Moving Beyond the Automobile

“Moving Beyond The Automobile is a 40-minute series of documentary film shorts that highlights real-world solutions to address America's dependence on the automobile. The film series explore strategies that integrate active living and effective multi-modal transportation.”

UpstateForever and The Mary Black Foundation will be showing Moving Beyond the Automobile this Thursday, Jan. 26^th at Spartanburg Community College from 6 to 7 pm.  The event is free, but space is limited, so RSVP to Upstate Forever in Spartanburg if you wish to attend. More information and contact information can be found here.

Speaking of real-world transportation solutions, read about this plan for a superhighway for cyclists in Sweden. Interesting, but the last paragraph is what really grabbed my attention. Perhaps if Sweden goes ahead with this project, America will revive its superhighway system for cyclists. I won't hold my breath...but it COULD happen in my lifetime.

Update:  One more event that some of you may be interested in attending this week is the City of Greenville's Green Ribbon Advisory Committee Public Workshop. The workshop will take place tomorrow, Jan 24th at 6:30 pm in the Hughes Main Library. See the City's Sustainability webpage for more information.

Spartanburg in American Bicyclist

I received the March issue of American Bicyclist (the LAB magazine) yesterday and it features short write-ups about all of the Bicycle Friendly Communities that have been designated so far. As you all know, Spartanburg was designated at the Bronze level recently after a lot of effort from local cyclists and City leaders, so naturally that was the page I turned to first.

The article points out the Bike Town initiative, which helped to make bike infrastructure, and funding for it, a priority in Spartanburg. It also mentions popular events like the Assault on Mt. Mitchell and the Smith Barney Classic (now the Steadman Hawkins Classic). Interestingly, the unanimous passing of Complete Streets resolutions at both the City and County level was listed as Spartanburg’s most significant recent accomplishment. Best of all, it points out that Spartanburg has made a commitment to continue funding the Bicycle Friendly Community campaign in order to reach more ambitious goals. Congratulations again to Spartanburg. Hopefully we in Greenville can join them as a BFC designated community soon.

While I am posting, I want to mention the article in the Greenville News this morning about City greenways. For those of you who haven’t seen it, progress on the Reedy River Greenway from Greenville Tech to downtown is coming along.

Congratulations Spartanburg!

Shortly after I mentioned Spartanburg in yesterday’s post, I heard the news that they were designated as a Bronze level Bicycle Friendly Community by the LAB. Congratulations to Spartanburg on being the first city in South Carolina to earn that designation. Many people in Spartanburg have worked hard in recent years to make this happen, and they deserve to be commended. Let’s hope that this news encourages all of us in Greenville to step up our efforts toward reaching the same goal of BFC designation.

You can read more about Spartanburg’s designation in the following press release:

Spartanburg Recognized as the First City in South Carolina to Receive Bicycle-Friendly Community Recognition

SPARTANBURG (September 25, 2007) The City of Spartanburg has been nationally designated as a Bronze Level, Bicycle-Friendly Community from The League of American Bicyclists and proclaimed as the first city in South Carolina to receive such an honor.

The criteria used by national reviewers are:

• The community had systems in place to train children and adult cyclists.
• 
  Bicyclists were included in the City’s transportation plan.
• 
  Police officers understood and enforced bicyclists’ rights and responsibilities.
• 
  The community participated in Bike Month, hosted community bike rides and overall encouraged cycling.

The City of Spartanburg was recognized for the recently completed two-mile rail-trail through downtown which was financed with more than $1 million in local funds.

The City of Spartanburg’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee was established in February 2006 under the direction of Mayor Barnet. Its chartered purpose is to promote policies, practices and attitudes to increase safety and accessibility of bicycling and walking for both transportation and recreation throughout the City of Spartanburg.

The Bike Town Initiative was created in 2004 with the goal of earning Spartanburg the designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community by 2007. It is funded by Mary Black Foundation and directed by Partners for Active Living.

The Bicycle-Friendly Community Campaign is an awards program of the League of American Bicyclists that recognizes municipalities that actively support bicycling. On September 29, 2006, the City of Spartanburg was the first in the state to receive Honorable Mention from the Bicycle-Friendly Community Campaign.

"We Are Traffic!" movie showing

This Thursday, September 27^th, Hub-Bub in Spartanburg is showing “We Are Traffic!”, a documentary by Ted White which chronicles the history and development of the Critical Mass movement. The free screening will begin at 7pm and a discussion of the film will follow. I have not seen this film, or Ted White's earlier film, “The Return of the Scorcher”, from which the name Critical Mass was taken, but I have heard good things about both. Regardless of your opinion about Critical Mass, the showing and discussion should be interesting and worth your time. I haven’t checked my calendar at home yet, but I really hope that I will be able to make it to Hub-Bub on Thursday. I have been wanting to check that place out anyway, so this is a perfect reason.

Find out more about the film at the Hub-Bub website or at the "We Are Traffic!" page on Ted White’s site.

The Ride of Silence

Next Wednesday, May 16th, Greenville and Spartanburg cyclists will participate in a combined Upstate Ride of Silence. This ride, which will take place on the same day in over 200 U.S. cities and 6 countries, was started in Dallas, Texas in 2003 to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Cyclists of all abilities are encouraged to attend. The ride is free to take part in and will proceed silently at a pace no faster than 12 mph. Unfortunately, many of us know someone who has been seriously injured or killed while cycling, so I hope that you will all consider participating in this ride next Wednesday. In addition to paying respect to fallen cyclists, the Ride Of Silence helps to raise public awareness about the presence of cyclists on the roads in our communities.

Thanks to Kimberly Morgan, Greenville co-chair, and Richard Dillard, Spartanburg co-chair, for organizing this event. More information about the Upstate Ride of Silence, as well as pictures from last year, can be found on the Freewheelers site. Here is the general information about the 2007 event from the ride organizers:


NO COST!!! Next Wednesday!!!To "register" please click here to send an email and simply list yourname, and/or the names of family members who will participate.

What: Upstate RIDE OF SILENCE (For ALL abilities) We need/want veteran cyclists and beginning cyclists.

Why: Bring attention to the huge population of cyclists in the Upstate and need for safe roads. Tribute to fallen/injured cyclists

Goal: 200+ cyclists riding single file 10 yards apart, stretching over a mile.

Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2007Time: 7:00 P.M

Place: Bruce Group Auctions - (2.5 miles south of I-85 on Highway 101 in Greer.)

Pace: Maximum 12mph

Route: South on Hwy. 101 bike lanes toward Woodruff for 6 miles to Bellview Church and return.

Course: Flat, Flat, Flat !!!

Helmets Required