Bikes Not Bombs Update

From the email:

September 2016
Volunteer or Join with Youth Programs this Fall! Adult Instructor Training starts on Monday! Are you interested in volunteering to help with bike repair and ride marshaling within Earn-A-Bike? Learn more and apply on our website. Twelve to eighteen year olds, join us in Earn-A-Bike! Our Fall session begins October 3rd and runs untilNovember 3rd meeting Monday – Thursday 4-7pm. In Earn-A-Bike youth learn about mechanics and safe riding practices, and fix up a bike that they earn through the program. Applications available onlineand at our Hub. Cycloville launches Women’s Bike Program Welcome to Kithinji Doreen, Cycloville’s new program coordinator for the Women’s Bike Program (WBP)! Kithinji is a bike enthusiast and a women’s rights activist. She believes that women and men should have equal access to bikes and in the benefits that bikes can offer to them. By launching the WBP, Cycloville is taking one more step towards institutionalizing biking culture in Nairobi for all people regardless of their gender. Learn more about Kithinji and the program! Help BNB Load Bikes to CESTA! Join BNB to load a container to our partner CESTA in El Salvador on September 11th. We will be loading from 9am – 6pm. Drop by for an hour or stay all day! Please RSVP so that we have an idea of how many people are coming. Ride with BOCA! Starting September 17th, BOCA will be hosting bi-monthly Unity Rides! These rides will be to fun places with stops and information provided by youth employees. All riders must have a working bike and helmet, we can provide helmet loaners and may be able to loan bikes with advance notice. Meet at the BNB Hub at 11am on Saturday Sept. 17th,Oct. 1st, 15th and 29th and Nov. 12th. Rides will return to the Hub around 3pm. Waivers required for all participants, youth under 18 need parent/guardian signature. Be a Table Captain at the Building Momentum Breakfast Bikes Not Bombs’ 6th annual Building Momentum Breakfast will take place Wednesday, October 26th! The Breakfast is designed to raise financial support for BNB and spread the word about our innovative work. We are looking for 10-12 Table Captains to make this event a success! Table Captains bring friends, family, and colleagues, anyone who will connect with the mission and work of BNB to the Breakfast. We will give Table Captains all the information and training they need to be successful. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested. Happenings at the Bike Shop Upcoming Clinics: Mon 9/12 7-9pm Femmechanics Thurs 9/15 7-8pm Flat Fixing Thurs 9/22 7-8pm Basic Repair & Maintenance Mon 10/3 7-9pm Adult Earn-A-Bike Alumni Night We’re excited to begin building up 2017 bikes including the Raleigh Redux 1! With a lightweight aluminum frame and mechanical disc brakes, the Redux 1 will make commuting a blast. Come in to try one out! Volunteer of the Month – Gus Harrington Gus is invaluable to our bike collections program. Not only does he attend our bike drives and container loadings to assist with processing bikes for shipment, he also lets BNB use the shed at his property in Salisbury, MA as a drop-off spot for people who want to donate bikes, but can’t bring them all the way to Boston. Gus says he likes supporting BNB because our programs educate youth about mechanics and help spread bikes as a viable form of transportation. Thank you Gus! News Outside of BNB Hub on Wheels – Join the 12th Annual Boston Bikes Hub on Wheels on Sunday September 18th for a 10 or 40 mile ride on car-free Storrow Drive! Registration is open, and look for BNB at the Finish Line Festival! Femmechanics Bikepacking – Join Femmechanics crew for a bike camping trip on Saturday Sept. 24th – 25th! This event is for all femme, and/or trans*, and/or women regardless of how much experience or gear you have, or how many rides you’ve done.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Bikes Not Bombs Bike-A-Thon Moved To June 19th

from BnB.

Bike-A-Thon, now on June 19th! With the rainy weather on June 5th, our 29th Annual Bike-A-Thon is now on Sunday June 19th! We’re planning on making the best of the next week and a half so please join us! If you are now able to make the ride, you’re in luck!We’re offering half-priced registration untilmidnight tonight! Already registered? Take these extra days to raise your fundraising goal, recruit a few more people to join your team or go out on a practice ride. Thank you to all of our riders, sponsors, volunteers and donors who have stood behind us as we hold out for a sunnier day, we will see you on June 19th! Welcome Manizha Baraki! Please help us extend a warm welcome to Manizha Baraki who joins us as our new International Programs Coordinator! Manizha recently received her Masters in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University and previously has worked with UN Women in Afghanistan and New York. At BNB, she will be communicating with international partners on a regular basis, traveling to provide technical assistance to partner organizations, monitoring progress and evaluating impact. Manizha brings a wealth of experience to BNB and is passionate about empowerment of women and youth in underserved communities. Say hi to Manizha at our next container loading, or email her at [email protected]! . New Sticker! Remember back in February when we hosted a contest to redesign our sticker? The new stickers have arrived! We had a fierce competition between a number of skilled designers, but at the end chose a design that both recollects previous stickers and brings in a fresh twist. Huge thank you to everyone who submitted art, and especially to the winning designer, David Alderman. You can purchase one of our new, reflective stickers at the Bike Shop, Hub, or at the many events we attend. Summer Earn-A-Bike Know a 12-18 year old who has an interest in learning bike mechanics and safe urban riding skills? Encourage them to apply for Earn-A-Bike! We’ve got two sessions this summer, from July 5th – July 22ndand from July 25th to August 12th. Both sessions will meet Monday – Friday 2-6pm. More information and applications on our website, or available at our Hub and Shop. Happenings at the Bike Shop Upcoming Clinics: Mon 6/6 7-9pm Adult Earn-A-Bike Alumni Night Mon 6/13 7-9pm Femmechanics Thurs 6/16 8-9pm Basic Repair & Maintenance Mon 6/20 7-9pm Adult Earn-A-Bike Alumni Night Tues 6/21 8-9pm Flat Fixing Please be on time for the clinics. RSVP by 5pm theSunday ahead of time for Adult Earn-A-Bike Alumni Night. Volunteer of the Month – David Read This month we want to extend our thanks to David Read. We first met David at a Lunch Brake last May and knew right away he was going to be a super volunteer. He organized a table for our 2015 Building Momentum Breakfast even though he could not attend and has been a regular at Container Loadings ever since. Last month he organized a Bike Drive that brought in over a hundred bikes! When he’s not volunteering at BNB, he is helping to organize the Longwood Medical Area Bike Network, an effort to improve cycling experiences and keep cyclists safe in that area. David’s commitment and enthusiasm for our work, and for cyclists in Boston generally, makes him our volunteer of the month! News Outside of BNB Femmechanics The femme/trans*/women (FTW) group Femmechanics, who we partner with monthly, has a number of upcoming events this summer from camping to alley cats to social events! Learn more at their website. Lives at Stake Join the Jamaica Plain Progressives for A Community Conversation On Mass Incarceration. National leaders acknowledge the mistake of “tough on crime” legislation, why is Massachusetts slow to respond? At the First Baptist Church in JP on Thursday June 16th at 7pm. Inter-Neighborhood Ride Series: DorchesterJoin DotBike to explore Dorchester! Meet at Ashmont Cycles at 11am on Saturday July 9th. More details on Facebook!

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Bikes Not Bombs Update

from BNB:

——-

Shifting Power Bike Mechanics Training Videos! We’re excited to release Shifting Power, a bike mechanics training video series! Shifting Power will serve as a comprehensive training manual for anyone worldwide interested in learning and/or teaching about bicycle mechanics. The 14 video series features a diverse group of instructors, unlike many of the video resources currently available. The collaborative project, created by staff at the BNB Bike Shop, International, and Youth Programs, is now available in both English and Spanish on the Bikes Not Bombs website.

Help Load the First Container of 2016! Our first Container Loading of 2016 is on March 20th and will be going to Ability Bikes in Ghana! RSVP to volunteer! We will be loading starting at 9am and ending around 5pm, stop by for an hour or stay all day!

Spring Shop Hours, Clinics and Staff! The Shop is now on Summer hours, which meansclinics are back, Adult Earn-A-Bike is restarting and we’re open 7 days a week! Stop by Mon. 11-7pm, Tues. – Thurs. 8-8pm, Fri. 11-7pm, Sat. 10-6pm or Sun. 12-5pm. We’re also thrilled to welcome three new staff members to the 2016 Bike Shop team! Chelsea DeSantis and Gabriel Ytterberg are joining us as full-time mechanics and Chayanne Almieda is our newest Apprentice! Upcoming Clinics:  Mon 3/147-9pm Femmechanics  Wed 3/16 8-9pm Basic Repair & Maintenance Please be on time for the clinics. Tool Time will be on April 4th, RSVP byApril 3rd at 5pm.

Submit Your Idea for Our New Sticker! After 32 years, we’ve decided it’s time to revamp our sticker design, and we could use YOUR help! Do you have an idea of the perfect sticker you want to put on your bike, helmet or give to your favorite person?Submit it today! Designs are due before March 30th,guidelines and resources available.

It’s Almost Bike Drive Season! Our Spring Bike Drives will resume in April! Are you able to help us collect 5000+ bikes each year by organizing a drive in your community? Can you volunteer to flatten bikes at a bike drive? Email[email protected] for more information. Have a bike to donate? Check out our upcoming Bike Drives throughout New England.

Volunteer of the Month – John Rosenwinkel This month we would like to extend a huge thank you to John Rosenwinkel as volunteer of the month. John has served as an adult instructor, helped with final safety checks before Earn-A-Bike graduations and most recently improved the operations of the Hub mechanics space. As a member of a youth programs committee John helped build a wall to mount bicycle forks and crank sets, teaching senior youth staff about basic power tools during the construction. John’s consistent dedication is invaluable to the impact of our programs.

International Programs Field Reports Our International Programs Director, Charlotte Fagan, has been traveling for most of 2016! In January, Charlotte visited Cycloville in Nairobi, Kenya for 3 weeks, and in February, Charlotte went to Koforidua, Ghana to work with Ability Bikes. Read our Field Reports to see what Charlotte learned!

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Livable Streets March Update

Lots of good stuff From Livable Streets:

peak up for the Greenline Extension and Community Path

Speak up to remind MassDOT, the MBTA and the Governor that we need a fully functional Green Line Extension and the integrated Community Path project.

MassDOT and the MBTA have scheduled five public meetings to receive public input/suggestions on ways to reduce the cost of construction for these projects.

Construction of the Green Line Extension and Community Path will provide long needed air quality, public health, transportation and economic development improvements for our communities.

Attend ones of these meetings and remind MassDOT, the MBTA and the Governor that we need these very important projects:

Upcoming Public Meetings on the Green Line Extension
Meeting times:

Open House: 5:30pm – 6:30 pm
Presentation and Q&A: 6:30 pm – 8:00pm

• March 2: Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue – Somerville
• March 23: Tufts University, 51 Winthrop Street – Medford
• April 13: Argenziano School, 290 Washington Street – Somerville
• April 27: St. Anthony’s Parish Hall, 400 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue – Cambridge
• May 5th: St. Clement’s Parish Hall, 579 Boston Avenue – Medford

MBTA late night service cut, but fare increases still in play

We are disappointed to report that the MBTA Control Board voted 4-0 yesterday to cancel late night service. While this is an unfortunate development, we were inspired by the hundreds of impassioned advocates who packed the meeting room to speak up for better transit.

Next week the MBTA control board will vote on possible fare increases. We hope that they will seriously consider the overwhelming public support for keeping fare increases at or below 5% in their vote next Monday, March 7.

We will be there next week for this important vote and keep you up-to-date over the next few weeks as the Control Board considers cost saving measures for the Greenline extension.

New Emerald Network website launched!

Since launching the Emerald Network in September 2015, we’ve made strides toward achieving our vision of a 200-mile seamless network of greenways across Metro Boston.

To highlight this important initiative we’ve launched a brand new website:www.emeraldnetwork.info.

On the new Emerald Network website you can:

• Learn about the progress we’ve made and see some examples of in-progress and future project to complete the network

• Apply for the Greenway Partners Program, to request capacity-building support to advance a proposed greenway project

• Sign up to receive email updates specific to the Emerald Network

We hope you’ll take a few moments to learn more by exploring thewebsite!

LivableStreets and Vision Zero featured on PRI’s “The World”

LivableStreets’ Stacy Thompson hit the streets of Boston last week with Brendan Kearney of WalkBoston and PRI “The World” reporter Jason Margolis to talk about safety on our streets. At the corner of Mass Ave and Beacon Street the trio discussed the hurdles and hopes for Boston’s commitment to Vision Zero.

“What does Boston have to learn? It already is one of the safest major cities in the US. Still, you’re about three times more likely to be killed on the roads in Boston — walking, cycling or traveling in a car — than in Stockholm.”

Click here to hear how Stacy and Brendan answered this question and learn more about Sweden’s successful campaign to dramatically reduced traffic crashes.

I-90 Interchange project prompts bigger questions about connectivity and livability

On Sunday the Boston Globe highlighted the need to look toward the future and prioritize transit and broader connectivity for the proposed West Station – an important piece of the I-90 interchange project. The following evening Brookline residents packed a Transportation Board meeting to learn about the 1-90 project and how it might impact their community.

LivableStreets Advocacy Committee member Ari Ofsevit presented an alternative design to MassDot’s current proposal that prioritizes people, place-making and better options for walking, biking and transit. Many of the residents highlighted the need for better buses and better connections to Boston and Cambridge.

Given the enormous long-term impact of this project, we can’t agree more with the Globe, “it’s not too soon to decide what the basic purpose of West Station ought to be — a 21st-century multimodal transportation center, or just another commuter rail stop.”

MA Bike Safety Forum re-cap

The room was packed with people who care about making biking safer at Suffolk University last Tuesday night, as bicyclists gathered with legislators, policy makers, and stakeholders to talk about changing state laws to make cycling safer. Representatives from the trucking industry, Boston, Cambridge, the Carmen’s Union and the MBTA gave brief presentations followed by breakout sessions where ideas for possible legislation were presented.

LivableStreets’ Board members Steve Miller and Megan Ramey each led a break-out session engaging attendees in discussion around lowering speed limits and safe bicycle crossings. At the conclusion of the event attendees were asked to vote on their preferred solution for better bike safety.

Senator William Brownsberger posted the results of the survey on his website in “Bike Safety Forum Take Aways–?” and is requesting additional public input. You can comment on the event’s website mabikesafety.com.

Opportunties

Join LivableStreets’ Advocacy Committee

LivableStreets Advocacy Committee is tracking more than 90 street projects in Metro Boston and we need your help! The group meets once monthly and consists of new and seasoned advocates working together to tackle issues big and small. Joining the Advocacy Committee is a great way to keep up to date on key projects and initiatives, learn from our volunteer advocates who’ve won dozens of campaigns (like bringing down the Casey Overpass, securing the new design for Comm Ave!) and share your ideas for better streets in your neighborhood.

Please contact [email protected] to learn more and get involved.

Sincerely,
LivableStreets Alliance

livablestreets.info

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Join The Boston Bikes Advisory Group

Here is an update from Boston Bikes, with all sorts of goodies and info:

—————–

City of Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh cityofboston.gov/bikes | bostonbikes.org

#BeBrilliant Light Campaign Recap Thanks to a donation of lights from Breakstone, White & Gluck, PC, Boston Bikes held the #BeBrilliant Light Campaign for a second year. During the week after the time change, volunteers distributed lights to more than 200 cyclists who were riding without them. Thank you, Bicyclecentro, Bikes Not Bombs, Bowdoin Bike School, CommonWheels, Dot Bike, JP Bikes, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, Rozzie Bikes, and Southie Bikes for distributing lights in your communities. Remember to use lights when riding at night or in the early morning: lights are required by law in the time between half-hour after sunset and a half-hour before sunrise. We’re all looking forward to December 23, when the days will start to grow longer. View more photos from the campaign on Facebook.

Apply to Join the Boston Bikes Advisory Group We are seeking applications for the Boston Bikes Advisory Group (BBAG), which consists of individuals who live, work, and/or bike in Boston. Members serve as liaisons to the greater biking community and advise the Active Transportation Director on priorities related to cycling in Boston including: the implementation of the network plan, safety and education campaigns, and community events. Members attend monthly meetings at Boston City Hall and are asked to support the work of Boston Bikes and the bike community in general. Read the BBAG Overview and view the application. Applications are due December 22, 2015. Applicants will be notified in the middle of January 2016, and the first meeting will take place in February. Memberships last two calendar years.

Hubway Station Closures Hubway stations are heading in for the winter. The first round of station closures are taking place from November 16th to November 25th. Depending on the weather, most of Boston’s stations will be available in December. You can view this week’s removal schedule on Hubway’s website. Want to be notified before your station is removed? Sign up for system alerts. You can also check the Hubway map or the Spotcycle app for real time updates.

2015 Youth Cycling Program Recap Our Youth Cycling Program (YCP) was once again a huge success! This year we visited 30 different sites and over 5,800 students had the opportunity to develop their biking skills – from learning to ride for the first time to navigating city streets safely. We owe thanks to the many partners and our Youth Cycling Instructors who helped to make this year a success! We’ll begin accepting applications for the Spring 2016 session early next year. You canlearn more about host requirements on our website.

World Day of Remembrance Ride and Vigil Photo credit: Kyle Ramey – View more photos from the World Day of Remembrance Ride and VigilOn Sunday, the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition gathered people from the greater Boston to raise awareness about traffic violence in Massachusetts. Following a memorial bike ride, a vigil was held in front of the State House where people shared stories of those lost in traffic crashes and placed yellow flowers on the steps in remembrance. Read more about the event in the Boston Globe. The City of Boston adopted Vision Zero in March and will release its action plan in the coming weeks.

Connect with Boston Bikes & Women Bike Boston                 Boston City Hall – Suite 932 | Boston, MA 02201 [email protected] | cityofboston.gov/bikes | bostonbikes.org

Add to Reddit.

Tweet