Complete Streets [policy] offers a way toward zero fatalities

We are recommending a Complete Streets policy to our town governments. It's good for everyone.


Please read the Op-Ed piece that James Simpson wrote. Simpson is commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Notes from last night's SOMbike meeting

Laura Torchio, from BIKE /WALK MONTCLAIR, brought along amazing support materials for how the Complete Streets policy has been adopted in various NJ towns (and in Monmouth County), as well as detailed presentation notes, and reflections on her group's experience - this will be invaluable to us as we move forward in planning our own presentation this January at the Maplewood Library, and in how we can build support for these efforts in both towns. Also attending the meeting last night, were members of the Transportation Committees from both town, who provided important background and perspective.For this public meeting, we want to target different corners of our community - walkers, parents, senior citizens, others... If you have ideas for people/groups that we should reach out to, please email us or bring to the next SOMbiek meeting, on Wed., November 30th, at 8 PM.Additionally, weather permitting, we will have two group rides Thanksgiving Week-end, so double the opportunity to work off the cornbread stuffing and apple pie.Sunday, 8 AM & 2 PM, leaving from the NJ TRansit PArking Lot, Maplewood AVe. & Baker. The route will be ten miles, through some very pretty back roads in Short Hills & Millburn. Anyone at last night's meeting want to add/comment?

Laura Torchio To Speak At SOMbike Meeting 11/15, 730 PM

Laura Torchio, President of Bike & Walk Montclair will meet with us Tuesday night and talk about the strategy they used to get Montclair to adapt the Complete Streets policy.

Here is the resolution from Montclair's adoption of Complete Streets in 2009:Montclair, NJ - Marking a first in the state, Montclair’s Mayor and City Council unanimously voted in favor of a Complete Streets Policy at their October 6 meeting. The policy first drafted by the Township Engineer, ensures that in both new construction and reconstruction, travel by pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit, and motorized vehicles and their passengers shall be safely accommodated. Following a failed attempt to adopt complete streets hindered by fear of costs, the new policy mandates additional costs for pedestrian, bicyclist, or transit accommodations over 5% be funded by local tax dollars. We hope Montclair will arrive at the same conclusion as other communities implementing complete streets: following complete streets policies add little to no expense to existing transportation budgets.

if you plan to attend the meeting, please email ekahaner@gmail.com for more information

Special bike stolen

STOLEN BIKE

Stolen from my home in Maplewood at around 10:30pm on November 7, 2011.

CASH REWARD if you bring it back to me. CASH REWARD if you lead me to the person who had it or has it. This bike is not only valuable to me, it has a lot of sentimental value. I put a lot of handiwork into building it.

Brand: Surly

Model: Cross Check

Color: Brown, though it may be painted by the thief

Distinctive features: Unusually shaped mustache handlebars. Drum brake hubs (i.e. the brakes are in the wheel hubs; they don’t grab the rims). Silver fenders.


Email: tom@sombike.com
Phone: 973-821-3662

SOMbike's Kate Cahill Runs for Town Council!

Let's Shake Things Up! Tomorrow is the election - Kate is a write-in candidate. Here's is a brief statement from Kate:

For being a small town, I see an awful lot of gridlock here - we should be quick, agile and responsive and pride ourselves on that!

It is critical is to improve the efficiencies around how Maplewood is governed - by adding clarity, accountability and transparency and inclusiveness to the functions of our all of our governing committees. To that end, we should examine our structure and consider if is this the ideal approach for today's challenging times. Navigating the local government structure is needlessly cumbersome and time consuming. Can we make our all of our committees, who can play a tremendously vital role, work in a more integrated fashion, communicate better, and in doing so, be more open and responsive to the needs of our town? Without a doubt. There's little excuse with the technology available today to not have each and every committee member on the same page. Steps such as these cost little to no money, yet they can yield better input for planning and produce better decision making with significant results for the town.

BCBC Halloween Bike Scavenger Hunt, Saturday, Nov. 5

It's time for The Brick City Bike Collective's annual Halloween Bike Scavenger Hunt!
Saturday November 5th11:30am signup, 12 noon startStart & finish at Hells Kitchen Lounge, corner of Bruen & Lafayette, Ironbound NewarkPrizes in all categories, free lunch and drinks for everyone after the race!Admission: it's free!
This is a great way to see the Ironbound area through the eyes of people who live and ride their regularly!Wear a costume and gain an extra 5 points!
Press release:http://www.brickcitybikecollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/halloweenscavengerhuntpressrelease.pdf

Getting "Zapped" In Montclair

Yesterday, I visited the Edgemont Elementary School in Montclair to take a look at the innovative program they've implemented to get kids and parents motivated to walk and bike to school.Thanks to a grant, the school has adopted the Boltage program. Students receive a luggage-type tag that they attach to their backpacks, and when they walk or ride to school, they go under a 'zapper' that is mounted on a tall pole. Their walk/ride is recorded electronically. They receive incentives - like yesterday they got a cool glow in the dark charm to attach to their sneaker laces and a stamp on their hands. The program is managed by Jennifer Hanawald, a parent at the school, with the support of other parents, teachers, and the principal. Lots of happy, enthusiastic kids participating. Here's a report from Jennifer, that was posted on BikeWalkMontclair.org:
Montclair Walk & Bike to School Update: Edgemont’s Boltage ProgramBy Jennifer HanawaldEdgemont Boltage co-chair10/22/11
It’s still early in what will be the first full year for Boltage@Edgemont, the bike and walk incentive program launched last year at Montclair’s public Montessori Elementary School. But the infrastructure is in place and with the mild fall temperatures there’s been a steady flow at the “zap” machine that tracks participants as they arrive at the school’s front yard. This quiet routine is good news, and a reminder that the kick-off early last spring was not only the culmination of a lot of work. It was also the beginning of a volunteer, community-based effort to encourage families to adopt the habit of biking and walking to school.
How the system works
The Boltage system measures trips to school via technology mounted on a pole in the schoolyard. Walkers and bikers pass under the solar panel powered “zap machine” which beeps and flashes green as it reads the number on the student’s RFID tag (a cool 2” by 4” tag with the Boltage logo that can attach to kids’ backpacks). Parents register their kids online at Boltage.org and designate how long their trip will be, so each zap is associated with a specified distance. All kids can register, and participate as much as they are able. As the school year progresses, students can be the weekly winner, randomly selected by the system each week, and earn prizes and recognition, such as wristbands, water bottles, bike bells and toe-tokens.
Through its innovative systems now operating at 33 schools, Boltage, whose mission is to make walking and biking to school a way of life, has tracked over 435,000 trips equating to 58,000 gallons of gas saved, 28 million calories burned, 1.1 million pounds of CO2 saved, 650,000 kid powered miles, and 26 trips around the earth. (Edgemont data from last spring is included in these statistics.)

The back story
All this began as a simple suggestion, emailed to a health and wellness coordinator in late November 2009. That sparked another email, which then snowballed into a collaborative frenzy of research, grant-writing, rallying of support, re-writing to meet a deadline – in the middle of December. Followed by a long wait. Then, just as school was closing down in June, the exciting news came. Thanks to a Healthy Community Grant from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Edgemont was granted funding to start the state’s first Boltage program.
The implementation process was a learning curve. As the packages of solar panels and RFID devices arrived in the principal’s office, volunteers drafted flyers introducing the innovative program to the school community and pounded the pavement to find out where to get that 17-foot metal pole on which to mount the solar panel. In an effort that engaged a multitude of players – from Edgemont’s principal, staff and PTA, to the town’s Health and Wellness Partnership leaders and Bike&Walk Montclair’s Laura Torchio herself – Boltage took shape.
Finally, it was up and running. On April 6, 125 walkers and bikers were joined by the entire school, several township and community leaders, and the state coordinator for safe routes to school, who drove an hour and a half up the GSP at the crack of dawn to be the keynote speaker. For about 20 minutes, the community gathered together to consider the value of something simple, yet increasingly rare – kids walking to school. It was glorious.
And now…
On the first day of the current school year, which will be the first full year of Boltage implementation, a just handful of students who’d hung on to their tags over the summer began zapping again. Then the calls started coming in for replacement tags and new registrations. Momentum gathered and International Walk to School Day gave a major boost, with 85 students zapping in and more families requesting tags. Now, like all volunteer-based initiatives, it’s not a question of rolling up those sleeves again, but rather, keeping them rolled up. New students are registering and new ideas and incentives are being cooked up to encourage participation. The excitement of a new project is evolving into a sustainable program and hopefully, just another daily routine for a growing number of participants.
As one parent, who lives about a mile from school commented as she cut through Edgemont Park on her way home after a Boltage drop-off: “You don’t realize how great it is until you do it. These few minutes walking to school with my son and daughter are a treasure. It’s the only time I have with them when I’m not also thinking about work, or have my mind on other things, like what’s for dinner.”
-Stay tuned for an update later in the school year for how things are progressing at Boltage@Edgemont and other area programs designed to support self-powered transport.