Please vote for use for the Crescent Fund + new mapping events

Crescent Fund
NolaCycle Bike Map Project applied for Market Umbrella's Crescent Fund this spring. It's a micro-credit loan of $500 that we can pay back through time (volunteering), talent (providing a service to the Crescent City Farmers Market or Market Umbrella), or treasure (money - something we don't have so we won't be doing that...).

We need your help to get this money though! You can vote online March 2-9 or in-person at the farmers market Uptown on Tuesday March 3rd or the downtown on Saturday March 9th. Please look over our proposal and vote!

You can vote online at:
http://www.crescentcityfarmersmarket.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=176&cntnt01origid=15&cntnt01returnid=62

Mapping Events
We're wrapping up mapping events for the first NolaCycle bike map, so please try to make it out this March! So far, I've scheduled these events:

Saturday March 7, 3pm: Upper 9th Ward. Meet at RUBARB, located at N. Tonti and Gallier.
Sunday March 8, 3pm: 7th Ward. Meet at the neutral ground at Bayou Rd, N. Tonti St, and Esplanade Ave.
Saturday March 14, 4pm: Gretna (and Upper Algiers). Meet at the neutral ground of Huey P. Long Ave near the ferry landing.

I know Gretna is a bit of a hike for a lot of you, especially since the ferry doesn't run on the weekends, but it really isn't a very long bike ride from the Algiers Ferry to Old Gretna. The levee path is a really nice ride and will drop you off right where we're meeting. Also, there is a farmers market and an art market in Gretna earlier in the day if you'd like to attend those. I'm planning on some super good West Bank Vietnamese at Pho Tau Bay once we're finished as well. All it all, what I'm trying to say is, it's worth the trip. The mayor of Gretna is interested in promoting cycling in his town, so we're interested in helping him do that.

Hope to see you out at one of the events and don't forget to vote!

"City Plans Upgrades To Area Streetscapes" From WDSU

New Orleans is getting serious about streetscape improvement! The article mentions that bike racks will be added to these streets ('bout time!), but nothing about bike lanes. These projects are focused on small stretches of roads, the main business-districts of neighborhoods, not entire corridors like Wisner or St. Claude where bike facilities have been added.

Robert Mendoza from Public Works said in the article people should start seeing work done by this summer, and the entire phase of the project should be complete by next year. I'm not sure if he means just the Canal Street and Alcee Fortier Boulevard projects or all of them. The article isn't very clear.

Anyway, check out this article and attend the public meetings if they're happening in your neighborhood.

The Ninth Ward streetscape meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Martin Luther King Jr. School at 1617 Caffin Ave.

The Broad Street and Lafitte streetscape meeting will be 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at 3700 Canal St.


Here's the list of all the streetscape projects:
· Bayou Road (Broad Street to Rocheblave Street)
· Elysian Fields Avenue (Foy Street to St. Aloysius/Stephen Girard Street)
· Gentilly Boulevard (Pauger Street to Elysian Fields Avenue)
· Caton Street (Norman Meyer Avenue to Elysian Fields Avenue)
· Freret Street (Jefferson Avenue to Napoleon Avenue)
· Alcee Fortier Boulevard (Chef Menteur Highway to the Michoud Lagoon)
· Read Boulevard (I-10 to Dwyer Road)
· Lake Forest Boulevard (Bundy Road to Wright Boulevard)
· Crowder Boulevard (I-10 to Dwyer Road)
· O.C. Haley Boulevard (Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard - US90B)
· General Pershing Street (S. Broad Street to S. Miro Street)
· St. Roch Avenue (Marais Street to N. Derbigny Street)
· S. Clark Street (Tulane Avenue to Banks Street)
· D'hemecourt Street (S. Clark Street to S. Jefferson Davis Parkway)
· Baudin Street (S. Clark Street to S. Jefferson Davis Parkway)
· Harrison Avenue (Orleans Avenue to West End Boulevard)
· N. Claiborne Avenue (Esplanade Avenue to St. Anthony Street)
· St. Bernard Avenue (N. Claiborne Avenue to Miro Street)
· General Meyer Avenue (Hendee Street to Odeon Avenue)
· S. Claiborne Avenue (Napoleon Avenue to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard)
· S. Carrollton Avenue (Stroelitz Street to I-10)
· Washington Avenue (Short Street to S. Carrollton Avenue)
· Dixon Street (Dublin Street to S. Carrollton Avenue)

New DIY maps posted!

I've FINALLY updated the DIY site today! I posted maps from the 7th, 8th, and 9th Wards that need to be completed. If you have some time and would like to do these on your own time, you can download the maps of your choice from the website. Fill them out and then scan and e-mail them back, or e-mail me for my mailing address and do it that way.

Doing DIY maps is really helpful for use since sometimes events get rained out, there's a spontanious second-line and no one shows up, or I forget there is a Saints game that day. All types of crazy stuff happens and neighborhoods don't get completed on their assigned mapping event days.

Thanks!

Looking for a bike to rent for Mardi Gras? RUBARB might be able to help!

Apparently I'm not the only one that uses the Bike section on Craigslist to promote my organization. Rubarb posted this today and I thought I should share it with you guys. It's always really hard to find affordable bike rentals in New Orleans, but Rubarb can rent you or your friends bikes in exchange for donated time or money.

we're a community bike shop where you can come and work on your bike freely, learn how to make repairs, volunteer, obtain a bike through work trade or a suggested donation of $40-$75 (depending on the quality, make, etc...). we're also open to rentals for the mardi gras season. (all donations go back into the shop, to purchase tools, art supplies, etc..).

our hours are mon 10-2, wed 3:30-6 and sat 1-6. located on the corner of gallier and tonti in the 9th ward.

www.rubarbike.org

Mapping event this weekend at RUBARB in the Upper 9th

Before you head down to Krewe du Vieux on Saturday, swing up to RUBARB in the Upper 9th. We'll be finishing up the Upper 9th, St. Claude, and 8th Ward areas in pairs or groups. It's open shop at RUBARB on Saturdays, so while we're waiting for everyone to show up or after we finish, you can check out the shop. It's main focus is the earn-a-bike program for kids. They always need adult volunteers though, so you can talk to Liz and Louis about that on Saturday if you're intersted.

Saturday, February 7th, 1pm to 3pm - Upper 9th Ward: Meet at Rubarb community bike shop at N. Tonti St. and Gallier St. behind St. Mary of the Angels Church

Updates, Updates & a rescheduled mapping event

It was kind of a yucky day today, so we're going to try the 7th Ward area again next Sunday. We'll be meeting a the neutral ground at the intersection of N. Tonti, Bayou, and Esplanade this time though. It's a nicer little corner there. We'll be meeting at 1pm this time too so you all can sleep an extra hour.

Also, graphics meeting is tomorrow at 7pm. E-mail me, lauren@nolacycle.com if you'd like to attend!

Finally, here's the map of the updated completed areas.

Events for next weekend and the following

These might be the last two mapping events before the first NolaCycle map is released! Try to make it out one of these two Saturdays. We'll be meeting at local neighborhood organizations that you might not have been out to before. Ashe' does a lot of arts, music, drama, and cultural events. Rubarb is a community bike shop that focuses on helping kids learn how to build and fix bicycles.

Saturday, January 31st, 1pm to 3pm - Central City: Meet outside the Ashe' Cultural Center at 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard

Saturday, February 7th, 1pm to 3pm - Upper 9th Ward: Meet at Rubarb community bike shop at N. Tonti St. and Gallier St. behind St. Mary of the Angels Church

Events for this weekend: Hollygrove and the 7th Ward

We had some really great events last weekend - new faces and completed neighborhoods! The weather was really nice this weekend too. Couldn't be any better!

Phil from the Tulane Bike Shack figured out the best way to map city streets this weekend - the use of a tandem! The front person steers while the back rider fills out the maps! You can just keep rolling the whole time and you don't need to stop to fill things out.

We have events for you guys this weekend again. We'll be doing Hollygrove on Saturday and the 7th Ward on Sunday. On Saturday we'll be meeting on Olive Street near the Hollygrove Market and Cuccia-Byrnes Park. There are some baseball fields there and we'll probably just be hanging out in front of those across the street from the Market. If you haven't been to Hollygrove Market yet you should go check it out. Right now they're getting everything ready to be an urban agricultural site and produce store but while they're still building planting beds and fixing everything up and you pick up a box of locally grown produce on Saturdays between 10am and 2pm for $25. You have to e-mail them ahead of time to reserve the box. If you're curious about it, Saturday's mapping event will be a good time to stick your head in there and check it out. Eira and I have been getting them for 3 weeks now and we love it. I'd recommend spliting a box with a friend because it's a lot of food.

On Sunday we'll be in the 7th Ward at the neutral ground park at St. Bernard Ave and AP Tureaud Ave. There is a statue there and some park benches.

Both events are going to be from noon to 2pm. As always, try to get there as close to noon as possible so we can get everything done in time. We'll be sending out people in pairs or small groups, so bring your friends!

Bring a bike lane with you!

Things can get a bit slow with trying to get DOT to fund bike lanes in New Orleans (and many other cities for that matter), so Alex Tee and Evan Gant of Altitude came up with a bike light that let's you create a bike lane wherever you are! It's only a concept right now and not for sale, but if I was these guys I get one because I think it could be the #1 gift for cyclists in 2009.

I guess this was featured in GOOD magazine this month...but since I don't live with Ella and all her amazing magazine subscriptions anymore I don't get GOOD. Bummer. I need a money and a permanent address so I can have magazines delivered to my door.

Started making the digital map! Here's a little taste of the draft

So last night I as watched CSI, 11th Hour, and Law and Order (Why are there only crime shows on on Thursday nights?), I started converting the field data into a digital file. I was averaging about 45 minutes a neighborhood, but that's mostly because I kept changing colors and line weights. Here's a little screen shot of some of what I was working on last night. All the colors are just working colors. I won't keep the background purple - it will most likely be white. I think I like the blue, yellow, and red for the lines. The blue stands out well and I think blue is pretty positive color. Yellow fades back a bit, but most of the roads in New Orleans fall into that moderate category, so that works well because it doesn't need to stand out since you can assume a road will probably be of moderate quality. I want a strong color like red for the poor quality roads because you need to be able to easily see them to know to avoid them. I could use purple...maybe magenta. I want to avoid using red because some people can't see red, so if you can think of another good color for poor pavement quality roads, I'm open to your input. Blue = good pavement. Yellow = moderate. Red = poor. The fatter lines = wide roads. Dashed lines = fast travel speed of cars.

Once I figure out how I want all the labels to be and such, I'll upload some of the completed neighborhoods so you can use them right now. I need to double check some of the roads because I'm using the state's road file, which includes private drives, so this is by no means a final. Also the labels are all over the place - that'll take forever to correct too. But I love the cyclists of New Orleans, so I'll make it look extra pretty for you all even if I have to spend an hour a night until June to finish it!

Upcoming mapping days - Algiers Point and City Park!

We have two upcoming mapping dates scheduled for January. We'll have some more dates coming up soon. We're getting really close to completing the map! We only have a few gaps left, so it's really important to come out and volunteer so we can get this baby out for the summer! So if you haven't volunteered before, now is the time to get involved.

Saturday January 17th, 2 to 3:30pm: City Park/Naverre/Lakewood

Meet in the park near the playground by Victory and Marconi.

Sunday January 18th, 2 to 3:30pm: Algiers Point
Meet at the grassy area around the Ferry Landing.

Newly repaved Uptown Roads

The T-P did an article today about the logic of repaving in New Orleans and included a handy map of some newly repaved roads in Uptown. Thought you guys might be interested in looking that this.

"If you do that fairly regularly, it's a cheaper way to maintain the streets," Mendoza said.

Residents of three Uptown neighborhoods recently began to feel the effects of Mendoza's preferred method as construction crews worked block by block in small sections of town, patching minor damage and pouring new asphalt.

While the project in the St. Mary area included short portions of just two streets, scores of blocks covering a total of 1¤3/4 miles in the Irish Channel and West Riverside neighborhoods got a facelift.

Mendoza said the city consulted with Entergy New Orleans and the Sewerage & Water Board to make sure that streets slated for smoothing weren't scheduled to be dug up during the next several years for routine maintenance of utility or drainage lines.

The chosen streets were good candidates for the city's first stab at neighborhood-wide street rehabilitation because they didn't flood in Hurricane Katrina, meaning damage to subsurface utilities was not as great as in swamped areas.

Together, the street projects cost about $2.5 million, financed by bonds sold in 2005, city records show. The city hired MWH Inc. as the consulting engineer and Boh Brothers Construction Co. as the contractor for all three jobs.

While Mendoza hailed the projects as a success, it's unlikely the systematic restoration process will be replicated in other neighborhoods anytime soon.

Street repairs are on hold in most areas that flooded because the S&WB and Entergy haven't finished their repairs, he said.

"We can't do these everywhere because there are some places where the Sewerage & Water Board has major repairs that need to be done, or where Entergy still needs to convert the gas lines," Mendoza said."

Upcoming mapping days!

We're back in action this weekend and next! Come on out the help finish up the remaining sections for the first NolaCycle map.

December 6: Gert Town/Hollygrove
11AM, Jefferson Davis Neutral Ground at Earhart. Mapping remaining areas upriver of Broad Street and riverside of I-10.

December 7: Central City
11AM, Old Winn-Dixie at S. Claiborne Ave and Toledano St. Mapping remaining areas downriver of Broad Street and riverside of I-10.

December 13: 7th Ward
11AM, Small park at Esplanade Ave and N. Tonti St. Mapping area between Esplanade Ave, Broad St, I-10 and Florida Ave.

December 14: St. Roch
11AM, St. Roch Park. Mapping areas between St. Claude Ave, I-10, Florida Ave and Press St.

Metro Bike Coalition meeting coming up

For more info about MBC check out their website at http://metrobicyclecoalition.org/index.htm