League Of American Bicyclists Instructor Seminar

News!

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition will host a League Of American Bicyclists Cycling Instructor seminar on November 3rd, 4th, and 5th at The Boys And Girls Club.

Bicycling in Asbury Park has been transforming over the 8 years years that APCSC has been in existence.

When APCSC was founded there was only one (very worn) bike lane in the city.

People were riding bikes for daily transportation or recreation with zero awareness of the need for safe infrastructure. Main Street was a speeding 4 lane highway, many businesses had been abandoned, and drivers ruled city streets.

Locals began advocating with us and learning how we can #slowthecars with traffic calming measures like bike lanes, bumpouts, mini traffic circles, raised crosswalks, and speed bumps. The Main Street road diet was implemented after an energetic 18 months APCSC campaign.

Streets that are safe for anyone at any age to ride a bike will encourage people to ride bikes.

Residents and visitors now are beginning to understand the need for safe bike riding infrastructure – for health, economic, and social benefits.

We still have a long way to go, but improvements are being made all over the city. During these years people have become aware of the need for equitable mobility for the most vulnerable road users – which is everyone outside of a vehicle.

Take a look at the Asbury Park Plan For Walking And Biking, particularly beginning on page 63 to see plans for the current work on Memorial Drive!

Our hope is that we might be able to encourage parents, teachers, and residents to be a part of a “Bike Bus” – a global movement in which adults on bikes pick up kids on bikes at “bus stops” all over town and guide them to school.

Here’s a video of Montclair’s Bike Bus In action on a recent Friday with 163 kids. 143 adults!

And in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: Make Way for the Bike Bus. For the school commute, families are taking to the streets with two wheels. Some have termed the movement “kidical mass.”

This is where League of American Bicyclist Instructor training comes in!

The League Seminar will equip instructors to educate members of the community, particularly parents and school kids to ride bikes confidently and safely.

Certified LCIs are empowered to teach courses that cover youth riding, how to ride confidently and legally with traffic, how to share paths and trails, motorist education, bike handling, group riding, and more.

Membership in The League Of American Bicyclists and the Smart Cycling course are prerequisites. The courses are held throughout the year in locations all over the US.

For more information, email apcompletestreets@gmail.com if you’re interested in becoming a League Certified Instructor.

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor APCSC

July 14, 2020July 14, 2020

A City Without Cars – Could Asbury Park Do It?

This NYTIMES article, filled with great graphics and data has evoked many responses from readers, and inspired other opinion pieces like this from StreetsBlog.

What are your thoughts about minimizing or eliminating automobiles in Asbury Park? How do you envision our city in 2 years, 5 years, or 10? We know that real estate has been strong, even during the pandemic, and gradually we will see more condos built on iStar’s lots, meaning more people, and undoubtedly more cars, unless we start now to mitigate car use and parking availability. Within the past couple of weeks traffic we’ve seen traffic escalate back to pre pandemic congestion in the business district and waterfront. Drivers are speeding in every neighborhood in the city.

APCSC believes in a walkable, bikeable, livable Asbury Park where everyone, especially the most vulnerable can access every part of the city without the dangers associated with motor vehicles.

Read on…

I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing

Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?

By Farhad Manjoo

NYT Opinion Columnist July 9, 2020

“Automobiles are not just dangerous and bad for the environment; they are also profoundly wasteful of the land around us, taking up way too much physical space to transport too few people. It’s geometry.

In most American cities, wherever you look, you will see a landscape constructed primarily for the movement and storage of automobiles, not for the enjoyment of people: endless wide boulevards and freeways for cars to move swiftly; each road lined with parking spaces for cars at rest; retail establishments ringed with spots for cars…”

What does it take to move 50 people?

50 cars: 55 square feet per person.

One bus: 9 square feet per person

50 bicycles: 15 square feet per person

Read it here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/sunday/ban-cars-manhattan-cities.html?referringSource=articleShare

May 2, 2020May 2, 2020

Covid-19 Recovery And Long-Lasting Change

City leaders all over the world are establishing measures to permanently maintain the improvements to the environment by creating ways for people to get around without cars. Asbury Park can do this.

“Action needs to be taken now which will help people move around without the congestion, pollution and ill-health that comes with car use now and after lockdown is lifted.”

“…the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis could be “a catalyst for long-lasting change in the way we live and travel, especially in towns and cities. What Covid-19 has also done is to highlight the crossovers between the quality of our places, public health, economy, transport, education, air quality and social justice.”

City leaders aim to shape green recovery from coronavirus crisis

Mayors coordinating efforts to support a low-carbon, sustainable path out of lockdowns

Matthew Taylorand Sandra Laville Fri 1 May 2020

Cities around the world are already planning for life after Covid-19, with a series of environmental initiatives being rolled out from Bogotá to Barcelona to ensure public safety and bolster the fight against climate breakdown.

Mayors from cities in Europe, the US and Africa held talks this week to coordinate their efforts to support a low-carbon, sustainable recovery from the crisis as national governments begin to implement huge economic stimulus packages.

Many cities have already announced measures, from hundreds of miles of new bike lanes in Milan and Mexico City to widening pavements and pedestrianising neighbourhoods in New York and Seattle.

Here’s a start Asbury Park!

Seven things city leaders can do to drive a green, fair recovery from Covid-19

Remove through motor traffic from residential streets and extend pavements near shops, schools and parks to make walking safe and enjoyable for transport and exercise.
Introduce safe access routes on foot, bike and scooter from homes to parks and green spaces and introduce automatic pedestrian lights at crossings so people do not have to push buttons and risk infection.
Establish safe cycle routes to and from work for key workers, especially hospital staff, by closing roads and carriageways where necessary so people have a safe alternative to private cars and public transport.
Create safe walking and cycling routes to and from schools, and close down streets around schools to motor vehicles at drop-off and pickup times.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/01/city-leaders-aim-to-shape-green-recovery-from-coronavirus-crisis

May 1, 2020May 1, 2020

This Is Our Future. The Birth Of A Healthy, Resilient City

Asbury Park is looking at a great opportunity to initiate progressive, and permanent change to prioritize people walking and people riding bikes, to offer alternative transportation, and to restrict the use of cars. We owe it to ourselves. This is our future, so let’s plan for it.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been countless articles about cities creating more space for people to protect the environment and to save lives. I’ve had so many in the queue I can barely keep up.

Read more here in this deep dive into what’s happening all over the world, followed by a great Twitter thread for more illumination.

Are we witnessing the death of the car?

“Cities around the world are seeing dwindling numbers of fossil-fuel powered cars on their streets, and many are planning to keep it that way after

lockdowns ease.”

To accommodate streets now busier with bikes, as well as facilitate social distancing, some places have installed temporary cycle lanes or closed streets to cars. Pop-up bike lanes have appeared in cities including Berlin, Budapest, Mexico City, New York, Dublin and Bogotá. Governments from New Zealand to Scotland have made funding available for temporary cycle lanes and walkways amid the pandemic. In Brussels, the entire city core will become a priority zone for cyclists and pedestrians from early May for the forseeable future. Meanwhile, temporary street closures to cars have taken place in Brighton, Bogotá, Cologne, Vancouver and Sydney as well as multiple US cities including Boston, Denver and Oakland. In England, restrictions have been lifted to enable and encourage councils to more quickly close streets to cars.

But these, of course, are temporary measures. What will happen when lockdowns are lifted?

Cities that seize this moment to make it easier for people to walk, bike and take public transport will prosper after this pandemic and not simply recover from it – Janette Sadik-Khan

This Twitter thread from @modacity, begins with a post from PhD candidate Brett Petzer.

“Cities across the globe are moving quickly and ambitiously to reclaim hundreds of kilometres of streets from the car monopoly and reallocate these public commons to people walking, cycling and rolling. It‘s like seeing decades of activism happen in a month.”

“The Great Reclamation: I am losing track of the number of cities that have moved suddenly and ambitiously to reclaim hundreds of kilometres of streets from the car monopoly and reallocate these public commons for people walking, cycling and using wheelchairs.”

@modacity began with a family’s move in 2010, and was the impetus to “educate people and cities about the inherent benefits of moving away from a car-centric transportation model, to a more inclusive one that is accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and economic means.”

“Using writing, photography, film, and the power of social media, we used this revelation to communicate a more human image of multi-modal transportation.”

“It is like watching decades of activism happen in a month. Like watching generations of ‘cycling and walking plans’ or ‘sustainable mobility plans’, which have always been aspirations, turn into facts (literally) overnight.

It has taken a crisis that is new, sudden, total and full of unknowns to break, albeit briefly, the car monopoly on urban space which has been in place for 70-100 years in the rich West…”

Read the tweet here.

March 19, 2020March 20, 2020

Open Streets RIGHT NOW

We’ve been urging people to get out of their cars for years. Right now when our physical, emotional, and mental health are at risk it would be a great time to consider opening streets to walkers, bicycle riders, and any other modes of transportation that would enable people to get around and get fresh air and exercise. We can walk, jog, roll around our towns with 6′ between us, smile and wave, and remain a community. We can prioritize people over cars right now. **This photo is of a dead bollard at the corner in front of my house. It’s an intersection that kids use every everyday for school, and now for breakfast and lunch. Someone ran over it, then later another driver ran over it again and dragged it down the block. Let’s make streets for people NOW.

Guest opinion: We should open up neighborhood streets for social distancing

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on March 16th, 2020

**This article is by Sam Balto, a Weston Award Winner and Physical Education teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in north Portland. We last heard from him when he launched a guerrilla safety campaign using red cups to protect bike lanes.**

During our time of social isolation, our community still needs physical activity and fresh air. Our network of neighborhood greenways should be carfree while we are in a State of Emergency. This would allow for ample open space for people not using cars. People could enjoy safe social distancing without the threat of being run over by drivers.

Read about it:

Guest opinion: We should open up neighborhood streets for social distancing

October 28, 2019October 28, 2019

Keep The City Moving With Less Parking And More Bicycle Infrastructure

The UK and US are similar in the prioritization of motor vehicles over other modes of transportation, including walking, bicycling, and mass transit, leading to a national health crisis in both countries. “Physical inactivity are responsible for one in six deaths, and one in four adults are obese.” The use of fossil fuels and emissions causes an increase in asthma and other respiratory health issues, and pedestrian and bicyclist deaths by automobile are at epic proportions. But in many cities these issues have not led to a sense of urgency to build more/better infrastructure for walking and bicycling, especially if city leaders and business owners promote the fear that the loss of parking and reduced flow of automobiles will negatively impact the local economy. This has been proven wrong again and again. Asbury Park’s city leaders understand the urgency and are working to create a truly walkable and bike-able city. This article illustrates how “Offering people good, reliable alternatives to the car is the key to keeping the city moving.”

Nottingham’s Workplace Parking Levy Creates Jobs, Cuts Car Use and Slashes Pollution

Carlton Reid Contributor

October 17, 2019

“Legislation passed last week will allow Scottish cities to implement workplace parking levies and spend the proceeds on cycling infrastructure and improved public transit. Glasgow and Edinburgh could lead the charge, and they would be doing so thanks to the example shown by Nottingham in England, which has had a workplace levy since 2012, a scheme which has so far raised £61 million and which the council spends on measures to reduce car use.”

“Council leader David Mellen told the Financial Times that the parking levy was controversial when first proposed: “The chamber of commerce was dead against it. They said businesses would leave Nottingham, and investors would not come.” The opposite happened. Since 2012 the number of businesses in the city has increased by almost a quarter. There has been a net increase of 23,400 jobs.”

Read about it:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/10/17/nottinghams-workplace-parking-levy-creates-jobs-cuts-car-use-and-slashes-pollution/#168d78e439fb

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019

Cars Are Killing Us

Asbury Park is perfectly designed to support alternatives to cars. Bike share, scooter share, electric car share, jitneys, pedicabs, and more.

This article in The New Yorker, in addition to recent articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other respected and well- known publications tells the history and social, health and environmental impacts of automobiles in this country. It has become clearer that we need to address the problem of #toomanycars.

“The road has emerged as the setting for our most violent illustrations of systemic racism, combustion engines have helped create a climate crisis, and the quest for oil has led our soldiers into war.”

The “Automobile Era” was ushered in by men who saw a way to make a lot of money hustling Americans into thinking that everyone needed, and everyone could afford a car, and that vehicles represented freedom and our very identity.

This author quotes the stats: “Since 1899, more than 3.6 million people have died in traffic accidents (*Let’s make sure we NEVER say “accident”. They’re CRASHES.*) in the United States, and more than eighty million have been injured; pedestrian fatalities have risen in the past few years.”

“In 2018 alone, an estimated 40,000 people lost their lives to car crashes.” Since 1990 1 million people have been killed in car crashes.”

The environment has suffered irreparably from automobile emissions, and from our dependence on gas and oil. Human health has been adversely affected with particulates in the atmosphere.

Let’s keep working toward a car-free Asbury Park.

Was the Automotive Era a Terrible Mistake?

For a century, we’ve loved our cars. They haven’t loved us back.

By Nathan Heller

July 22, 2019

READ IT:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/was-the-automotive-era-a-terrible-mistake

January 2, 2019December 30, 2018

What Happens When A City Is Designed For Kids And Families

The benefits of a city designed for kids is that it becomes safe, healthy, and a desirable place to live for everyone. Traffic injuries and fatalities have dropped dramatically, and this city now has lowest crime rate in a decade

What Happens to Kid Culture When You Close the Streets to Cars

JAIME VELAZQUEZ NOV 26, 2018

In the Spanish city Pontevedra, a family-friendly “pedestrianization” policy has helped increase the population of kids, despite the country’s low birth rates.

“By restricting traffic and eliminating physical barriers, the city council has redesigned Pontevedra from the sight line of a child. Doing so, Mosquera believes, helps the city address everybody’s needs, especially the disadvantaged. “Where there are children, there are healthy adults,” Mosquera said. The policy, which has been expanding for almost two decades now, has had many impacts on the community.”

“The crime rate has gone down, too, adding to the feeling that the city is safe for unattended kids. In 2010, Pontevedra reached its lowest crime rate in a decade with 34 offenses per 1,000 citizens, and last year it reached a new low of 27.”

HEALTHIER ROADS IN THE NEW YEAR: Starting With A Road Diet

By now most residents of Asbury Park know of the term “road diet”. We have all experienced the bumps along the way as the work continues repairing and upgrading Main Street as we anticipate the final stage of striping the lanes. Many people are familiar with Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition’s campaign to #SlowTheCars . For the new year, our initiative is to share and educate about the health, economic and cultural benefits of a safe Main Street, and traffic calming measures throughout the city, “Complete Streets” to make streets safe for everyone, especially the most vulnerable: people who ride bikes and walk.

Let’s start here:

ENVISIONING A BETTER MAIN STREET

What is a Road Diet? Why the need for a Road Diet? Beyond The Road Diet.

New Year’s Resolutions and Your Roadways

Safe Walking and Biking At Every Age And Every Ability

We all know that physical activity is necessary for health. But what about when physical activity is hampered by infrastructure that prevents people from getting around due to a disability, age, or injury? Cities are finding great ways to make it possible for everyone to get around for daily activities. “The Physical Activity Community Strategies and Resources website has ideas about building environments that make activity possible when it comes to accessing schools, stores, and public transportation. The goal is to make it easier for people on bicycles, in wheelchairs, or walking to safely and seamlessly get to where they need to go, all while improving their health.”

MOBILITY FOR ALL

December 11, 2018 by Micah Ling

Mobility as a way of life

According to the CDC’s Community Strategies, to increase and maintain necessary physical activity, the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends “environmental approaches that combine one or more interventions to improve pedestrian or bicycle transportation systems (active-friendly routes) with one or more land use and community design interventions (everyday destinations).” In other words, complete networks that allow people to be active and safely go about their daily lives can improve the health of most Americans. We already have significant data that shows the annual individual medical cost of inactivity ($622) is more than 2 ½ times the annual cost per user of bike and pedestrian trails ($235). There are endless benefits to getting physical activity via transportation. When it comes to new infrastructure, wider spaces and attention to detail allow for more inclusive facilities, and overall, healthier communities.

Read about it:

https://peopleforbikes.org/placesforbikes/mobility-for-all/