No afternoon shift for mapping along the Lafitte Corridor today

Thanks to everyone to showed up yesterday, we don't have much left to map! We will be finished around 1pm today, so if you were planning on coming out from 2-6pm, you can now spend that time at French Quarter Fest or the American Planning Conference.

Additional info about the Lafitte Corridor mapping events

Reminder: If you want to be a group leader, please meet us 30 minutes before the shift you signed up for starts. That's 9:30 am for tomorrow and 8:30 am for Saturday. The process is pretty easy, but we still need to a short time to train you on what we're doing.

Also, if you want to help update the road condition data NolaCycle collected for area (most of that was mapped between a 1 and 1 1/2 years ago), please bring your bike and a bag/backpack to carry the clipboard. For any shift with a large turn out, we'll send a few people out to do updates.

We will have some snacks, but remember to bring your own water bottle.

Location of this weekend's mapping meet-ups

Here's a lovely little map of our study area for this weekend's mapping events. We'll be mapping between Canal St. and Orleans Ave. from City Park Ave. to Basin St. The meeting locations are called out by the red placemarkers.


View Lafitte Greenway Mapping Meet-Up in a larger map

Help make the Lafitte Corridor Trail a reality!

April 8th, 9th, and 10th, NolaCycle will be working with Rails-to-Trails and Friend of Lafitte Corridor to do a comprehensive assessment of walking and bicycling amenities in the neighborhoods surrounding the future trail.
Many planning projects involve community asset/resource assessments, but they are usually completed by urban planning, community development, or engineering professionals. Lauren has been working with folks from Rails-to-Trails on adapting their assessment system to an urban environment and creating a mapping methodology to incorporate volunteers. We're going past the basic data collected with NolaCycle and looking at objective measures of sidewalk quality, crosswalk treatments, signage, bike parking, and striping.

The data we collect will be used to design further bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the Mid-City, City Park, and Treme neighborhoods, and advocate for their implementation. We want to insure that when the Lafitte Greenway is built, it will be well-connected to the surrounding neighborhoods via safe, accessible sidewalks and bike-friendly roads.

We're in need of a large number of volunteers. Each group of volunteers will be lead by a bike/ped expert, so you don't need to be an urban planner or traffic engineer to contribute. You just need to be observant!

If you'd like to help, please sign up for the shifts you can commit to working at http://tinyurl.com/lafitte.

If you have any questions, please send me an e-mail.

Lauren's ramblings concerning the recent wave of Plan B bashing on Craigslist

So I was looking over the bike ads on Craigslist this evening (the ADHD meds wore off a couple hours ago) and came across a number of posts bashing Plan B.

Plan B is a community bicycle shop in the Marigny. It's a place anyone can go to build or repair a bike for little to no money. If you haven't been there and you would like to do your own bicycle repairs, or you're thinking of building a bike, check it out.

But...like all community bike shops, it's not perfect. And sometimes it can feel exclusive. So here's what some folks on Craigslist said followed by how I feel about Plan B (and community bike shops in general) and my recommendations to people who want to utilize the community bike shop.

Here's a sampling of the CL rant:

1st post (from Plan B): Plan B Community Bike Shop is graciously accepting donations (511 Marigny (Marigny and Decatur))
Ladies and Gentlemen!

Plan B is looking for bicycle donations of all kinds
We don't discriminate; drop off bikes of any age, size, color, or design.
We can use anything you have to offer
whole bikes or spare parts
advanced or obsolete
It's all good...

If you are interested in learning about bike maintenance and repair...
Volunteer orientations are every Wednesday @ 6pm

Show us what ya got
Help out a little around the shop

Sincerely,
Plan B
http://www.bikeproject.org/

2nd post (from some dude): Plan B doesn't appreciate parts (Hipster ville)
I donated a big box of parts there once.All kinds of quality items.I came in and said I have a bunch of parts for you.The guy in charge literally shrugged his shoulders and went back to what he was doing.He didn't say a word! I wasn't looking for praise but I certainly didn't want to be treated like a jerk!So if you wear clean clothes and wash your hair you may not be welcome here.

3rd post: agreed on PlanB bikes (reality)
if i had bike parts to donate, i would give them to Bridgehouse before i gave them to PlanB.

i went in there once and was violently ignored. maybe they sensed i **gasp** drove my car there!! i finally had to inturrupt someone to ask for if they had a certain bike there, and after this girl gave me a once-over and walked away, i asked someone else who said no. they dont have that there. no helpful advice or anything! i felt like i had done something wrong! guess that's what happens when gutter punks start a 'business'.

dont get me wrong - i think bike rinding is great and necessary! but if PlanB hates outsiders so much, they should shut their doors.

Another post (from some dude): Plan B.......
This is straight from their web site. I just copied and pasted.
Although Plan B volunteers can be quite surly, we can be ever so gracious in the face of generosity.
Apparently "gracious" has very loose meaning

And it sorta goes on from there...


Here's how I feel about all of this (This only reflects my opinion and not particularly that of anyone else involved with NolaCycle):

Plan B is a great resource, with a lot of great volunteers, but it's not perfect. As someone who has been a regular visitor to 4 community bike shops in a couple different cities, let me help put things into perspective.

Concerning volunteers:

• Volunteers are regular people like you, who have good days and bad days. They have days when they really didn't want to work but someone who was scheduled didn't show up, so they might not be as happy to help as you might want them to be. And when it's 3pm on a Saturday and 25 people are all asking you questions because you're the only "regular" volunteer who knows where things are and how to fix various problems, working at Plan B can be stressful. Cut them some slack if they aren't as helpful and nice as you might want them to be.

• Some volunteers are "people persons" and others are not. Some of the folks who might not seem really friendly or helpful still play critical, not-so-visible roles in keeping Plan B going. They are not the person you ask to help you straighten your wheel, though. At Plan B, or any other busy community bike co-op, you will probably need to visit a few times before you figure out who your "volunteer match" is. You will love some volunteers (not all volunteers), and they'll love you (but not all volunteers will love you), and after you find your volunteer match, together you will build solid wheels, replace broken pedals, and maybe, someday, weld together a custom bicycle. Remember what days they normally volunteer and try to only go to Plan B those days. They'll remember what you're working on and what you need help with (maybe you know how to true a wheel, but you're still learning how to adjust brakes and shifters). And you'll remember their name, and where they grew up, and what they do for a living, and their favorite beer because you're probably going out to the bar with them after the shop closes. But remember, your volunteer bicycle repair BFF is probably 20 other people's BFF, so you have to share. If you work on bikes a lot, and need a lot of help, then try to build relationships with multiple volunteers. You will most likely need to initiate this process, though. If you don't ask for help or try to engage people in conversation, they're going to be too busy and seem to be ignoring you. Also, how are they supposed to know what you need help with if you don't ask? And, finally, no one is going to want to help you if you're rude, just like how no one wants to be friends with a jerk. Community bike shops are sustained on relationships. If you want to have a good experience at a community bike shop, you need to build relationships. If you don't like to share the attention of a volunteer, or you don't want to spend time getting to know people, then go visit John Gerken at his shop on St. Claude, call Zac of Nola-Bikes mobile repair, or any of the other bicycle mechanics working at shops around the city (Bicycle Michael's, Bayou Bikes, etc.). You can pay these folks to be your bicycle repair BFF and they will devote their full attention to you (at least for the time you are in their shop spending money). You have to pay for "customer service." Plan B does not exist as an alternative to bicycle shops. Think of it more as a supplement.

Concerning donations:

• Plan B gets a lot of donations. A lot. They might not seem too excited about your "good parts" because they have five more boxes of good parts in the back room. If you want to bring a smile to the face of the "guy in charge" then bring him parts that are already sorted. Like one box of side-pull brakes, one box of road bike seats, and another box of front derailleurs. Every box of unsorted parts means another hour of volunteer time that has to go into sorting donations instead of helping people fix bikes.

• Some parts are junk. Some bikes are junk. Some parts are awesome. Some bikes are awesome. If you bring in a really awesome bike or some really awesome parts, then the volunteers will be a lot happier. Plan B gets a lot of junk Walmart bikes and lots of parts from junk Walmart bikes. If a person is going to take the time to build/repair a bicycle, he or she is going to want a solid frame and dependable parts. If you bring in your grandpa's 1972 Nishiki road bike that's been sitting in his garage for 15 years, that's a lot more helpful to Plan B and the New Orleans cycling community than if you drop off the Walmart Huffy your kid destroyed when he actually tried to use his "mountain bike" for mountain biking.
  

Things Plan B could do better (if they had more resources and volunteers):

• Bicycle repair classes. Volunteers don't always have time to teach people everything they need to know during regular shop hours. It would be awesome if they did some classes so folks could really learn how to do particular repairs. Mobo in Cincinnati does this from time to time and it's been really successful.
  

• Making a serious effort to be nice to everyone. Yeah, despite everything I just wrote, there are some people who volunteer at Plan B that could really try to be friendlier. But I still think those people add a lot to the organization. It just really sucks that their attitude pushes people away.
  

FINALLY - Plan B is not a store, and it not a repair service. It's a resource. While you can buy parts there and someone might be able to help you fix your bike, it really exists so the bicycle community has a place with all the resources (stands, tools, an extra set of hands) needed to do their own builds/repairs.

Plan B is what you make it. Last summer, largely due to the friendships I built with a few volunteers, it became one of my favorite places to spend an afternoon. Some of those friends are no longer volunteers, which at first made going their a little more intimidating than it used to be. But one trued wheel, a few borrowed wrenches, and a handful of conversations later, it started to feel like one of my favorite places again. I met some new volunteers I really liked and got to a chance to work with some old regulars that I never really talked to before.

Maybe you'll see me there tomorrow when I bring in my cruiser for a part replacement. Even though I'm not a volunteer, you can still ask me for help. And I might ask you to hold my bike steady while I do a repair. And I can help you flag down one of the volunteers to help you with a problem I don't know how to fix. That is what a community bike shop is like. If that's not what you're looking for, then Plan B is not the place you need to be.

One more Master Plan meeting added - District C East Bank

Hey East Bank District C residents (aka, my neighbors), we have a Master Plan meeting to attend this week!

When: Wednesday March 31st, 6-8pm
Where: Musicians Union Hall, 2041 Esplanade Ave.
Why: Community input is VITAL to successful planning efforts. Let your voice be heard!

Tonight I'm going over the Lower 9th Ward for their meeting. I've been kicking around the idea of moving to Holy Cross this summer since it's home to nice folks, awesome community projects, and it's about as close to country living as I can get in the city without going way out in East. Here's the 411 on that meeting.

When: TONIGHT 6:30-8:30pm
Where: New Israel Baptist Church, 6322 St. Claude Avenue
Why: Because you love the Lower 9th Ward too. Show your support to projects to help revitalize this unique and historic neighborhood.

Yay, urban planning!

Please sign the online petition Keep New Orleans' Bicycle Registration Fees Reasonableo

New Orleans City Council is currently considering increasing the city's bicycle registration fees. Before Katrina, residents were required to pay $3 to register their bike with NOPD. Bicycle registration was supposed to help the police return stolen bikes to their rightful (and registered) owners. Since the storm, NOPD has not be registering bicycles, but legally, residents are still required to do so.

The current city ordinance on bicycle registration:

Sec. 154-1403. Registration required.

No person who resides in the city shall ride or propel a bicycle upon any street unless such bicycle has been registered and a registration plate is attached thereto. This section shall be applicable to new residents of the parish at the expiration of 90 days.

(Code 1956, § 38-192)

Sec. 154-1404. Registration application and fee.

(a) Application for a bicycle registration shall be made upon the form provided by and shall be made to the superintendent of police. There shall be a registration fee of $3.00 for all bicycles with a 20-inch wheel size or larger. The dealer shall collect such fee at the time of sale, issue bicycle registration decal, and remit the fee to the superintendent of police along with the application for registration.

(b) This charge becomes effective as of February 1, 1987.

(c) Exemption for the payment of fees shall be for all bicycles under the cost of $100.00.

(Code 1956, § 38-193)

Sec. 154-1405. Issuance of registration; record.

(a) The superintendent of police or any police officer assigned such duty by him, or the superintendent of fire or any employee of the department of fire when assigned such duty in writing by the mayor, upon receiving proper application therefor, may issue a bicycle registration plate to the owner thereof. Each new owner shall register such bicycle in accordance with the provisions of this article. They shall not register any bicycle when they know or have reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant is not the owner of or entitled to the possession of such bicycle.

(b) The superintendent of police and the superintendent of fire shall keep a record of the number of each registration, the date issued, the name and address of the person to whom issued and the number on the frame of the bicycle for which issued and a record of all bicycle registration fees collected by them.

(c) It shall be the duty of the superintendent of fire to forward a true copy of the record of each registration made by him, or any employee of the department of fire, to the superintendent of police.

(d) The superintendent of police may authorize bicycle dealers to register and attach registration plates to bicycles. All such persons authorized to register and attach registration plates to bicycles shall forward immediately to the superintendent of police true copies of such registration. It shall be a misdemeanor to fail to furnish such copies or to furnish false or fraudulent records to the superintendent of police.

(Code 1956, § 38-194)

Sec. 154-1406. Attachment of registration plate.

The superintendent of police or other authorized person upon issuing a bicycle registration shall also issue a registration plate bearing the registration number assigned to the bicycle, and the name of the city. The superintendent of police or other authorized person shall cause such registration plate to be firmly attached to the frame of the bicycle for which it has been issued in such a position as to be plainly visible. No person shall remove a registration plate from a bicycle during the period of ownership for which it is issued except in the event the bicycle is dismantled and no longer operated upon any street in the city.

(Code 1956, § 38-195)

City Council does need to address the issue, because police should not legally be able to issue a ticket for a registration sticker residents cannot obtain, but Councilman Carter's proposal to raise fees to $15 a bike for non-commercial use and $75 for commercial use has not been completely hashed-out. Where is the registration money going? How will the new registration system help deter theft? What considerations have been made for the thousands of low-income residents who use a bicycle as their main form of transportation? A lot of questions remain unanswered.

NolaCycle, Metro Bicycle Coalition, N.O. Bike Polo, and 311 individual cyclists (as of 3/28) would like you to sign the online petition encouraging well thought-out and financially reasonable bicycle registration laws in New Orleans.

Petition text:

To: New Orleans City Council

We, the undersigned, request the City Council examine our concerns about Councilman Carter's proposed Bicycle Registration Fee hike to $75 for commercial use and $15 for non-commercial use (amendments to Sections 154-1403 through 154-1406 of the Code of the City of New Orleans). While an effective bicycle registration program can be a valuable resource, the magnitude of this increase (500% for non-commercial and 2500% for commercial) will be a hardship for some cyclists and feel like a punishment to others. The following outlines our primary concerns:

- The ordinance does not specify how the collected fees will be used by the city

- An increase of this scope should involve greater public participation to insure an effective registration program

- Low registration fees will encourage citizens to participate in the program, which will in turn discourage theft and promote ridership.

We appreciate your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Another round of Master Plan meetings - March 18-30

Via City-Works:

City Council Holds Community Meetings to Engage Citizens and Encourage Public Input on Master Plan

In the next few weeks, the City Council, in coordination with the City Planning Commission, will hold public meetings in each Council District in an effort to inform and engage the public on the Master Plan.

The public meetings will be held throughout New Orleans in each Council District:

District A

Tuesday, March 30th, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

City Park - Timken Center (old casino building) on Dreyfous Dr.

Parkview Terrace 2nd floor

District B

Wednesday, March 24th, 6 p.m.

Dining Hall of the Academy of the Sacred Heart

4301 St. Charles Ave.

District C

Thursday, March 18th, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Alice Harte Elementary Charter School

5300 Berkley Dr.

District D

Tuesday, March 23rd, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Gentilly Presbyterian Church

3708 Gentilly Blvd.

District E

Eastern New Orleans

Monday, March 22nd, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Household of Faith Church
9300 I- 10 Service Rd.

Lower Ninth Ward
Monday, March 29th, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
New Israel Baptist Church
6322 St. Claude Ave.

NolaCycle needs bikes!

So far, 2010 has brought a lot of out-of-town volunteers to NolaCycle. We've been working with some awesome AmeriCorps NCCC folks and were starting weekly volunteer days with Contemplatives in Action. But with all these great visiting volunteers, we've run into a big problem between all the NolaCycle organizers, we don't have enough bikes!

If you have a bicycle you would like to long-term lend to NolaCycle or donate to Contemplatives in Action, please e-mail info@nolacycle.com.

We're not picky about type or size, but it would be best if the bike were in working condition. We can replace a chain or fix a flat tire, but we are a little too short on time and money to do major repairs.

Ideally, NolaCycle would like up to 6 bikes to borrow through the spring. Contemplatives in Action could greatly benefit from a few donated bikes as they help provide volunteers to a number of projects serving New Orleans. You can learn more about them at http://www.contemplativesinaction.org/.

Also, if you're a skilled bike mechanic, NolaCycle could also greatly benefit from donated repair services. Lauren and Scott have a couple of bikes that need minor repairs but neither of us have time to tinker at Plan B or money pay for professional repairs in the next couple weeks. If you could help us out by fixing those bikes this weekend, we would have up to 3 bikes to loan to volunteers.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Lauren & the rest of the NolaCycle team

Party on the Greenway tomorrow (2/25) evening

Re-posted from Friends of Lafitte Corridor:

As part of the Urban Pathways conference, on Thursday, February 25th, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Friends of Lafitte Corridor, the Urban Conservancy and Catholic Charities/Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center are hosting the first ever Party on the Greenway! The event will run from 5:30 to 7:30 at Sojourner Truth (2200 Lafitte St.) and will feature music by the Treme Brass Band, food from Dooky Chase, a raffle for a children’s bicycle and free bike helmets for the first 20 kids who arrive with parents. Everything at the event is free and is open to all. Please come and help us celebrate!

For more information, contact Ethan Ellestad @ 504-383-5249.

NolaCycle Events Sunday and Tuesday & Service Learning with Loyola

Winter holiday season is over, the city is warming up, and Mardi Gras is right around the corner. NolaCycle is going to squeeze in two events before things start getting crazy again - a mapping event on Sunday and a digital map working session on Tuesday.

Mapping Meet-ups:
Sunday January 31, 2pm - Meet at the covered pavilion near Bayou Oaks golf course in City Park. 1040 Filmore Ave. We will be filling in the gaps around Gentilly, Filmore, St. Anthony, and City Park. Just bring your bike and something to carry a clipboard in.

Planning & Design Meetings:
Tuesday February 2, 6:30-9pm - Meet at Flora's Coffee Shop. 2600 Royal St in the Marigny. Bring a laptop or e-mail us if you need to borrow one.

*******************

NolaCycle is partnering with Loyola's Service Learning program this spring. We're really excited to get students involved in route design, helping us move closer to the final map. So between the kick off of the service learning project on February 9th and the end of Carnival season (plus a few days to recover), NolaCycle organizers will be focusing on helping students with their service learning project. But come the week after Mardi Gras, we'll be holding bi-weekly digital working session and weekly mapping meet-ups to finish things up.

Current status of mapped areas

NolaCycle has mapped a lot of New Orleans since we started in July 2008. Here's the newest image showing the areas we've collected data for. The section and labels relate to the dimensions and file name of the each map section volunteers have filled out. New Orleans south of I-610 and Florida Avenue, has been mapped with the exception of a few areas that were not completed due to rain or bike trouble (it's hard to map with a flat tire).

More events will be taking place in 2010 to map the rest of the 9th Ward, Lakeview, the greater Gentilly area, Algiers, and parts of Jefferson Parish and New Orleans East. As always, the more volunteers interested in mapping, organizing, and promoting, the more we can do.


As you can see when you look at our Bike Map website, not every map section has been added to the online map. We still need help from volunteers to get the data from the paper sheets (or the online scans) onto the website. This is really easy to do, and anyone with a computer and internet access can help. NolaCycle will be holding a couple "working session" where we gather together to enter data in January. If you'd like to help, keep an eye posted for events or e-mail us so we can explain the process and get you a login to enter data.

NolaCycle Events for this Thursday and Sunday

NolaCycle has two upcoming events where volunteers can get involved with creating the bicycle map of New Orleans.

Digital Map Working Session: Introducing the New Bike Map Website
This Thursday, 6-9pm, Loyola University's Monroe Library Multimedia Room 2
NolaCycle will be formally introducing the new data entry and bike map website to our volunteers. Everyone interested in helping with the data entry process is encourage to attend. NolaCycle will explain how to use the website, create data entry accounts for volunteers, and gather feedback on how to improve the site. Bring a laptop if you have one, or contact us to reserve a lender laptop. Free pizza (meat, vegetarian, and vegan options will be available) and soda will be provided.


View Larger Map

NolaCycle Bike Mapping Ride with HandsOn New Orleans
This Sunday, 10am-12:30pm, Parking lot of Bayou Oaks in City Park (1040 Filmore Ave)
With help from HandsOn New Orleans, NolaCycle will be mapping more of the city north of I-610. Everyone is welcome to come, and the more help the better. Volunteers need only to bring a bicycling and something to carry a clipboard in (like a bike basket or shoulder bag). We will be meeting in the parking lot of Bayou Oaks at 10am. Volunteers will work in pairs to map sections of the neighborhoods for suitability for cycling. We will be meet back at Bayou Oaks at between noon and 12:30 to return maps and materials. Volunteers are welcome to join organizers on a ride to the 9th Ward to catch up with the Super 9 Social Aid and Pleasure Club second line parade.


View NolaCycle Bike Mapping Ride - Sunday Dec. 20 in a larger map

Two Upcoming NolaCycle Events - December 17th and 20th

Mark your calendars - NolaCycle has two events in the next couple weeks. More details will be posted soon.

Mapping Meet-ups:
Sunday Dec. 20 - Fillmore, Milneburg, and Lakefront neighborhoods mapping ride with HandsOn New Orleans. 10am-12:30pm, meeting at the Bayou Oaks parking lot in City Park, 1040 Filmore Ave.

Planning & Design Meetings:
Thursday Dec. 17 - Digital working session to introduce the new data entry and bike map website! Please bring a laptop or let us know you need to borrow one. 6-9pm, Loyola University Monroe Library, multimedia room 2. Pizza and soda will be provided to volunteers!