a change. Though resources are still meager this year, there are many more exciting things happening, and there is a lot more energy! On Friday May 16th there are several "bike convoys" converging on Downtown Boston where there are a variety of "bike breakfasts".
Click here for more information.