One Street News

February 2012

Vol. 5, Issue 2

  1. City to Velo-city Endorsed by Prescott College
  2. Resources – NYC’s Neighborhood Slow Zones
  3. Hot Topics – Creeps and Weirdos

City to Velo-city Endorsed by Prescott College

By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director 

Last year, when I presented the idea of attending the Velo-city conference to my Prescott College students in the Bicycle course I teach there each spring, I was prepared for them to nix the idea. In 2011, this annual international bicycle advocacy conference was held in Sevilla, Spain – a long way from Prescott, Arizona and an arduous trip for busy university students. But to my surprise they eagerly took on the challenge. Even the students who could not make the trip pitched in with the trip planning and fundraising to ensure its success. When the trip wrapped up with the presentation of findings to Prescott’s city officials, my students encouraged me to take this new City to Velo-city program idea to One Street’s board to be approved as an on-going program. As you can see, my students’ recommendation has turned into reality. 

In this second year of City to Velo-city we are already enjoying new successes. Most exciting is the recent endorsement of this year’s trip from Prescott College. With this endorsement we can fully tap our partnership with Prescott College to encourage the students who are most committed to bicycle advocacy to attend. On top of that, the conference is nearly coming to us! This year, Velo-city will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia June 26-29.

You can read more about the trip and the exciting endorsement from Prescott College in our recent press release.  

Resources – NYC’s Neighborhood Slow Zones

New York City has taken yet another courageous step toward making their streets safe for bicyclists and pedestrians. Their new Slow Zones are modeled after Europe’s 30kph (18mph) speed zones that have recreated neighborhoods where children can play in the street without being endangered by cars. On the New York City DOT website you can find all the details about how to set up a Neighborhood Slow Zone.  

Hot Topics – Creeps and Weirdos

Somehow many people, including most government officials, have settled on the idea that bicyclists are strange beings from a different universe. This disturbing trend reveals itself as advocates work for bicycle provisions or simply try to defend the rights of cyclists.  

Professional bicycle advocates have learned to leave their fancy bicycle clothing at home when attending meetings with officials. Focusing on community-wide concerns such as the safety of children and other vulnerable roadway users helps keep discussions in the realm of current affairs. Understanding the most recent concerns of officials and the public can also help bicycle advocates frame requests for bicycle improvements in a beneficial way. But even with all of these precautions, professional bicycle advocates still run into bizarre prejudices – a side comment, a quick end to a meeting, a strange twist in a newspaper story – that point to an undercurrent of misinformation about bicyclists.

This article, “Creeps and Weirdos: the auto industry agenda for keeping you on four wheels” points to a disturbing suggestion that this perception is not accidental. 

Car ads that portray cyclists as freaks are bad enough. But take a closer look at how bicyclists are portrayed in movies and on TV – nerds, mental cases, creeps and weirdos. Heroes never ride bicycles. Such misrepresentations may be more serious than we think. Who benefits from this negative perception of bicyclists and how can we counter it so that bicyclists become our society’s role models?