Following the Boston Bike Summit last October, the city has created a program, Boston Bikes, and is working to improve cycling in the city. I’ve been receiving emails from Nicole Freedman, Director of the City’s Bike Programs that are encouraging:
- This year, the city will recognize all businesses that complete some bike friendly requirements with Boston Bike Friendly Business Awards, as part of the overall city green initiative. It’s too late now to nominate a company, but it will be interesting to see how many qualified for this inaugural program.
- The city is creating a city-wide bike map, collaboratively with cyclists by publishing instructions on how to edit a google map that contains routes all over the city. Cyclists of all abilities will edit the maps to rate the streets to help the city compile a baseline map of how difficult or easy cycling in the city is.
- You can report road hazards online through a form on the city website.
- You can sign up for the city’s newsletter here to be notified of additional initiatives.
This is encouraging on several levels:
- It appears the city is finally taking cycling seriously. I know my opinion of Mayor Menino improved dramatically when I read about his own cycling efforts.
- The city is looking for ways to use technology and grassroots energy to make a difference. I was amazed at the use of google maps…and while the implementation is a little rough, it is very encouraging to see a city agency taking risks and inviting the public to come in and mess with these maps. A more typical governmental approach might be to hire a consultant to do a study or develop some expensive technology boondoggle that would take forever to develop and never be used. This kind of “scrappy” internet approach is a breath of fresh air in city governance.
During the Bike Summit this fall, I blogged about bikes and economic development–a topic that was picked up by some other urban/economic development bloggers like Wendy Waters at All About Cities and Richard Florida. I think there is something about cycling that really captures the passion of creative people–at all socioeconomic levels. It’s part of the secret sauce of developing cool places to live and work…
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