Do You Live In Cambridge? Do You Ride A Bike?

If so please vote to spend some of that sweet sweet Cambridge tax monies on some awesome bike friendly projects!

Welcome to the participatory budgeting (PB) ballot for the City of Cambridge, courtesy of the Stanford Crowdsourced Democracy Team.

If you’re a Cambridge resident 12 years of age or older, YOU can help decide how to spend $500,000 from the City’s Capital Budget when you cast your ballot.

You can vote here if you have a cell phone that can receive a text message. Click “Vote” to cast your vote.

If you don’t have a cell phone, you can vote in person. Please see below for information on voting dates and locations. You can familiarize yourself with the project proposals for voting by clicking “See Projects.”

Visit www.cambridgema.gov/yourbudget for more information.

 

See more here

You can see the list of projects here.

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Female Cyclist Killed By Truck Driver In Cambridgeport

A female cyclist was struck and killed by a container truck around 1:40 p.m. Wednesday at the corner of Allston and Pleasant streets.

The victim, whose name will not be released until next of kin is notified, was pronounced dead at the scene. No charges have been made at this time against the male driver of the truck, who remained at the scene.

“If there were any witnesses, we ask them to call us at 617-349-3300,” said Jeremy Warnick, director of communications for the Cambridge Police Department.

Via

This is horrible, more information when I get it. My heart goes out to her friends and family.

Edit: Update, she may have been walking her bike, it is unclear at this point

a dump truck hit a 65-year-old Cambridge woman as she either rode or walked her bicycle from a parking area onto Putnam Avenue between River and Pleasant streets, near a Whole Foods Market, where she may have been shopping, authorities said.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, Cambridge police spokesman Jeremy Warnick said. Authorities did not release the names of the driver or the victim.

Via

Edit: The name of the woman killed was Marcia Deihl, there is a lovely piece on her at the globe here is a bit:

Friends say Marcia Deihl was always the first person to think up a witty song that perfectly captured the moment, and to encourage the same lyrical invention in others with her “Bizarre Song Parties,” where the price of admission was a ditty of one’s own.

Deihl was a Cambridge activist who spent her life fighting — and singing — for what she believed in, and who had embarked upon retirement with joy that she could finally dedicate all her time to her art.

And she loved to ride her bicycle, a clunky old three-speed decorated with paper flowers and streamers. With her long hair streaming behind her, she cut a distinctive figure, one familiar to many Cambridge residents.

On Thursday, friends mourned the untimely death of the 65-year-old, who was killed Wednesday after being hit by a dump truck while riding her bike on Putnam Avenue.

“She was an icon of Cambridge life. She was a very colorful figure, beloved by the people who knew her,” said Pam Chamberlain, a longtime friend who described Deihl as “a riot” with a keen sense of irony and a gift for bonding with people. “It’s a great loss for the folk community and the feminist movement.”

Edit: MassBike Has responded, read it here.

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Cambridge To Follow Boston’s Lead On Side Guards For Trucks

I have talked about this a couple of times (here and here and here), and its great to see Cambridge moving forward with this simple and awesome plan.

 Via

On Monday, November 10, the City of Cambridge took a major step towards making transportation safer for bikers as well as pedestrians. The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously in favor of a motion put forth by Councilor Dennis Carlone to take the next step in considering outfitting city vehicles with side guards.

The side guards act as a protective measure in the instance of a collision between a cyclist and the truck and keep the cyclist from being pulled beneath the vehicle.

According to Councilor Carlone’s City Council Blog, “City Manager Richard C. Rossi is requested ‘to work with all relevant City Staff, safety experts, and bicycle and pedestrian advocates to consider the possibility of deploying truck side guards across all city-owned and city-leased trucks.'”

Councilor Carlone introduced the legislation back in September after a cyclist was struck by a garbage truck. Luckily the injuries were non-life threatening but that was enough to inspire the councilor to act preemptively.

At the end of October, Boston became the first city in the nation to adopt such a measure. The Boston City Council also voted unanimously to approve an ordinance filed by Mayor Marty Walsh, along with At-Large Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley and the Boston Cyclists Union, to equip all large city-contracted vehicles with safety side guards.

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New Buffered Bike Lanes In Cambridge!

Check out these awesome lanes!  Parked cars on the outside, nice buffer zone, that fresh zing of new thermo plastic.  More of these please.

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Cambridge Gets Another Bicycle Stop Light

It took the Dutch 30 or so years to get their bicycle infrastructure to the point it is today.  Lucky for us they did all the hard work and we can just copy the good stuff and catch up fast.  Cambridge has been at the forefront of copying good ideas from other places.  Case in point their new bike stop light.

In recent weeks, a new traffic signal has appeared on Cambridge’s Western Avenue, between Massachusetts Avenue and Memorial Drive, to accompany the new separated cycle track recently finished in a round of construction. (via)

I can’t really recommend the article, as its atrocious, but you know its the Globe. I for one welcome our new cycle track/bike signal overlords. You can see two other bike lights in Harvard sq, and Porter Square.

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