NolaCycle is a project aimed to create a high quality cycling map of New Orleans. Cycling maps include information beyond just streets and their names that benefits cyclists. In our map, we highlight the pavement quality, car travel speed, lane width, and special caution areas (busy intersections, man-eating potholes, or high accident areas). Volunteers help to collect this data by attending mapping events. The information is then digitized to make a map of the data we collectedto help cyclists - young, old, local, and tourist alike - navigate New Orleans.
Check out the blog for updates on the project, ways to get involved, and volunteer mapping events!
If you have questions, feel free to make a public comment on the blog entry or e-mail us directly at info@nolacycle.com.
I hope everyone is safe wherever they are right now - with friends, family, or in shelters. I'm currently in Austin and Tom and Dan are out of the city too. Hoping everything is fine and our city re-opens right after the storm, I'll be back in New Orleans Wednesday or Thursday. I'm really nervous, but hopefully everything will be okay. I'm trying my best to have fun and not to worry, but I keep thinking about our city and surrounding communities. If the city reopens and everything is fine, we will still be meeting at Loyola and Tulane this coming weekend.
On that note, if everything is not okay, NolaCycle mapping events will be on hold. I think it's more important that we work on fixing our homes and cleaning up the city than mapping for the time being. Once life is about back to normal, we'll continue with NolaCycle just as before.
Enough thinking about Gustav...I'm going to go back to trying to relax.
Since it's now almost fall and it's getting darker earlier, the events for September 13th and 14th on Loyola and Tulane's campus will begin at 5pm instead of 6pm.
Get this - in Toronto there is this guy, Igor Kenk, the owner of a used-bike shop, who got caught with 2,865 stolen bikes - some in his store, others in various rented garages throughout the city.
This article is just so crazy I thought I should share it with you guys. The police finally caught this guy because after so many complaints they finally decided to plant bikes and wait for him. Somehow I doubt there is one guys behind all the bike theft in New Orleans. We're not really a town with a just a few supervillains.
Toronto cyclists searching for their bikes at the police garage - photo by Peter Redman
It's come to my attention that in the last month or so, the NOPD has been almost completely ignoring crimes committed against cyclists. The police know where the man who hit David Gordon lives, but won't act because he has out-of-state plates. Also, a number of cyclists have been attacked by a pair of teenage boys throwing things at them through the Marigny and the Bywater. When people tried to report these crimes, the police ignored them too.
The author of Humidcity.com sent an e-mail to Jac at Defend New Orleans recommending how concerned citizens of New Orleans can help. This is part of the letter:
New Orleans has a Metropolitan Crime Commision, which oversees corruption and malfeasance of local government. I believe that these recent failures by the NOPD, at least in our neck of the woods merits their action. I urge each and every one of you to make contact, and let them know how you feel about living like fish in a barrel.
Mr. John Humphries has been receptive about hearing these complaints. Please be polite & concise. The Metropolitan Crime Commision can be reached by phone at: 540 524-7000 or toll free at 888 524-7001. The email address is: info@metrocrimeno.org Simple letters can make a huge difference in large numbers.
I’ve also received an email from Baty Landis at SilenceIsViolence, letting me know that many citizens are outraged, like myself (read my posts about this), about Mayor Ray Nagin accepting an award for bravery and recovery from his millionaire developer friends. We are planning on assembling for protest. The Award Ceremony takes place Friday Night at the Ritz Carlton, at 7pm. I urge all who are interested to meet there for the Silence Is Violence protest at 6pm sharp.
This is a chance to make our collective voices heard. Contacting the Metro Crime Commision about the failure of our local police is a chance to tell your individual story. Please, do whatever you can to help make a difference. The life you save could be yours or that of one you love.
Lord David Skull Club New Orleans lorddavidtruth.blogspot.com humidcity.com I try to keep things positive, but sometimes enough is enough. If you or someone you know has been ignored by the NOPD (I think that would include everyone living in New Orleans) - SPEAK UP!!!!
During the weekend of September 13 and 14, NolaCycle will be holding events on Loyola and Tulane's campus.
Saturday September 13 at 5pm we'll meet in the Residential Quad in Loyola's Uptown campus. You can view a map of their campus here. This is one of the residence halls near the Quad:
Sunday September 14 at 5pm we'll meet in front of the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life (LBC) on Tulane's campus. The map of Tulane's Uptown campus is here. This is the LBC:
If you'd like to help promote these events, I always have lots of flyers and I can make a poster. E-mail me at nolacycle@gmail.com to help out!
NolaCycle is rollin out to the Upper 9th tomorrow to help the kids at Rubarb map their neighborhood. Rubarb is a community bike shop that specializes in kids' build-a-bike programs. Liz and all the good folks down there teach the kids how fix broken bikes so the kids in the neighborhood can have bikes of their own.
Rubarb is located at 3501 N Miro St in building in the parking lot behind St. Mary of the Angel's Church (it's actually closer to the intersection of Tonti and Gallier than Miro). We'll be out there from about 5pm to 6 or 7pm.
Fairgrinds is just off Esplanade, near Canseco's grocery and across Esplanade from Alcee Fortier park. Use the outside staircase to get to the upstairs meeting room.
Draft Agenda
--Planning for Encouragement Ride (Kara)
--Implementing Membership Drive(Dan)
--Planning program and date of fall membership meeting (John)
--Update on Emergency Relief/Submerged Roads (Karen)
So I didn't do anything fun tonight and made this map of everything we've mapped so far and then I spent over an hour on the phone talking friends into hosting events at their houses or at work.
Days on the map are WRONG, but the dates are right. I need to stop doing stuff at midnight when I'm mentally exhausted. Anyway, I'll fix it later.
Alright, so this what you really need to know - there will be AFTER PARTIES when we map this Saturday (Irish Channel, Garden District, etc.), next Saturday (7th Ward), and on the 24th (Riverside). You're going to have to come map if you want to know the location (mainly because I don't want to give away addresses online).
On a sad note, my pool is still green. On a good note, there is a big show at Tipitina's Saturday night, so we can go to that around ten.
So if you haven't heard yet, July wasn't the greatest month for Critical Mass. Luckily for us down in New Orleans, we had a wonderful ride with a great turnout of friendly folks and no injuries or tickets. That overall has been my experience with Critical Mass in New Orleans, but there have been some crazy times when I rode in Cincinnati. Usually the rides are great, but I do remember one month where we finally got over 100 people and the police took notice, gave a number of tickets, and my friend Corey almost got arrested, but when you scream at cops, you're asking for it. We lost a number of regular riders after that event, but since then and until I left, things went really well.
Well, things didn't go so well in Seattle and NYC last month. In Seattle two cyclists were hit, according to the driver on accident, according to cyclists on purpose, and then cyclists attacked his car. I wasn't there, I don't know what really happened, so I'm not going to say who's at fault here. You can read about it here. Also, in NYC, a police officer attacked a cyclist and pushed him to the ground. There seems to be no reason why the officer did this. My past experiences are telling me this officer was probably just some jerk who really hates cyclists - they're out there. Luckily here in New Orleans conflicts between cyclists and police are so rare I've never meet anyone who's been involved in one.
Critical Mass is something a lot of cyclists either love or hate. Personally, I love it. I love riding in large groups, meeting new people, and biking all over the city. Some people view Critical Mass as a protest while others just a fun social gatherings. Here in New Orleans, I'd say we're much more of a fun social gathering than a protest. If there is ever an incident with a driver or officer here in New Orleans, I want to urge all cyclists to handle it lawfully. Instead of attacking a driver who hits fellow riders, you have enough people to record the license number, probably people with cameras so you can take pictures, and at least 30 witnesses. What the kids in Seattle did was totally uncalled for and if they wouldn't have attacked the dude's car, there wouldn't be all this negative press and there wouldn't be any cyclists in jail awaiting trial. I hope nothing like that ever happens in New Orleans, and judging by all the people I've rode with, I don't think it ever will.
Moral of the story - keep on riding and keep the Mass positive and keep violence out of the rides.
You can view our data map online! The NolaCycle Bike Map website is still in beta stage, but it's coming along nicely! If you see something that is entered incorrectly or would like to help with data entry, please contact info@nolacycle.com.
Would you like to be added to the e-mail list?
If you'd like to get e-mail updates about the project, please send a message to info@nolacycle.com.
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