Bike-To-Brown

Bike To Work Day – May 15th

In case you’ve missed the news, Bike To Work Day is this Friday, May 15th!  Here is a portion of the official press release from the Providence Bicycle Coalition (PBC) website:

Rain or shine, Providence will be joining cities across the country in hosting Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 15! Taking place at Market Square, 20 North Main Street, in downtown Providence, bicyclists will convene at 7:00am for refreshments and kick-off press conference at 7:30am. Providence Mayor David Cicilline, will lead the way as he bicycles to the event. Joining the Mayor at the podium will be Richard Godfrey, Director of Rhode Island Housing and Chair of The Providence Foundation Bike to Work and College Committee, Mike Lewis, Director of the RI Department of Transportation, Providence City Council member John Lombardi, Chris Wilhite of the RI Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Mark Dieterich of the Providence Bicycle Coalition.

Breakfast and refreshments will be served to cyclists from 7:00am until 10:00am. At 3:00pm Market Square comes alive with cool bike demonstrations and free styling, refreshments, live music, bicycle-related vendors providing safety tips and demonstrations, local environmental organizations, and information about upcoming bicycle signage and lane striping.

If you are considering bicycle commuting for the first time, I’d strongly encourage you to try and join up with one of the five bike trains being organized by the PBC this year.  Hope to see you at the festivities!

Photo Session

We are working with some people from the Brown Publication Services to write a piece about bike commuting at Brown.  To go along with the article, we’d like to get a group photo of as many bicycle commuters as we can.  Come join us on Tuesday, May 12th, at 2:30pm on the Main Green by the flagpole near George Street with your bike and helmet.

Hope to see you there.

Bikes @ Brown Cycling Event – April 17th

The BrownMed AMA, Brown Cycling, and Bikes@Brown are throwing a short cycling event Friday, April 17 on the BioMed porch on Meeting Street at noon. There will be snacks courtesy of BrownMed AMA.

BrownMed AMA is celebrating its 55-mile leg of the Boston-Providence-Long Island-NYC-Albany-Buffalo “Tour to Insure” bike relay.

Bikes@Brown is showing off its fleet and offering signups.

Brown Cycling is building goodwill.

H5074 Hearing Today!

Sorry for the late notice, it’s been a busy night.  The H5074 legislation will be heard today by the House Judiciary at 4pm in room 205 of the State House.  We encourage any cyclist who is able to attend, as it will be a show of stregth and support for bicycle legislation.  Over at the  Providence Bicycle Coalition blog, you can read about the proposed changes and the history of this legislation.

Advocacy Meeting – March 5th @ 6pm

Save the date: March 5th @ 6pm in MacMillan room 115

Bike-to-Brown is teaming up with Bike Providence and Brown Cycling to hold a special “town hall” type discussion of the proposed Three Foot Rule legislation.  If you are a cyclist and ride the roads, then I would strongly encourage you to attend this meeting and voice your opinion about the merits of this bill.

Keep an eye on the H5074 thread over at Bike Providence for some history about this proposed legislation and further updates.

Save the Bay Community Cleanup

I received word from the folks at Save the Bay that they are hosting a community cleanup this coming Saturday. Their focus will be along the East Bay Bike Path, so I thought some of you might be interested. Here’s the official announcement:

We’ve had a volunteer just schedule a Community Cleanup for this Sunday, December 7th in East Providence – if you’re free and looking for something to do and or some community service – please sign up!

Community Cleanup of East Providence

Meet at the parking lot at the East Bay Bike Path on Veterans Memorial Parkway at 9 am on Sunday the 7th

Dress for the weather, bring your own work gloves and a drink.

Your leader will be Rob Resendes

Please sign up by emailing shessler@savebay.org or calling 401.272.3540 x 130

Blackstone Boulevard Neighborhood Meeting

A neighborhood meeting has been scheduled for discussion of the Blackstone Blvd bike lanes (and more): Wednesday, October 15, 6:30 to 8 pm, at School One (corner of Slater Ave and University Ave, Providence).

If you have a strong opinion about the bike lanes on Blackstone Boulevard, it would be a good idea to attend this public discussion.

Providence Bicycle Commuter Clinic

Providence Bicycle Commuter Clinic

401-331-6610 725 Branch Ave Providence RI 02904

Do you live less than ten miles from where you work? Price of gas got you down? How much are you paying a month to park your car Downcity? Sick of doing the ten o’clock shuffle on College Hill? Looking for ways to get a little more exercise into your life? Have you ever considered riding your bicycle to work?

We at Providence Bicycle are offering a free Bicycle Commuting Clinic on Tuesday March 18 at 7 pm. You will learn from seasoned commuters who ride to work everyday! We will touch on how to prepare at home and work for a weekly commute, how to avoid common traffic mishaps, necessary gear for safety and comfort, how to handle minor mechanicals and how you can integrate your bicycle into your everyday life.

A Providence Bicycle Commuting Mentor will be available to help you plan the safest route possible from your home to your work place and ride it with you on your first day. Seating is limited so please RSVP Joe at joe@providencebicycle.com to reserve your place.

It will be a great time and we hope to see you there. The Staff at Providence Bicycle

STC Meeting

The next State Transportation Committee meeting will be held on March 12th @ 10am in room 203 at the State House.  During this meeting, RIDOT should be returning to the table with some proposed solutions to the issues we raised during the last meeting.  It would be great to have another contingent of cyclists attend this meeting.

Funding for Carbon Emmisions Reduction Projects

To: Brown Community
From: David Kertzer, Provost and Beppie Huidekoper, Exec. VP Finance & Administration
Re: Funding for Carbon Emmission Reduction Projects

As you may have read, the President and the Sidney E Frank Foundation have committed a total of $350,000 in support of student led projects (and some staff/faculty led projects) designed to reduce carbon emissions in the greater Providence area. The projects are intended to complement the work that Facilities Management is doing on campus to reduce Brown’s own carbon footprint. Since the commitments were announced, a group of faculty, students and staff have been working on the specifics of the program which is being called CCURB – Community Carbon Use Reduction @ Brown.

To ensure that this program is successful and can be used as a model for others, the Committee has been working on clear goals and measures, specific project requirements (e.g. each project should have a Brown faculty or staff advisor) and ways to coordinate with the various community groups that might be affected. The Committee is currently planning two information sessions that are open to all interested parties. The session will provide an overview of the
program, its intended objectives, and requirements for proposal submission. They will be held on November 28, 6:30pm – 8:00pm at Barus and Holley 168, and December 11, 4:00pm – 5:30pm at MacMillan 115.

I encourage interested students, faculty and staff to attend.