citymaus

A protest of cyclists after the death of Wanderson Pereira dos Santos. The sign reads “We are all Wanderson,” in Portuguese.

Thor Batista, the 20-year-old son of Brazil’s richest man, was driving back one night in March from a meal at a steakhouse in the mountains above Rio. He was on a highway at the steering wheel of his father’s $1.3 million sports car, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

Wanderson Pereira dos Santos, 30, who lived in a shack at the highway’s edge and worked unloading trailer trucks, was on his bicycle, on an errand to buy flour. His wife was preparing to bake a cake. They were celebrating her birthday.

When Mr. Batista’s McLaren suddenly smashed into Mr. Pereira dos Santos, killing him instantly, it was clear that more than the two men collided on that stretch of highway…

Just on the highway where Mr. Pereira dos Santos was killed on March 17, at least 391 people were hit by cars in last five years, a police spokeswoman said.

But the crash that killed Mr. Pereira dos Santos has awakened a debate over wealth, influence and traffic deaths, similar to a Chinese case in 2010 in which the son of a powerful official struck a poor farm girl, stirring an outcry.

Brazil has made strides in reducing its income inequality, lifting 40 million people into its middle class in recent years, but it still ranks among the most unequal of nations.

“I don’t understand why rich parents encourage their young and inexperienced children to drive machines incompatible with our roads,” said Ruth de Aquino, a columnist at the magazine Época, in an essay about Thor Batista. “We’re not in Germany; we don’t have autobahns.”

nytimes, 31.03.12.

You are invited to share your knowledge at a two-day regional strategic planning event where you will help guide the framework and future strategy of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition (SDCBC). We need your input to help improve biking in the San Diego Region for generations to come. The San Diego County Bike Summit is your chance to strengthen your bicycle advocacy organization to better serve you.

Saturday: Dream up the future of riding in San Diego through group engagement. Gain and share an awareness of issues the SDCBC faces. By the end of day one we will build a new strategic plan for making riding better in our many communities.

Sunday: Work on the strategic plan continues as we create an action plan built on our shared and separate priorities, what needs to be accomplished and timelines.

Saturday, March 31, 2012: 9:00am to 5:30pm
Sunday, April 1, 2012: 10am to 4pm
 
Omni San Diego Hotel
675 L St, San Diego, US, 92101

Breakfast and lunch will be served both days.
Secure bicycle parking will be available on-site.

event page. sdcbc. free—no registration fee or anything.

I’ll be there on sunday.

• On both Fourth and Fifth Avenues, convert alternating blocks to angle parking. Convert west side of the block to angle parking for one-block, and then convert the east side of the adjacent block to angle parking. Repeat this process the length of Fourth and Fifth Avenues through Bankers Hill.
• Along Sixth Avenue, add diagonal parking along the east side of the Avenue, and narrow the Avenue one-lane in each direction. Add center left turn lane. In the long-term, add parking meters.
• Along Sixth Avenue, add stop signs and install painted cross walks. Reduce the legal speed limit on Sixth Avenueby five-miles per hour. Slow down the traffic in Bankers Hill.
• Limit the number of Stop signs in Bankers Hill, and use roundabouts instead.
• Add a Stop sign at the intersection of First Avenue and Ivy Street.
• Add angle parking to one-side of First Avenue. Leave parallel parking on the other side. This will help calm traffic on First Avenue and will increase the parking supply.
• Add painted bulb outs.
• Add a sidewalk on the west side of Fourth Avenue between Palm and Spruce Streets.
• Add painted crosswalks on Sixth Avenue that correspond with newly added curb cuts.
• Upgrade crosswalks by adding painted “zebra stripe” pattern to increase visibility.
• Add bicycle racks.
• Add bicycle corrals.
• Add bicycle lanes per the adopted Bicycle Plan for San Diego.
• Make bus stops and bus shelters more inviting and user friendly.
• Implement a tram or shuttle circulating system for Bankers Hill.
• Support the San Diego Trolley / streetcar extension between Centre City and Hillcrest via Bankers Hill.

full list here, 21.03.12. (yep, I sent my ideas in. got included, except for my suggestion for cycle tracks on Sixth. ughh diagonal parking is a bitch to cycle past.)

good to know that my neighborhood is embracing “progressive” traffic calming measures to make streets safer. There are practically no crosswalks on Bankers Hill. everyone looks and feels like they’re jay-walking, even at legally defined “crossings”.

A bicyclist who may have been riding against traffic was run over and killed Thursday morning in Clairemont near Interstate 805.

The man was struck in the eastbound lanes of Balboa Avenue near the ramp to northbound I-805 just after 7 a.m., San Diego police said.

It appears that the man was first hit by a black Ford Expedition and thrown forward several yards, then struck by a black Toyota Camry and knocked forward several more yards before being hit by a gray Toyota Camry, San Diego police Lt. Jerry Hara said.

His body ended up lying on the roadway directly in front of the second Camry several yards away from his crushed and mangled bicycle.

“From witness statements and evidence it seems at this point that the bicyclist was possibly westbound in the eastbound lanes,“ Hara said.

The eastbound lanes of Balboa were shut down from Charger Boulevard to the freeway as was the southbound I-805 off-ramp to Balboa as authorities investigated.

Traffic rapidly backed up in the area. The California Highway Patrol issued a traffic alert that was expected to last until noon…

sd u-t, 22.03.12.

dangerous suburb-y/sprawl area. I would never bike there.

The new bike racks would be placed in the centre of Helsinki, close to the shops and routes which the cyclists favour.

“In places where there is no bike parking yet but where crowds of people move about”, describes Otso Kivekäs, Deputy Chairman of the Helsinki Cyclists, who has been the organiser of the project.

In Kivekäs’s opinion, suitable places for the bike racks would be for example in front of Restaurant Rytmi in the Kallio neighbourhood and in front of the Rikhardinkatu Library in downtown Helsinki.

A final decision on the acquisition of the bike racks has not been made yet. “It would be nice to hear about places where they would be needed”, Silfverberg says.

Four wheels bad, two wheels good: parking spaces to be turned into summertime bike racks in Helsinki. hs.fi.
via copenhagenize. 

“City planning is design, and how people move about in the city influences the city very much”, says Antti Kirjalainen, who is coordinating the cycling project of the design city year..

Martti Tulenheimo, a Helsinki cycling activist and a Green politician who works in Brussels at the European Cyclists’ Federation, says that the cyclists’ city will be set up with new riders in mind — that is those who do not yet ride bicycles.

“Above all we should encourage old women to cycle”, says Tulenheimo. An indication of the success of cycling in Denmark and The Netherlands is the large proportion of women involved. In Helsinki cycling is easily seen as a male activity.      

The issues are physical — such as safe and appropriate bicycle paths — but it is also about impressions. Is cycling an extreme sport engaged in by daredevil men, or an everyday way of moving around?

Images can be altered and the best way to make alterations is to serve as an example. This is why Tulenheimo sees Helsinki’s urban bicycles as a big step in the direction of an age of cycling.

“They lower the threshold to try cycling in cities. And the more cyclists are seen in the centre, the more normal it will start to feel.”

Designing a bicycle city. hs.fi, 04.02.12.

some of my photos of cycle infrastructure in Helsinki here.

Whatever political spin proponents or critics might want to put on the tariff decision, there is no question that solar panels from China now control about half of the American market, while panels from the United States control less than a third. American imports of Chinese solar panels have soared to $2.65 billion last year from $21.3 million in 2005.

While American manufacturers oppose the imports and filed the trade case against China, users of solar energy have benefited from low-cost Chinese solar panels. An American industry group composed of companies that sell and install solar panels said Tuesday that it was pleased with the relatively small size of the tariffs, having braced for higher ones.

nytimes, 20.03.12.

SAN DIEGO, CA (March 20, 2012) — The San Diego City Council today approved changes to streamline the approval and contracting processes for the City’s Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) program.  Councilmember Todd Gloria, who represents older neighborhoods in need of infrastructure improvements, championed the modifications.

“Public improvements will now occur at a faster pace and with a more effective use of City resources,” said Councilmember Gloria.“While we have made the capital improvements process more efficient today, we will not sacrifice quality, transparency or equal opportunity.” 

Today’s changes include…

The action taken by the City Council today followed five hearings on the topic at the Budget and Finance Committee, chaired by Councilmember Gloria, and extensive stakeholder outreach and input.  These recommendations can trim an additional three to 12 months off the life cycle of each project, and time saved provides added capacity and mitigates some staffing needs to ensure quicker delivery of a growing CIP.  Using the most conservative figures, staff estimates minimum 15% capacity increase from CIP streamlining.

via Todd Gloria on fb.

Key portions of the Kyoto Protocol are set to expire at the end of 2012. But many of the world’s major greenhouse gas emitters have already set national targets to reduce emissions, and they’re forging their own initiatives to meet those goals.

Some are focusing on curbing deforestation and boosting renewable energy sources. Several nations are experimenting with cap-and-trade plans: Regulators set mandatory limits on industrial emissions, but companies that exceed those “caps” can buy permits to emit from companies that have allowances to spare. In some cases, it’s not clear that countries are doing much to meet their stated climate goals. What is clear is that the pledges currently on the table aren’t legally binding, and they fall far short of what would be required to stabilize the planet’s atmosphere.

Here’s a look at what nations are doing.

npr, 09.12.11.