I encourage you to watch this short video of Portland’s first Ciclovia style street closure. With 6 miles of streets closed to automobiles for half a day one Sunday, residents had the opportunity to get out and walk, bike, skate and basically just celebrate being outside. Can you imagine something like this here in Greenville? The fact that Portland embraces ideas like this is exactly why they are a platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community. Greenville is not quite as bike friendly as Portland yet, but I don’t see why we couldn’t do something like this? We close off streets for events, including the US Pro Championship races, so why not close a handful of City streets for a few hours to remind everyone that streets really are for people?While I am thinking of things I would love to see here in Greenville, I’ll mention the idea of a bike co-op workspace or a non-profit community bike shop. They vary from educational bike workspaces like the Bicycle Kitchen in LA to places like The Recyclery in Portland where they sell used bikes as well as teach people how to repair them. The common thread is these are places where old bikes can be fixed to get them back on the street, which translates to economical bikes for people who need them. Closer to home are the Asheville ReCyclery, Sopo bikes in Atlanta, and now the Hub Cycle program in Spartanburg. For now, any of you who have old bikes that you want to donate should direct them to the Hub Cycle program, but wouldn’t it be great to have something like that in Greenville?
Photo: kids riding at Portland’s Sunday Parkways event from BikePortland.org
