Jingle Ride Date Change!

Due to the mini-blizzard this weekend the jingle ride is moving to another date, see below:

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Due to the questionable weather report for the weekend to postpone the Jingle Ride until SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22nd. All the other details will be the same.

Put some antlers on your helmet, tie some jingle bells to your bicycle, and join fellow holiday merrymakers at the 17^th Annual Ciclismo Classico Jingle Ride.
Bring family and friends to Arlington for a leisurely and festive bike parade to Boston and back.  This 22-mile ride rolls through Harvard Square, the Charles River bike path along the Esplanade, Boston Common, and Newbury Street – we may stop and sing carols for passersby, or just parade along showing some creative holiday spirit.  We’ll also enjoy hot cocoa and cookies at Harvard Square, courtesy of the Harvard Square Business Association!

Join the Jingle Ride!
Date: Sunday December 22
Time: registration opens at 10:15 AM, ride leaves promptly at 11 AM
Distance: 22-mile leisurely loop from Arlington to Boston and back
Starting point: Kickstand Café (formerly Jam n Java), 594 Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington Center, MA
Cost: Suggested donation of $25 (children under 18 are free if accompanied by an adult).  All proceeds go to Horizons for Homeless Children.
RSVP is required. Please RSVP at http://www.ciclismoclassico.com/jingle-ride-2013/ or contact Marc at 781-646-3377.
Or – join the event on facebook!

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Minuteman In East Arlington Closed For Bump Removal

Just received the following notice from the Town. This is to fix some of the bumps in the path.

“Bike Path Closures Nov 20 through Nov 22
Weather permitting sections of the Minuteman Bike Path will be closed between 7:00a.m. – 4:00p.m. on November 20th through the 22nd for paving repairs. The general locations for repairs are from Linwood St. to Lake St., and Lake St. to Thorndike Field. Please observe “do not enter” signs and seek alternative routes around these work areas during these times.
All modes of travel (pedestrian, bicycles) will not be allowed in work areas.”

Hurrah!

The bumps are annoying, please and thank you for removing them Arlington.

Love cyclists.

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Arlington Residents Vote To Reject Millions In Funding For Bike Lanes

Amazing….and ultimately sad.

On Saturday, voters in Arlington proved themselves simultaneously foolish and shortsighted when they attempted to shut down a proposal for bike lanes on a one-mile strip of Massachusetts Avenue. They’re foolish because the vote, essentially, rejects $6.8 million in funding from the state and federal governments. And they’re short-sighted because the installation of bike lanes on some—not all—streets is the future for cities and towns.

A recap: Massachusetts Avenue in East Arlington is a disaster. It’s a chaotic stretch of road with no painted lanes and few cross-walks that’s been the scene of far too many accidents. A few years ago, the town started planning an update for the street, and secured $6.8 million in funding from the state and federal governments. As state senator Ken Donnelly noted, however, MassDOT required that bicycles be accommodated in some fashion, either through bike lanes (which would eliminate one of four lanes of car traffic) or through wider outside car lanes (which would reduce the size of the sidewalks or remove parking).

Read the rest of this article, and try not to pull your hair out.

With the rest of the Boston Metro area running full speed ahead to improve cycling infrastructure, what exactly is wrong with Arlington? It doesn’t take an oracle to see that the future of urban living involves lots and lots of cycling, pedestrian, and public transportation infrastructure. Arlington is almost literally shooting themselves in the foot here. Sad. Lets hope that this non-binding vote isn’t the last one.

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Arlington Climate Change Ride

via

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Vision 2020’s Sustainable Arlington and A Better Future Project invite the public to a series of climate events from July 16 to 24. A full list of activities can be seen at www.SustainableArlington.org. This event is cosponsored by Mystic River Watershed Association.

On Monday, July 18, five future leaders in the climate change field will arrive in town via bicycle. These are the young men and women of New England Climate Summer, a leadership program training 31 college students this summer in climate science, community organizing, messaging and media, as well as bike maintenance and safety. Teams of students from Climate Summer will visit 42 communities in five New England states, moving around solely with the power of their own legs.

The team coming to Arlington will meet with local leaders and engage our community in thinking about climate change solutions. The students record their efforts throughout the summer on video and blogs.

Sponsored by the Better Future Project, Climate Summer works to help the public envision and build a better future free from the burning of fossil fuels. Carrie Watkins, a student at Brandeis University and the team leader, wanted to do something this summer about the injustice of climate change.

“Climate Change is very much about people. We are extremely reliant on the stability of the natural world,” Watkins says.

While in Arlington the team will be hosted by the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, at which they will perform a community service project and speak to the congregation at Sunday services on July 24, 10 a.m. All are welcome to attend, according to First Parish Green Sanctuary Committee member David Landskov.

Other activities planned for the week will connect Arlington’s open spaces directly with the effects of climate change. There will be bicycle ride from the Arlington Reservoir, home of a new habitat garden, to Spy Pond Park, the site of a future rain garden.

Find out how gardens and urban open spaces help mitigate some of the environmental threats posed by the warming climate. Meet at the Arlington Reservoir parking lot, the farthest point from the beach entrance, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 19.

After a short presentation by the David White of the Reservoir Committee, we will bike down the Minuteman Bikeway to the Spy Pond Park rain garden site, for lemonade and cookies.

In a collaborative effort with the Arlington Tree Committee, volunteers will help identify where, on our town’s public green spaces, trees can be planted.

Tree Committee Chair Sally Naish said, “Every year individual residents make a request to the town to have a tree planted near their home. While the Tree Committee plans to fill these requests, we also hope to address those areas of the town that have the least tree canopy.

“Trees moderate climate by intercepting the sun’s radiant energy and the flow of wind and rain. Air quality is improved by leaves filtering dust and particulates and absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants, such as ozone, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, and releasing oxygen.”

Anyone interested in being a part of a small team of volunteers who will spend two hours looking for viable planting sites in East Arlington, please contact Patti Muldoon at [email protected]. Training provided.

The Climate Change Exchange of Ideas takes place Thursday, July 21 at 7 p.m. at the First Parish UU Church, 630 Mass Ave. All are welcome to this free public event.

Sustainable Arlington Cochair Gail McCormick sees this evening’s event as an essential opportunity for the Town leadership and residents to begin a new dialogue. Town Meeting adopted a plan in 2007 to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases as a community, but there are more and more reasons to revisit the Arlington Sustainability Action Plan.

According to McCormick, the public “may not be aware that climate change has already begun to affect Arlington. Heavier rains leading to increased flooding, especially in East Arlington, and the earliest recorded occurrence of toxic blue-green algae in Spy Pond are two possible examples.”

Sustainable Arlington invites the community to this open meeting to hear more about how the effects of climate change will affect the New England region and Arlington specifically. Refreshments will be served.

For information about Arlington Climate Change Week and Sustainable Arlington, visit www.sustainablearlington.org or contact co-chairs Gail McCormick and Charlotte Milan at [email protected].

For more information about A Better Future Project, contact Vanessa Rule, Director of Community Outreach, Better Future Project [email protected], or 617-838-4063.

Events already held:

On Sunday, July 17, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. is a service-learning opportunity with Arlington Home Energy Efficiency Team, or A-HEET.

Volunteers will descend on a local home and air seal it within a few hours, saving homeowners energy and money for years to come.

“Every house presents new and interesting challenges,” says A-HEET founder Jeremy Marin, and there are always new volunteers who turn out. Some have never used a caulk gun, some are in the building trades, but everyone leaves with a sense of accomplishment in a good, fun day’s work.”

Contact Marin to sign up at [email protected].

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Mass Ave, Arlington Public Meeting

Another Meeting from Livable Streets Alliance, Mass Ave in Arlington could really use some bicycle lanes, show up and show your support.

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Tuesday, April 12, 7 pm

@ Arlington Town Hall, 730 Mass Ave, Arlington

EALS simulation of improvements

WHAT: MassDOT will be holding the 25% Design Public Hearing for the Mass Ave Arlington Project (from Cambridge City Line to Pond Lane), and it is the last big opportunity for the public to express their views about the project.

LIVABLESTREETS POSITION: strongly supports the proposed design, which includes wider sidewalks, bike lanes, new and improved crosswalks, and clearly defined travel lanes, all while serving the current and projected traffic volumes. These improvements will result in a street that is safer and more appealing for all modes of transportation.

We urge folks who use Mass Ave to attend this meeting and speak in support of the proposed design. Your voice is critical at this time!

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