BFOC Best of 2011 – Part 2

Now we bring you part 2 of our “Bike Friendly Oak Cliff Best of 2011″ list. Special thanks to our judges, who were selected from throughout the region, for providing us their selections and write-ups. Congrats again to everyone who made the list!

Most Bike Friendly Neighborhood: Richardson

Photo from Bike Friendly Richardson

Who knew that our suburb to the North would be leading the pack in regards to bicycling advocacy, and infrastructure? In a relatively short period of time, Richardson has become one of the best places for an active cyclist to live. The city neighborhoods interconnect – providing great side-street routes throughout town. There is also a great start to a network of multi-purpose trails and bike lanes that provide a crucial connection between Dallas and the surrounding neighborhoods. The 11 miles of bike lanes have a dual purpose, providing access to cyclist while calming car traffic through residential streets. The city trails have been updated as well. The new Glenville Trail provides safe access to the new Huffhines Recreation Center, while the new additions to the Spring Creek Trail provide two east/west connections under Central Expressway. There is also a new trail that closes the gap between the Preston Ridge and the Cottonwood trails. Recently, Richardson has been awarded a “Safe Routes To School” grant, allowing them to allocate more funds for the installation of barrier-free ramps, sidewalks, bike routes, bike lanes and bike racks. To date, the city boasts 24 miles of multi-use trails, and that figure is rapidly changing with several more miles on the drawing board (and funded) to be completed. The ultimate build out has 40+ miles of multi-use trails serving Richardson, with regional ties to other cities trail networks. – Richard Wezensky, Bike Friendly Richardson

Best Bike Friendly Restaurant: Lily Pad Cafe

Photo by Richard Wezensky

Since Main Street GardenPark opened, it’s been an idyllic starting and ending point to almost everygroup ride from all parts of the city. That deal was sealed with the opening of the well-shaded and beloved Lily Pad Cafe—an outdoor-seating only breakfast ,lunch, and dinner spot. The main attraction? There’s many. There’s a pretty solid variety of microbrewed beers (happy hour starts at 11 a.m. during the week!) and wine/sangria by the glass. A menu designed by the Beyond the Box chef that features a surprisingly diverse menu selection given their relatively small kitchen. Plus, it’s an optimal stage for people watching; bike messengers taking breaks between deliveries, locals walking dogs, kids playing in the fountain. All that plus a staff that loves supporting the cycling community? Right on! – Holly Jefferson

Best Group Ride: Dallas Tweed Ride

Photo by Chris Curnutt

2011 Dallas Tweed Ride There were numerous and remarkable group rides in 2011 yet if cycling events were holidays the 3rd annual Dallas Tweed Ride would be Thanksgiving. This was the ride where cyclist of all stripes and colors come together, decked out in their finest tweed and vintage outfits, to celebrate life on two wheels.

The excitement was electric as we waited for everyone to show up at Dealey Plaza.  Just idling around admiring each others choice in attire was a story in itself, and a photographers dream. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say what a proud moment it was to ride through downtown Dallas as we made our way to the Turner House for refreshments where we spent time with old friends and made new ones. After games of tug-of-war (and the beer running out) we meandered to the Bishop Arts District as we waved to all the folks in their yards and doorsteps who cheered us on our journey.

It makes sense that this ride ends At Eno’s, which has always been a strong supporter of our cause. Yes, this ride was our Thanksgiving and thanks to all of the Bike Friendly Oak Cliff team who hosted it and gave us the opportunity to celebrate life on two wheels. – Chris Curnutt, Biking in Dallas

Bike Friendly Artist: ReGeared

Looking for that perfect, unique gift for the cycling fanatic in your life? Look no further than Dallas’s own, Rachel Spire who heads up the Etsy shop ReGEARED. Rachel merged her passion for art, furniture, and cycling to create amazing gifts made from reclaimed bicycle parts. You’ll find everything from gear-fused clocks to bike-chain photo frames for great prices and all handmade by Rachel herself. Most local bike shops carry her products, so that gives you two days to pick up some ReGEARED goodies before Christmas! – Jason Roberts

Best Bicycle Advocacy Group: BikeDFW

Representing nearly 2,000 cyclists in North Texas, BikeDFW has been the chief advocacy organization for our region for many years. President, Marc Mumby, has been passionate about leading the organization while championing bicycle safety, education, and events that focus on everything from the beginning cyclist, to promoting progressive bicycle policies within local government. During the Build a Better Boulevard event on Ross Avenue in Downtown Dallas, the team could be found in 100+ degree heat promoting bicycle initiatives while passerby’s had the opportunity to pedal a bike-powered smoothie maker.  Our city is lucky to have such a strong and passionate group championing our shared cause. – Jason Roberts

BFOC’s Best of 2011 List – Part 1

It’s been an exciting year for bicycling news in and around Dallas, and though we have a long way to go before we start catching up to leading-edge bicycling cities, we’re beginning to make strides in the right direction. BFOC polled bicycle advocates throughout the region to help us create our first “Best of the Year” awards list pulling together favorites from Oak Cliff and beyond. Congratulations to all who made the cut!

News of the Year: Adoption of the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan

In 2008, Dallas was labeled the “Worst city for bicycling” by Bicycling Magazine, and at the time it was easy to see why.  Cities throughout the nation were installing progressive European-influenced bicycle infrastructure at a rapid pace, and ridership levels were beginning to rocket in places like Tuscon, Minneapolis, and Austin, all while Dallas continued advocating for larger auto-only road networks. In 2010, NCTCOG released $300,000 to the city of Dallas to develop a new bike plan that would incorporate the latest alternatives in modern infrastructure. Toole Consulting was hired to help develop the plan with Seattle’s former bike coordinator, Peter Lagerwey, leading the charge. After a year of research, road analysis, and public meetings, the plan was unanimously adopted by the city council. Once completely installed, the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan will provide 255 miles of on-street bike lanes, 188 miles of on-street bike routes, and 456 miles of off-street trails.

While all of this news bodes well for the city, a last minute change to the plan’s final wording removed stipulations that would turn the effort into an official policy document. Sadly, by removing “the teeth” from the plan, it is now viewed merely as a “recommendation”.  Though a handful of projects are promised for early installation, none of the alignments outlined within the plan are required to be reviewed or implemented by city staff.

Councilperson of the year: Scott Griggs

Photo from D Magazine

2011 proved to be one of the first year’s that Dallas has seen multiple outspoken bicycle advocates on the council. Angela Hunt has been a consistent champion, and more recently, Delia Jasso and Pauline Medrano have highlighted support, but our best of the year award goes to the rookie councilman, Scott Griggs. Scott has been a bicycling advocate for many years, and the only member of the horseshoe that can regularly be seen riding to the office. Griggs beat an incumbent councilman (an extremely rare occurrence) with a ground campaign led by many neighborhood cycling advocates.  This year, Griggs headed  the “Bike to City Hall” ride and has committed himself to seeing the Dallas Bike and Complete Streets Plans move off of the page and onto the street.

Most Bike Friendly Business in Oak Cliff: Eno’s

This neighborhood pizza tavern in the Bishop Arts District has been the headquarters for many community activism efforts in Oak Cliff, and the Spillers family has been regular supporters of local bicycling initiatives since day one. From sponsoring OCBC races and holding charity goldsprints in the upstairs bar, to providing root beer floats for iBikeRosemont school rides and lining their outside walls with hanging bike racks, Eno’s has never hesitated to take part and  help us promote bicycle culture throughout the community. We’re lucky to have them, and look forward to many more years of beer, pizza, and bicycles!

Best Bicycling Infrastructure: Santa Fe Trail

Photo by Michael Hubbard

Riding from White Rock Lake to the edge of Deep Ellum became a lot easier this year after the official opening of the Santa Fe Trail in November of 2010. Everyday, cyclists and runners can be seen traversing this beautiful path that wends through historic East Dallas neighborhoods while connecting two of our city’s most popular landmarks. If you haven’t had the chance to ride this route, we highly recommend it, and if you can, donate to the “Friends of Santa Fe Trail” to keep this amazing asset maintained.

Best Tweed Ride Outfit: Chimney Sweep

Photo by Richard Wezensky

Best bike friendly photographer: Elliott Munoz

Pegasus News contributor, and bow-tie bedecked Oak Cliff cyclist Elliott Munoz edged out a small group of shutterbugs for our 2011 Best Bike Friendly Photographer Award. When Elliot isn’t riding from one event to the next throughout the city covering news and more, he can be found in his small, hip office above Bolsa restaurant editing hundreds of day-in-the-life photos that splash across the interwebs.

Best Dallas Bike Blogger/Journalist: Chris Curnutt

If you’re looking for photos from the latest local bike event, or ideas for decking out your vintage Schwinn, Chris Curnutt at Biking in Dallas has you covered. Chris Curnutt and Michael Hubbard started their blog over a year ago with an eye for highlighting the beauty of bicycle culture in Dallas. As the blog has continued to gain momentum, Chris’s reporting and photography have become the site’s highlights with beautiful images that remind us all of the romance to be found when taking the slow lane. Biking in Dallas has become our city’s answer to ecovelo.info, and we’re proud to have them as part of our region’s cycling family.

Stolen Bicycle: Black, Pashley Roadster Sovereign

This bicycle was stolen sometime this past week in the Tyler/Davis area of north Oak Cliff.  If you see this bicycle, please email jrbraddick@gmail.com.  There is a reward for it’s safe return.

Dallas Cycle Chic – Sponsor the Fashion Event

Bike Friendly Oak Cliff’s very own Dallas Cycle Chic is gearing up for a blowout event April 2012. It’s the perfect opportunity for sponsors. (We’re talking to you locally owned fashion house, realtor, international bike retailer, Texas-sized boutique brewery….)

Proceeds benefit our local bike community, including installation of some local artisan-commissioned bike racks at strategic locations around Dallas. More info on the Cycle Chic blog or just download the sponsor info.

What do all great retail streets have in common?

Little Italy, NYC

I attended a city council meeting today along with Patrick Kennedy from Walkable DFW to observe a vote taking place on a new development in West Dallas that’s been getting a lot of press recently. The development promises a new organic grocery store, apartments, shops and more. The problem is that what was being requested at the council meeting was a change to the PD (Planned Development) zoning to strip away elements that promote walkability. Arguments became heated from two sides as various neighborhood activists spoke passionately about the need for economic revitalization in the area and the lack of choices for the community. Ironically, both sides of the debate were very pro-development, and actually excited about everything being offered by the property owner. The single point of contention came down to one solitary issue: form.

At one point, the founder of the Fort Worth Avenue Development group stood up and said, “We never cared about form when the organization was started!”, another activist in favor of changing the PD spoke of the need to approve the amendments as an act of “social justice”. Patrick and I were taken aback by that line of reasoning, given that stripping away walkability mandates from the development would actually raise the need for people with low income to own a vehicle and expose them to greater poverty.

So why is this so important? Simply put, all great retail streets, whether they were built 1,000 years ago in Europe, or 150 years ago in the Wild West, are nearly identical in one respect: form. Though the street widths may vary, the buildings are all built to the sidewalk and connected forming a natural wall, primary doorways all face the street, the majority of storefronts are between 15 and 20 feet wide, the facades are filled with details, contiguous sidewalks exist (the wider the street, the wider the sidewalk), and all blocks connect to each other seamlessly maintaining sightlines that invite you to continue strolling. These features are what makes it possible to walk from SoHo to Midtown without really noticing the distance. You can find this consistently whether you’re in San Francisco, or Oslo. For instance:

Church Street, Burlington, Vermont

French Quarter, New Orleans

Staufen, Germany

Rue Mouffetard, Paris

Goldrush Town, USA

Bishop Arts District, Oak Cliff

To counter point this, most post-war development in the US became formless with buildings separated by hundreds of feet, large parking lots creating moats in front of stores, and facades oriented at varying distances from the street without any regard to adjacency. If you take the 300 foot block in Bishop Arts and compare it to a larger block in the below image, you’ll also note that far more businesses exist in the form-based area.  Another point for argument is that when adjacency is disregarded, nothing compels neighboring developments to maintain consistency and walkability. This leaves the city and street broken into a series of fragments, making walkability uncomfortable, unsafe, and left to a minority who are unable to afford regular auto-ownership.

Formless street that is hostile to pedestrians, or haven for social justice?

The reality is that the natural, walkable form is considered a “timeless way of building”, and is most advantageous because its buildings can constantly be re-used for small entrepreneurs, its pedestrian prioritization makes it safe for children, seniors, and multiple modes of transit, and the same streets make up the places that we all know and love within our own communities. Whether it’s West Village in Dallas, or King’s Street in London. They’re the places we vacation, the places we stroll and linger in, the places we want to retire to, and the places we sit outside and people watch…and sadly, many of us have forgotten why they’re worth fighting for.

Pics from Sunday’s Chic Boutique Ride

For those who missed Sunday’s Chic Boutique ride, you missed a great time. A great group of folks showed up as we rode to small independent shops and boutiques to do some Christmas shopping and enjoy a day of perfect weather.

Here’s a few pics, with even more to be found over at Biking in Dallas.

Photo by Chris Curnutt of BikinginDallas.com

Bike Lanes too costly?

Monday, Dallas City Council reviewed details for the implementation of the bike plan as reported by the Dallas Morning News. The gist of the meeting was that the bike plan was unrealistic and is too costly to implement. Somehow other cities across the country manage to build hundreds of miles of bike infrastructure a year, and maintain said infrastructure without busting City budgets.

The fact is, for under 2% of the City’s annual transportation budget over 100 miles of bike infrastructure could be built.

If you’ve been down Fort Worth Avenue lately you will find a huge opportunity missed. In November, two miles of the road were resurfaced. The bike plan calls for a bike boulevard along FWA with separated bike lanes in both directions. Unfortunately, when it came time to stripe the newly paved streets, no bike lanes were included. In more functional cities, the bike plan is reviewed before any improvements or repairs are done to a street. Bike infrastructure is then installed as part of the overall street repair. This allows for inexpensive installation of bike infrastructure as work crews are already doing work to that section of street.

Unfortunately, Dallas seems to be adept at commissioning plans but has a history of failure when it comes to realizing them. The latest challenges the City faces implementing the bike plan are a symptom of a larger problem of how our City is operated. As other cities move ahead quickly with bike lanes and other bike infrastructure, Dallas risks being left in the dust. Beyond bikes, this is an economic development problem. Without transportation options, Dallas becomes less competitive in attracting new employers and the creative class who are the engines of our modern economy.

Bike Friendly Oak Cliff challenges the City to build out 13 miles of bike lanes in 2012 – that’s 1% of the overall plan. Lets not let Dallas be left behind!

All Major US Cities beating Dallas for on-street bike infrastructure

The Dallas Observer has posted several articles recently highlighting the struggle our city has in installing a single mile worth of on street bike facilities. Meanwhile, the above graphic is from the Detroit Free Press highlighting the fact that even the “Motor City” has begun buildout of multiple miles worth of onstreet bike lanes.

Below is a list of the top 30 US cities by population…of all the cities listed, Dallas is the only one with no on-street bike lanes. Also, of the cities listed, almost half have upped the ante by applying for and receiving official “Bike Friendly Communities” status from the League of American Bicyclists, which means they have shown a high dedication to the LAB’s “5 E’s”: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning.

Another noteworthy point is that all of the US “World-Class” Cities (NYC, LA, SF, Chicago) , as well as some of the top US destinations (Boston, Denver, Austin, Portland) are on the BFC list.

1. New York (LAB Silver)
2. Los Angeles (LAB Honorable Mention)
3. Chicago (LAB BF Silver)
4. Houston
5. Philadelphia
6. Phoenix (LAB Honorable Mention)
7. San Antonio
8. San Diego
9. Dallas Only US City without on street bicycle infrastructure
10. San Jose
11. Jacksonville
12. Indianapolis
13. San Francisco (LAB Gold)
14. Austin (LAB Silver)
15. Columbus
16. Fort Worth
17. Charlotte (LAB Bronze)
18. Detroit
19. El Paso
20. Memphis (LAB Honorable Mention)
21. Baltimore (LAB Bronze)
22. Boston (LAB Silver)
23. Seattle (LAB Gold)
24. Washington (LAB Silver)
25. Nashville
26. Denver (LAB Silver)
27. Louisville
28. Milwaukee
29. Portland (LAB Platinum)
30. Las Vegas

In related news, Dallas was ranked 5th in the nation for highest rates of heart disease and obesity in the country by Prevention Magazine, with the comment “despite its big city status, only 7% of Dallas residents’ trips are taken by foot or bike, according to the Alliance for Biking and Walking.” Given our lack of bicycle infrastructure, this is understandable.

Seventh Street Bicycle Boulevard passes TIF board unanimously!

Just left the Davis Street TIF board meeting where the plans for changing Seventh Street into a bicycle boulevard were unanimously passed! Look for more details on this project as it moves forward. A bicycle boulevard or “greenway” is simply a pedestrian/bicycle prioritized street. Cars are still able to use the roadway, but the street is marked, signed, and calmed for cyclists and walkers. This will be the first greenway of its kind in Dallas. Many cities across the US have already adopted these to great success (see video above).

Dallas Observer highlights major obstacle to implementing bike plan

Dallas Bike Coordinator, Max Kalhammer, reviews the Dallas Bike Plan. A single charter amendment implemented in the late 70's could hold up the entire plan.

During the Forward Dallas plan, planners from Kimley Horn noted that a major obstacle for implementing a change in city streets was a charter amendment made in the late 70′s that required every block to be notified when changing the street. The problem with this requirement is that a large network plan (ie. Complete Streets plan, Bike plan) could be broken simply by one block not approving the change. This amendment makes the adoption of network plans ineffectual and raises the cost for buildout exponentially as each mile could take years to receive sign-off. New York City’s recent 260 mile bike infrastructure buildout, which has since resulted in a doubling of ridership and increased economics, would have been impossible given a similar amendment.

The Dallas Observer ran a piece today on the amendment and its controversial history.