“All the ads at that time were ostensibly pushing condominiums. But of course they were really selling lifestyle, and with the lifestyle a revolution in what was desirable. By appropriating the fashion of the northwest outdoors, the [marketers] took cycling out of the alternative-lifestyle gutter into the mainstream traffic of contemporary living.” Gordon Price, former Vancouver city councillor, on a condo ad starring bicyclists

From the design competition docs for the Calumet Environmental Center (the winner of which — Studio/Gang — was announced yesterday):

“The site is accessible by foot, bicycle and automobile. Plans include extending the 130th Street and Torrence Avenue Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus service to reach the site… The site will be connected to a system of bike paths that will allow people to bike from the north side of Chicago into the Calumet region. Also, the site abuts the Calumet River and may allow access via canoe.”

I’ve always (half-jokingly) mentioned commuting by boat as a major reason to open up access to the riverfront (even before I knew anyone who actually did so). Maybe the message is sinking in?

Taxpayers for Common Sense has helpfully put up a list of “earmarks” — those pesky little line items that legislators tack on to appropriations bills — attached to HR 3550, the House TEA3 transportation reauthorization. Among the goodies for Chicago are $18 million for Lake Shore Drive and the lakefront parks, nearly $9 million for road and transit improvements around CHA redevelopment sites, over $50 million for Bill Lipinski’s glorious plans for Ogden Avenue, $4 million for roads around the new Ford plant in Hegewisch, and $3 million for unspecified “bike/pedestrian paths.” Someone managed to swing $1 million to study the Oak Park freeway cap.

New York politicians are especially concerned about a proposal that was tucked into the spending package that was approved by the Senate several weeks ago. It would eventually require that all states receive a larger percentage of what they pay in in gas taxes, which are in turn used to finance the nation’s transportation needs. Under the existing formula, New York and other states with heavily used mass transit systems draw a larger share of these funds. But the provision would ensure that all states got a greater percentage of the total amount they pay in gas taxes.

Many New Yorkers complain that the proposal, if adopted, would reward gas-guzzling states, where people commute largely by car, at the expense of states like New York.

The reaction from City Hall bordered on indignation. “New Yorkers shouldn’t be penalized for using mass transit,” said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a Republican.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, a New York City Democrat, went further, taking a poke at relatively heavy gas-consuming states.

“New York has invested huge sums in mass transit,” he said Thursday on the floor. “Therefore, we are more energy efficient. And apparently, because we are more energy efficient, because we save on sending money to the Middle East, we must be punished by getting less.”

[NYT]

The Times is running a package of articles on what the subway means to New York to celebrate the subway’s centenary.

I noticed black nylon straps hanging from the overhead grab bars on a #77 Belmont bus (one of the Novas) today. It’s a thoughtful touch for those of us who aren’t quite tall enough to comfortably hang onto the rather high bars — but I’ve never seen them outside New York City before. There, they’re so ubiquitous that commuters are known as straphangers.

At a party last night, I had a chance to play a 1970s board game called Paris Metro (approved by the RATP!). It was frustratingly designed — simply get around town, between various tourist destinations outlined on little cards, with the annoying inclusion of dice and thus chance — but the board was lovely. There was no date on the board or box, but the map predated the demolition of Les Halles.

Oddly enough, I can’t find any web references to this game. All I can find are references to a later board game of the same name, about the construction of the Metro.

Take a look at the left navbar: thanks to Feedroll, I can link headlines on the Break the Gridlock blog, to which I contribute stories on local transportation and land use issues, right here.

A quick look through the 2004 bike catalogs shows that both Trek and Specialized have brought their formerly for-sale-in-Europe-only commuter, street, and utility bikes — complete with fenders, generator lights, and rear racks — to the U.S. market. Previously, both (along with Cannondale and other major U.S. bike manufacturers) had sold commute-ready bikes in Europe and “comfort” bikes in the U.S., assuming that Americans wanted to ride on paths on the weekend, but not to work or around town during the week.

The mere fact that these bikes are available is significant in two ways: first, it plants the seed into bike buyers’ minds that commuting is an option, even if they don’t ride out of the bike shop with a commuter; and second, it shows that there’s market demand for commuters. Either that, or the bike companies figured that they, and not accessory makers, should reap the profits off accessory sales, or are just responding to market pressures from the likes of Breezer or Burley.

‘Paris is a walker’s city, built for sauntering, window-shopping, the sideways topple into the cafe chair. On our final day here, we finally realized that the best way to get around on Segways is to use the bike lane rather than the sidewalk. The ride is fast and uncluttered, and you aren’t constantly giving pedestrians heart attacks. Technically, Segwaying in the street is illegal, but the policemen who stared us down at intersections and in front of President Chirac’s house all seemed to be following the same penal-code decision tree (“Not a bicycle, yet has two wheels and moves in a leisurely manner: ALLOW TO PROCEED”). ‘

From Tad Friend’s Slate travel journal of a week spent Segwaying in Paris. Segway tours this past summer were around $75 a day; rental bicycles (provided by the RATP at stands around town) were EUR8 a day. Hmm.

A. It tried to cross at mid-block.
B. Because chickens have buffalo wings.
C. Most roads are designed with cars in mind, not chickens (or pedestrians).

The answer is C, of course. Take the full Hilkevitch quiz in today’s Trib. Hint: yes, indeed, cars ruined the 20th century.

The local forecast is for a white Christmas, which makes the notion of a Bike Winter Xmas even more appealing.