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Bicycle
Austin.info
a project (not an organization) by Michael Bluejay |
Easy Street Recumbents
Recumbent bicycles and tricycles in Austin. Sales and Service. Comfort, Safety, Reliability and Utility are our specialties. click to visit |
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ACA's Cycling News Cycling News is a monthly newspaper which lists all local and regional rides, reports local news, and serves up biting political commentary. You can pick up Cycling News free at local bike shops and at the Wheatsville Food Co-op (3101 Guadalupe), or you get Cycling News mailed to your home when you join the Austin Cycling Association. The editor of Cycling News is Bikin' Fred Meredith.
The Right of Way Radio Program The Right of Way is Austin's weekly show about the bicycling and alternative transportation on KO.OP, 91.7 FM. (Check their website for the current schedule.) Hosted by Mike Librik one week, and Dick Kallerman & Roger Baker the next. For history buffs, here's the background of the show. Tommy Eden lobbied hard and successfully in summer 1996 to get a 15-minute program called "The Bicycle Lane" onto KO.OP, surviving the initial rejection by the Programming Committee. A couple of months later, Tommy left town and turned the show over to Michael Bluejay, who hosted it until 1999. Starting around 1998 a second program called The Right of Way followed the Bicycle Lane; it was alternately hosted by Mike Librik one week and Dick Kallerman & Roger Baker the next. When Bluejay left The Bicycle Lane in 1999, he turned hosting duties over to a collective including Tommy Eden (who had returned to town), Jayme Moore, and the Yellow Bike Project. They apparently lost interest in the show quickly, and around 2000 The Right of Way grew to be a half-hour program, taking over the Bicycle Lane's spot.
Bad local media Here's our take on how the local media hurts us.
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This page covers news in only the most superficial way. For more current and more complete coverage:
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KVUE ran an excellent video story about ghost bike memorials in Austin on Nov. 19. November 2007
The Texas Bicycle Coalition has fought valiantly for several years to get a law passed that require motorists to give at least three feet of clearance to cyclists when passing. But, this is Texas we're talking about, and Texas legislators aren't exactly renowned for their competence. After being amended to the point that the bill was ultimately worthless, it died anyway. May 2007
City staff provided these numbers in January 2007 for the % of work commutes that are made by bicycle:
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Central City (Oltorf/2222/Mopac/ Pleasant Valley) |
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Outside the Central City |
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Total |
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The Austin Chronicle ran a big story in about motorists not getting cited or charged for hitting cyclists, even when the motorist is clearly at fault. We've been banging the drum for years about this issue in our No Justice for Cyclists section, and it's good to see the media taking notice. It'll be a long time until this issue changes, but the first step is public awareness, so now we've taken that first step. November 2006
The City Council took no action on the proposed helmet law at the public hearing on August 24, 2006. It doesn't appear that the votes exist to get the law passed, so it's unlikely that the item will make its way back onto the Council's agenda.
We have more about the history of the Austin helmet law for those who want the details. August 2006
Yet another motorist who ran a red light and hit a cyclists (actually, two cyclists this time), was not ticketed by the police. Here's a link to Amy's blog entry about it. There's more about this common lack of justice in our No Justice for Cyclists section. April 2006
We lost. On Thursday, March 2, the City Council voted to keep cars in the bike lanes on Shoal Creek Blvd. Only Councilmember Alvarez and Mayor Wynn voted for car-free bike lanes, vs. the other five councilmembers who voted against us.
I had started exploring the feasibility of suing the City over violating national safety standards and failing to provide safe roadways, but decided to hold off since the City appointed a Bicycle Safety Task Force in August 2006 to come up with ways to improve cycling safety. I'm putting the car-free bike lanes for Shoal Creek issue on hold pending something coming out of the task force effort.
In the meantime, you might enjoy the movie of my presentation to the City Council (QuickTime, 2.2Mb). And there's more info on our Shoal Creek Blvd. page.
Thanks to everyone who showed up to speak to the City Council, who used the form on BicycleAustin to send them an email, and who donated money to fund my research and petition-gathering efforts. March 2006
Lauri Apple writes: "Some dunderheads around UT are putting explosive things - I believe beverage containers, but I'm not sure - on the streets. I was riding home from a friend's house tonight and just turned the corner from the alley east of the Dobie onto 21st, when a thing exploded right in front of me. It was in the middle of the lane. I called 911. This exploding thing totally scared the bejeezus out of me, and luckily it blew up before I was within 10 feet of it (missed it by seconds). It could also have been very dangerous for a motorist, too ... but I think the explosive was glass, so ... SHARDS on bare skin. Not a pretty picture." Feb. 2003
In our 2002 survey, 49% preferred Monorail, 37% Light
Rail, 12% Neither, and 4% were Undecided. (more)
The Judge Hill Neighborhood Association successfully convinced the City Council on 8/9/01 to deny a rezoning application which would have allowed development of a private parking garage at MLK & West in Central Austin. It was a close call, since the issue had passed at two separate council meetings. (It required three separate votes to be approved).
Another site by Michael Bluejay... |
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