I’m happy to report that our blog is now New & Improved! We are restructuring our website so that it is more user-friendly and protected. Part of the change is Continue reading
Good beginning of July to you!
I’m happy to report that the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, has given the East Coast Greenway another nod today on his blog (the second in just over a month!).
This mention is in relation to the emerging US Bicycle Route System that we are partnered with the Adventure Cycling Association to establish in the years ahead. I call it Eisenhower 2.0 and look forward to working with Secretary LaHood and other transportation leaders to make great strides toward safe and accessible biking and walking all over America.
Happy 4th of July!
-Dennis
by Dennis Markatos-Soriano
Written By Paul Kizcek: Walk Leader and Organizer
| Fellow NJ2NY50 Walkers,What can I say? It was a tremendous experience for me, and I hope for you, yesterday at our first Big Walk. The weather and temperature cooperated, you were all great company to be with, and many of us accomplished our goals – whether that was 50 or 5 miles. We made a statement for walking, fitness, endurance, and pro-pedestrian issues. We may have even had a few minutes of fame on early TV newscasts that day!
More on this in the days to come. If you have any photos or words you would like to add, feel free to use the “Photos” or “Walkers Blog” features. Or, if you prefer, send me links to them or email to me at paul@nj2ny50.org. Look for new pictures appearing over the next few days from the walk. When you get a chance, please go into “My Page” on the menu of NJ2NY50 Walkers website and then on left select “Manage My Page”, then click “Profile”. You will see a list of everything you entered when you first registered. Now is the time to complete missing information on “How far did you walk…” etc. Also, you’ll note there’s a place to add an address so we can send you a personalized dog tag – which will have your name and distance you walked on it – compliments of the East Coast Greenway Alliance. Thanks for your interest and enthusiasm. A special thanks to all who helped out on event day. Please keep the good work of the East Coast Greenway in mind and help their cause by giving, joining or volunteering. Let’s try to do it again in the future. Paul |
Visit NJ2NY50 Walkers at: http://nj2ny50.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
Written by David Wilson
At the second annual Westchester Bike Summit, cyclists joined planners and public officials in early May to discuss ways to create more bike-friendly communities in Westchester.
The event, held in partnership with the town of Greenburgh, highlighted ways communities here are moving forward on many fronts and held promise for exciting developments in the near future.
The summit was convened by the Bike Walk Alliance of Westchester & Putnam, an affiliate of the East Coast Greenway. BWA President David Wilson noted progress made since the first summit in 2009. A year later, local initiatives have sprung up in Rye, Bedford, Larchmont, New Rochelle, Tarrytown, and Yonkers. Wilson called on the city of Yonkers and Westchester County to jumpstart the piece of the ECG in southern Westchester what would like the Bronx River Trailway to a trail in the Bronx.
The county and Yonkers have had a $1.2 million grant since 2002, but have yet to move forward on the project because they have yet to allocated a $260,000 match to move the project forward.
We have been lobbying for the past year to get the project moving. Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick said he was now getting involved in the issue and would try to get it moving.
State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins provided an update on her efforts on our behalf in Albany on a bill that would require motorist to pass cyclists at a safe distance. She proposed the bill after BWA member Merrill Cassell was sideswiped by a bus and killed in November. Her bill, which was passed out of the Transportation Committee, would require a three-foot buffer, similar to laws in 15 states. But Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt opposes the three-foot requirement. He wants a bill that calls for passing at a safe distance in a law similar to statutes in eight states, including Oregon, one of the nation’s most bike-friendly states. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin of Scarsdale has now proposed such a bill, and we are hoping to get a common bill in both houses. There’s still time, as the session typically ends in late June.
The summit was supported by a grant from the Westchester Community Foundation and the Westchester Cycle Club, which sponsored a reception following the session. The bike club has also announced it will dedicate a portion of the proceeds from the upcoming Golden Apple ride, on Sept. 4 – the Sunday of Labor Day weekend – to the BWA to support bike advocacy in the Lower Hudson Valley.
Press Release – For Immediate Release:
Great Recession Doesn’t Stop Trail Progress
New York, May 19, 2010 – The East Coast Greenway (ECG) just released its State of the Trail Report 2010, revealing that the 3,000-mile trail from Maine to Florida completed a banner year. Despite the worst economy since the Great Depression Continue reading
by Dennis Markatos-Soriano
I can’t tell you how sad I am to read the details unfolding from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Not only did 11 workers lose their life in the explosion days ago, but now an oil spill bigger than Delaware is killing plants and animals off the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coast.
Unlike the usual oil spill when Continue reading
by Herb Hiller
We all know about “place” – about our house and streets, our commute, about where we work, and also about where we play. Could be golf and its clubhouse, trails where we bike, routes that we run.
For me, place focuses thoughts about tourism, about when we travel at leisure from home to someplace where we want a few days or weeks.
The world of tourism belongs to marketers. They run the system that moves people around. Chiefly in charge are hoteliers. Their object is to fill rooms. Hoteliers always want more of what they call heads in beds. Airlines and rental car companies talk about butts in seats. More is always better.
It’s rare that people in tourism think about the receiving end. That’s to say, about impacts. Sometimes tourism people talk about not wanting to “ruin a good thing.” But even this ostensive regard for where tourists congregate – at a historic district or maybe an exceptional natural formation like Ichetucknee Spring – treats the place like a commodity, like something that belongs to tourism and ought to be subject to its determination about how much is too much.
Tourism talks about the need to keep shops open maybe late at night because tourists like to stay up late on vacation or, as I remember hearing more than once during years I worked in the Caribbean, about getting islanders to organize this or that festival at times of year that might keep winter vacationers an extra night or two, even though the festival might be culturally tied to a particular time of year.
It was that kind of insensitivity verging on arrogance that led me to a different formulation about tourism. That was to re-position primacy from the marketplace to what tourism people call “the destination,” which is to say, where real people lead real lives and, for one reason or another, like winter warmth or abundant wildlife, tend to attract large numbers of visitors.
My approach became, How can we (at the receiving end) use the presence of outsiders temporarily at leisure where we live to help achieve our local priorities? So, for example, locals might live in a CRA, a community redevelopment area, that helps revive downtowns. To attract investment, store owners might benefit from the added purchasing power of visitors. Maybe there’s something historical or otherwise significant that could attract visitors. Maybe one or more buildings might be converted to distinctive lodgings and restaurants. Maybe a re-enactment might be scripted and staged.
Not long after I re-focused myself from the Caribbean to Florida, I began asking these questions about where I lived, the place called Coconut Grove that was where today’s city of Miami began. The Grove lies along a section of the East Coast Greenway that I expect the Trail Council to designate in Newark early in May.
I’ll tell you more about Coconut Grove and the Greenway – about tourism, ecotourism, and about place – in my next blog.
Michael Oliva, Mid Atlantic Coordinator
Over 65 people have signed up so far! Join us for what will be a fun day and great experience along the ECG!!
“The Big Walk”, or NJ2NY50, is a one-day distance walk that will occur on Sunday, May 23, 2010, along the East Coast Greenway starting in Metropark Station, Iselin, NJ and ending at Penn Station, New York City. The objective of the event is to walk 50 miles at a moderate pace through various communities and commercial areas in our metropolitan area. Participants can choose to walk any distance up to 50 miles and set their own goals, while walking with the group. Online registration is currently open and there is no charge for participating.
This is a joint effort of individuals and pro-pedestrian organizations to build awareness of the East Coast Greenway, health and fitness, and alternative transportation options. For your convenience, join with the group at various meeting points along the trail that are in proximity to rail and bus lines. Adventure to places you probably have not seen up close. Join other walkers and advocates of pedestrian rights in building better communities. Be part of the movement.
One of our goals is also to raise money for the non profit East Coast Greenway Alliance. Donations big and small can be made here, www.firstgiving.com/ny2nj50
Visit www.NJ2NY50.org for event and registration details. Or, contact Paul Kiczek, Project Leader, 973-285-0207 info@NJ2NY50.org
by Herb Hiller
You have to love a week that makes you laugh, pump your fist, salute the work of colleagues, and marvel how the convergence of effort, eagerly sought, leaves scant time for contemplation before new ideas surge ahead.
This was also the week of the 1 percent solution – of 30 miles, or one percent of the entire Greenway almost assured of designation — that already foretells 20 times more.
How about laugh first? Here’s Trail Council member Steve Davis’s ingenious capture of opportunity to advance the trail. He writes in a letter to a bank president by name:
“I have been impressed with Prosperity Bank for many years but now your Mandarin Branch has achieved legendary customer service. On Monday, my car broke down outside the Mandarin drive-through window and the teller plus an assistant helped me push the vehicle out of the way. Inside, the staff helped me find a tow truck and I was able to get my car fixed the same day.
“Today I returned to the bank to make a deposit and Ms. Gonzales gave me a tool kit for my car. She said it looked like I didn’t have any tools so they went out and bought me a kit. This is rare indeed.
“Now I need 20 minutes of your time to tell you about the East Coast Greenway and how Prosperity Bank can be a leader in health, fitness, sustainability and economic development. What other bank has their headquarters on a 3,000 mile trail from Northern Maine to Southern Florida? Please let me know when I can meet with you in St. Augustine to provide details of this opportunity.
“Very truly yours,
“Steven Davis, ASLA
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
East Coast Greenway Alliance, Florida Trail Council”
This was also the week that Miami Green Mobility Network Chairman John Hopkins shepherded through public approval of 30 miles of Miami-Dade County trail ready for designation by the Alliance in Newark later this month. It was also the week that Trail Council member Paul Haydt made a gift to the Alliance that ensures, during this time of improving but still dicey Alliance finances, that I can attend those Newark meetings.
Two more convergences took place during successive days in Tallahassee.
First, State Sen. Anthony C. “Tony” Hill, Sr. and I met in the Capitol to plan a June tour along a roughly 600-mile section of route through North and South Carolina, Georgia, and northeast Florida that would interpret Gullah-Geechee culture while helping advance our trail there.
Second – and sure to advance trails everywhere through our state – the Florida Department of Transportation announced it will establish a Bicycle and Pedestrian Partnership Council to convene in early June to make policy recommendations to FDOT and transportation partners throughout Florida on the state’s walking, bicycling and trail programs. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Florida Field Office Director Ken Bryan led the effort that FDOT announced on the Capitol steps during Florida’s second annual Bike Summit. The occasion brought together the leadership of the Florida Bicycle Association, Bike Florida, and the East Coast Greenway Alliance.
A stellar day – a stellar week, people!
