Street Talk: Boston’s Bicyclists Movement Of The 1890s

Boston’s Bicyclists Movement of the 1890s

By Lorenz J. Finison
Tuesday, Nov 30, 7-9 pm
@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney Street, Cambridge, MA

Open to the public. Suggested $5-$10 donation.

Boston was a hub of black bicyclists in the 1890s, including: The Riverside Cycling Club, an all-black club with membership largely from Boston and Cambridge; Kittie Knox, a seamstress winning prizes for her cycling costumes and challenging the League of American Wheelmen’s “color bar”; Robert Teamoh, the Boston Globe newspaper writer/photographer; and state legislator who obtained a legislative resolution denouncing the “color bar“ in 1895. Learn about the impact of the “color bar” fight on the Good Roads campaign, the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia’s bicycle corps, and the Cambridge races of Major Taylor, an international champion and member of the first integrated professional sports team in the U.S.

Followed by a discussion on what we can learn from history, and join us in January for the 3rd Annual Boston Bikes Report by the City of Boston Bikes Director at the Boston Public Library to hear about what’s happening today.

Lorenz Finison currently teaches program and policy evaluation in the Doctor of Public Health program at Boston University. He is Principal of SigmaWorks, a consulting firm specializing in planning and evaluation. A founding board member of Cycling Through History: The Massachusetts African American Heritage Bike Route, Larry has a strong interest in the social history of cycling, cycling organizations and in social protest movements.

For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 617-621-1746

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Street Talk: Will Our River Crossing Be Bridges Or Barriers?

by LivableStreets board members Ken Kruckemeyer, Steve Miller & Charlie Denison

Tues, Nov 9, 7:00-9:00 pm
@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney St, Cambridge [map… ]

Open to the public. $5-$10 suggested donation.

Bridges connect communities, are vital links in our transportation network, and carry all users. Currently many of our bridges discourage walking and bicycling due to lack of sidewalks and bicycling facilities, speeding cars, dangerous on/off intersections, and poor connections to parklands. Today we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to redesign them to encourage all modes of transportation to support a vibrant urban life, and mobility for all people to live, work, and play. What we do in the next couple of years will effect generations to come.

Why now? The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is overseeing the reconstruction of the Craigie, Longfellow, BU, Anderson, River St, and Western Ave bridges over the next six years as part of the State’s $3 billion Accelerated Bridge Program (ABP).

Come to the StreetTalk to learn about LivableStreets efforts to create better bridges in our region – from vision to implementation. See examples of bridges from around the world, discuss the impact of getting the bridges right today for future generations to come, and learn how to get involved!

For more information about LivableStreets Better Bridge Campaign, click here
Questions regarding the StreetTalk? [email protected] / 617-621-1746

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Livable Streets Street Talk: Denmark, Sweden, And The Netherlands

Our travels to Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands

Wednesday August 4, 7-9 PM
@ LivableStreets Office, 100 Sidney Street, Cambridge MA 02139

LivableStreets1,000 people from around the world gathered in Copenhagen in June for the Velo-City Global conference to learn, discuss, and share best practices about urban street design and bicycling. The conference was held in the ‘City of Cyclists’ where almost 40% of people commute by bicycle every day!

Come to the LivableStreets’ StreetTalk to hear stories and see photos from the Velo-City Global conference in Copenhagen, and travels around Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden by our own:

– City of Boston Transportation Planner Charlotte Fleetwood
– City of Cambridge Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner Cara Seiderman
– Northeastern University Engineering Professor Peter Furth
– MAPC Transportation Planner David Loutzenheiser and
– LivableStreets Director Jackie Douglas

Open to the public. Suggested $5-$10 donation. Beer provided compliments of Harpoon Brewery!

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Street Talk: Transit 2.0

Transit 2.0: The Developers Initiative
By Chris Dempsey, Director of Innovation, Mass Dept. of Transportation

Tues, April 6, 7-9 pm
@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney St, Cambridge [map…]

Open to the public. Suggested donation. Complimentary beer provided by Harpoon while supplies last.

Pull out your phone, check if your bus or train is on time, and come to the LivableStreets Alliance StreetTalk to learn how technology is improving public transit. The Mass. Dept of Transportation Developers Initiative is a ground-breaking program that hosts transportation data that can be used by third-party software developers to build websites, mobile applications, and other applications that deliver information more efficiently and effectively to users of the Commonwealth’s transportation system. Since the first developers meeting in the LivableStreets office, the initiative has led to the development of numerous innovative web and mobile applications. Chris Dempsey will describe how open source data and innovative collaborations are helping Massachusetts travelers better plan their trips or find the location of their bus.

Chris Dempsey is the Director of Innovation for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Before his current role, Chris was Deputy Chief of Staff and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Transportation. Prior to joining state government, Chris was a staffer on the Patrick-Murray campaign, responsible for the campaign’s volunteer, student outreach and internship programs. He is a native of Brookline and currently resides in Boston.

Hosted by LivableStreets Alliance. For more information: [email protected], facebook, 617-621-1746

http://livablestreets.info/event/streettalk/transit-20-developers-initiative

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Street Talk: No Zoning Why Houston May Be Our Future

No Zoning: Why Houston May Be Our Future…
by Zakcq Lockrem, Harvard Graduate School of Design Masters Candidate

TONIGHT, Wed, March 3, 7-9 PM
@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney St, Cambridge

Open to the public. Suggested $5 donation. Complimentary beer provided by Harpoon.

No Zoning: Why Houston May Be Our Future…
… and why that may not be such a bad thing. Deep in “Red Territory,” America’s fourth largest city is seldom used as an example of good planning ideas. Instead, it is thought of as an example of what not to do. Yet, as the only major American city without zoning, Houston is a prime example of how transportation planning shapes our cities, for both good and bad. Although 100 years of auto-centric planning have left Houston a sprawling metropolis, the addition of a single light rail line 6 years ago (and an aggressive plan for 4 more lines by 2012) has revealed an ally that advocates seldom trust in the fight for a denser, more walkable future: the market. By exploring Houston’s experience, we can learn a lot about the connections between transportation and land use, the role that zoning has played in creating our current auto-centered predicament (and what our alternatives are), and how to answer when someone tells us that Americans just don’t want denser living.

Zakcq Lockrem is a LivableStreets Alliance board member, a Master of Urban Planning Candidate at the Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and a leader of the Boston Chapter of the Planners Network. Zakcq has work experience in transportation, infrastructure and housing, and has contributed to projects in West Africa, Mexico, California, Louisiana and around New England.

Hosted by LivableStreets Alliance.
For more information on the StreetTalk: web, [email protected], 617-621-1746

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