Bike Parking, almost forgot!

Thanks to BikePGH for the photo of their valet parking

I am part of the local Earth Day planning committee for the community celebration; I act as the unofficial university link as well as the transportation go-to guy. I managed to put together a plan for a lot closure around the event pavilion downtown (see pdf link at the end for final design) , which was approved, although the best design was not chosen, mostly because I was not there to lobby for it and had the city public works/municipal people presenting the designs. Nonetheless, we managed to secure a little under half the lot to be car free for the event, which is better than last year when there was no lot closure! I also am finalizing plans to get Nova Bus (French Canadian company based just outside of Montreal, with a large production facility here in Plattsburgh. they are part of Volvo Bus worldwide) to bring a showcase bus to the event. They will be able to and present who they are, the types of buses made here in Plattsburgh, and how they are helping improve the environment with green manufacturing jobs. We are just now waiting on a PR person to be able to dedicate their time, after I had a very good conversation with one of their people last week.

So today, I was thinking, and it dawned on me. We have no provision for bike parking!!!! Now part of this is encouraging people to walk from their homes to the downtown area cleaning trash and littler along the way. However, many people live far from the downtown core for which cycling would be a much better and faster option! Me being one of course :P. The goal now is to have something similar to what Transportation Alternatives does in NYC with large events, VIP bike parking. Its something that is catching on in the more progressive cities in the Americas that have a growing bike culture. I am working with the new university bike group, Biketopia, with the hope that they will be able to help in terms of manning the parking area, but also being able to introduce who they are to the community and give out information. Providing a much needed university-community link, as well as a service to the community.

It says something that this was not even on my radar until today, but none the less its not a complicated setup and I thought of it soon enough that we should be able to get a good setup and provide the needed infrastructure for safe parking

Parking Closure PDF (its large, from my server)