Kings And Queens

Thirty Seconds To Mars – Kings + Queens – HD

30 Seconds to Mars | MySpace Video

against all better judgment I actually like this…

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Boston Rolls Out Stolen Bicycle Registry

Seems the City of Boston is taking a bit more interest in stolen bikes. From their new website

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As part of our initiative to make Boston a world-class bicycling city, the Stolen Bike Alert program makes reporting stolen bikes easier and increases the chances of finding your stolen bike by giving you a larger network of search parties.

When you report a stolen bike, we send out an alert to the police, local bike shops, hospital and school security, and everyone who follows us on Twitter or Facebook. All of these people will be on the look-out for your bike and we will instantaneously notify the police as we receive updates on your stolen bike.

Please take a few minutes to register your bike online right now.
Become a bike vigilante by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or email.

For more information, contact Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes at: [email protected]

617-918-4343

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You can find this and more info here. Seems like an interesting idea, not sure how much it will decrease bike theft, but it can’t hurt.

The most interesting part of this website seems to be the ability of people to register and post about stolen bikes. You can then report a stolen bike if you see one. In essence getting lots of people to help you look for your bike. I am guess this will also be used by thieves to know when NOT to post the bike to craigslist. But overall it’s a good start, especially if it becomes popular.

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Call Today To Support Bicycling In The Economic Recovery Bill

Call Today to Support Bicycling in the Economic Recovery Bill

Support Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects in the Economic Recovery Bill

The House and the Senate have each passed their own version of the Economic Recovery Bill, aimed at creating jobs and stimulating the economy. Both bills include billions for transportation infrastructure, but only the House bill includes funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects in the Transportation Enhancements program. The House bill includes approximately $1.35 billion for Transportation Enhancements of which 50-60% is traditionally spent on bicycle and pedestrian projects. The Senate bill does not explicitly include Transportation Enhancements, so it’s unclear whether this funding will be in the final bill.

We need to make sure Transportation Enhancement funding is in the final bill.

This week there will be a conference committee where several members of the House and several members of the Senate will work together to reconcile the two bills. Conferees need to hear that Transportation Enhancements are important to stimulating the economy, creating green jobs, and moving us towards a sustainable future.

We need you to make three calls today:

1. Call Senator Kennedy (202-224-4543)
2. Call Senator Kerry (202-224-2742)
3. Call your representative (click here to find out who your Congressperson is, then click their name for contact info)

and ask each of them to tell the Conferees to support Transportation Enhancements in the Economic Recovery bill.

Tell them:

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Special StreetTalk: “Urban Happiness” With Enrique Peñalosa

What happens when you give street space back to people?
Thursday Feb. 5, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
@ Boston Public Library, main branch at Copley [ map… ]
free and open to the public

An accomplished public official, economist and administrator, Enrique Peñalosa completed his three-year term as Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia on December 31, 2000. While mayor, Peñalosa was responsible for numerous radical improvements to the city and its citizens. He promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks. After organizing a Car-Free Day in 2000, he was awarded the Stockholm Challenge Award and rewarded by a referendum vote endorsing an annual car-free day. Peñalosa also led efforts to improve Bogotá’s marginal neighborhoods through citizen involvement; planted more than 100,000 trees; created a new, highly successful bus-based transit system; and turned a deteriorated downtown avenue into a dynamic pedestrian public space. He helped transform the city’s attitude from one of negative hopelessness to one of pride and hope, developing a model for urban improvement based on the equal rights of all people to transportation, education, and public spaces.

This event is part of a 4-day series of events sponsored by Livable Streets Alliance and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, in collaboration with WalkBoston, Institute for Human Centered Design, Bikes Not Bombs, Charles River Conservancy, MassBike.

This is a great article about Enrique Peñalosa:
Bogotá’s urban happiness movement: A radical campaign to return streets from cars to people (GlobeAndMail, June 2007)
From living hell to living well: A radical campaign to return streets from cars to people in Colombia’s largest city is now a model for the world. “A city can be friendly to people or it can be friendly to cars, but it can’t be both,” says former Bogotá (Colombia) Mayor Enrique Peñalosa. “Car Free Day is just one of the ways that Mr. Peñalosa helped to transform a city once infamous for narco-terrorism, pollution and chaos into a globally lauded model of livability and urban renewal. His ideas are being adopted in cities across the developing world. They are also being championed by planners and politicians in North America, where Mr. Peñalosa has reinvigorated the debate about public space once championed by Jane Jacobs.”

And a few great StreetFilms:
Click here for a film about car-free streets in Bogota
Click here for a film about bus rapid transit in Bogota
Click here for more information.

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Time To Take Action!

Thats right once again our elected leaders have fallen short of their duties when it comes to making biking awesome, so lets go kick some ass!

The below is from MassBike.

Action Alert #1: Bicyclist Safety Bill

This important bill will improve the safety of bicyclists throughout the Commonwealth, but we need your help. The bill, now designated S. 2573 (formerly S. 1414), was passed by the Senate earlier this year thanks to the efforts of retiring Senator Pamela Resor and our other friends in the Legislature. It is now in the House Ways and Means Committee. It needs to get reported favorably by the committee, enacted by both houses of the Legislature, and signed by the Governor before the end of this year. We are making a push to get this done now.

The key provisions of the bill are: police training on bicycle law; clarification of how to safely pass a bicycle; clarification of how to safely make turns in front of bicycles; “dooring” subject to ticket and fine; riding two abreast permitted when it does not impede cars from passing; improved enforcement of bicycle law for both motorists and bicyclists; and additional legal protections for bicyclists who choose to ride to the right of other traffic. The full text of the bill can be found here. For more details about the bill, including links to the affected statutes, see our previous Action Alert,

Here is what you can do:

1. Call or email Representative DeLeo, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, directly and urge him to support bill S. 2573, An Act Relative to Bicyclist Safety. His email is [email protected] and his phone number is 617-722-2990.

2. Call or email your own state representative and ask him or her to contact Representative DeLeo in support of the bill.

Your participation counts – don’t assume everyone else will do it!

Click here to find contact information for your State Representative (called “Rep in General Court”)

Action Alert #2: Commuter Benefits for Bicyclists

This just in from the League of American Bicyclists on a federal bill that may benefit bicyclists:
We understand that the United States Senate may vote on an energy legislation package this week, (The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 (pdf) ), which will provide a number of incentives to promote clean energy sources. The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, also includes the bicycle commuter tax benefit provision, previously introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). The provision provides for qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement for such reasonable expenses incurred by an employee for the purchase of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, repair, and storage. The Senate is expected to vote on this legislation as soon as this week! Please take a moment to contact your Senator to urge them to vote “yes” on the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Click here to contact Senators Kennedy and Kerry right now

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