October 22nd E-News

Random Acts of Brightness

With the days getting shorter, we thought last week was a good time to hold another one of our “Random Acts of Brightness” light distribution events. If you’re unfamiliar, each year we use grant dollars to purchase hundreds of lights, then put a call out for volunteers and assemble teams of people to ride around and distribute free lights to unsuspecting, unlit riders. The goal is to address both legality (it’s against the law to ride at night without lights) but more importantly equity issues around riding at night.

Quality bike lights aren’t always cheap, and neither are the batteries to power them. There are a lot of people in our city who can’t afford cars, and we never want anyone to have to make a decision between riding with lights, or spending those limited dollars on something else they need. Plus, it feels good to find people we can help out and seeing how appreciative they are when they meet us. Everyone we met was friendly, cool, and happy to see us.

We had enough people to form four teams that roamed downtown, St. Clair/Superior, Ohio City, Campus District, Clark/Fulton, and Detroit Shoreway neighborhoods. Collectively, we managed to give away roughly sixty light sets, making these people both safer, and less likely to get a ticket from the police. This was the last one of 2015, but keep an eye out next spring/summer for your chance to participate in 2016!

Lorain Ave Protected Bike Lane

Good news, everyone! Last Friday the Cleveland Planning Commission unanimously approved the conceptual plan for a fully protected bike lane on Lorain Ave from W.20th to W.65th. This is a big deal and a big step forward for Cleveland as it will almost certainly act as a proof of concept for the idea of protected bike lanes at large.

Many other cities (yes, even cold climate cities) have adopted protected lanes in recent years and the results have been nothing short of spectacular. Protected lanes are a major economic driver that boost retail sales, increase property values, and spurs development. Beyond that, they improve safety, signal compliance by people on bikes, and help make streets “places” again.

For years we have seen car centric development move people through a corridor. Protected bike lanes help bring people to a corridor. We’re very excited about this project, and while it will take a few years to see it fully realized, last Friday was an excellent start.

Bike to Work Day – October 30th

Live or work near downtown? We encourage you to leave your car at home and commute by bike for the last Bike to Work Day of 2015 at The Cleveland Bike Rack (2148 E. 4th St).

It’s getting colder, so people on bikes will be rewarded between 7am – 9amwith free hot coffee and bagels from Bruegger’s Bagels. Instagram or Tweet your ride on Friday using the hashtag #BTWDcle and give us a follow @Bike_CLE

Stay tuned for special winter editions of Bike to Work Day. How hardy are you?