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American grandma, 78, bikes around, pushes pedal power in city
By Mary Frances Dunham |
February 11, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DEAR editor,
Since Shanghai resembles New York in climate and topography, and in the variety and density of traffic, Shanghai readers may indeed be interested in how New York has come a long way in putting more of its citizens on two wheels as well as two feet.
Pro-bike advocacy over the past 30 years in New York is currently reaping its most remarkable results.
Recently Times Square, the heart of New York, has been fully closed to motor traffic.
New York cyclists and pedestrians now enjoy the completion of the "emerald necklace," a continuous greenway around the entire island of Manhattan, a dream originating with Mayor John Lindsay in the 1970s.
After a long fight Central Park is finally car free. Today cyclists can cross all the various bridges that connect Manhattan to the city's outer boroughs. An ever-expanding network of bike lanes knits together the city's neighborhoods on all sides.
Bicycles are permitted on subway trains. These benefits have resulted from the dedicated attendance by advocates at government meetings, as well as from their participation in countless street demonstrations.
News of NYC bicycle advocacy is available on the Website of Transportation Alternatives and in its journal, "Reclaim" (formerly "Street Beat").
The Website Time's Up contains lists of their pro-bike activities from weekly "critical mass" rides to bike repair classes.
The latest journal of the ITDP (Institute for Transportation Development and Policy) contains articles about sustainable transportation around the world, including in its latest issue the transformation of Times Square and the progress on bike-share programs in China.
An article in the form of an interview with me and my family might be fun for your readers: "Expat gran'ma rides a quadricycle in Shanghai..." (Soon I will be 78 years old and due to Parkinson's disease I have added training wheels to my bicycle.)
Along with my late architect husband, a specialist in tropical architecture and in city planning, I have lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Kolkota, India, and other large cities, including Kunming in 1988.
I am an ethnomusicologist by profession, but I lead a second life devoted to bicycle advocacy wherever I have happened to live.
You may be able to find on the Internet an article that I wrote about how cyclists in 1987 fought successfully to regain three major avenues that the New York City government had banned to them.
Currently I live with my daughter Katherine Dunham (an architect and urban designer working with Arup), her husband, Steve Sweeting (jazz pianist), and her two sons, Nick (age 13) and Xano (age 7).
We are into our fourth year in Shanghai. We live in a lane house off Nanjing Xi Lu near the Jing'an Temple.
We frequently travel in the city by bicycle. We even use an abandoned san-lun-che (tricycle), which we call our Lamborghini.
Since last fall I have met with Susan Evans of "Good to SH" and "Cool Bike," whose group bicycle ride last December you covered in your paper. I was away at the time, but my family and friends joined the ride and I have seen their photos as well as Susan's video reminiscent of similar New York rides.
I have with me hard copies of the latest journals of the ITDP and of Transportation Alternatives.
The latest ITDP journal includes a illustrated article on the transformation of Times Square and on cities in China that have bike-share programs.
If I know specific topics that you might like to explore, I can send for further information from both organizations.
(The author is a member of the Institute for Transportation Development and Policy and of Transportation Alternatives, New York City. She now lives in Shanghai.)
Since Shanghai resembles New York in climate and topography, and in the variety and density of traffic, Shanghai readers may indeed be interested in how New York has come a long way in putting more of its citizens on two wheels as well as two feet.
Pro-bike advocacy over the past 30 years in New York is currently reaping its most remarkable results.
Recently Times Square, the heart of New York, has been fully closed to motor traffic.
New York cyclists and pedestrians now enjoy the completion of the "emerald necklace," a continuous greenway around the entire island of Manhattan, a dream originating with Mayor John Lindsay in the 1970s.
After a long fight Central Park is finally car free. Today cyclists can cross all the various bridges that connect Manhattan to the city's outer boroughs. An ever-expanding network of bike lanes knits together the city's neighborhoods on all sides.
Bicycles are permitted on subway trains. These benefits have resulted from the dedicated attendance by advocates at government meetings, as well as from their participation in countless street demonstrations.
News of NYC bicycle advocacy is available on the Website of Transportation Alternatives and in its journal, "Reclaim" (formerly "Street Beat").
The Website Time's Up contains lists of their pro-bike activities from weekly "critical mass" rides to bike repair classes.
The latest journal of the ITDP (Institute for Transportation Development and Policy) contains articles about sustainable transportation around the world, including in its latest issue the transformation of Times Square and the progress on bike-share programs in China.
An article in the form of an interview with me and my family might be fun for your readers: "Expat gran'ma rides a quadricycle in Shanghai..." (Soon I will be 78 years old and due to Parkinson's disease I have added training wheels to my bicycle.)
Along with my late architect husband, a specialist in tropical architecture and in city planning, I have lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Kolkota, India, and other large cities, including Kunming in 1988.
I am an ethnomusicologist by profession, but I lead a second life devoted to bicycle advocacy wherever I have happened to live.
You may be able to find on the Internet an article that I wrote about how cyclists in 1987 fought successfully to regain three major avenues that the New York City government had banned to them.
Currently I live with my daughter Katherine Dunham (an architect and urban designer working with Arup), her husband, Steve Sweeting (jazz pianist), and her two sons, Nick (age 13) and Xano (age 7).
We are into our fourth year in Shanghai. We live in a lane house off Nanjing Xi Lu near the Jing'an Temple.
We frequently travel in the city by bicycle. We even use an abandoned san-lun-che (tricycle), which we call our Lamborghini.
Since last fall I have met with Susan Evans of "Good to SH" and "Cool Bike," whose group bicycle ride last December you covered in your paper. I was away at the time, but my family and friends joined the ride and I have seen their photos as well as Susan's video reminiscent of similar New York rides.
I have with me hard copies of the latest journals of the ITDP and of Transportation Alternatives.
The latest ITDP journal includes a illustrated article on the transformation of Times Square and on cities in China that have bike-share programs.
If I know specific topics that you might like to explore, I can send for further information from both organizations.
(The author is a member of the Institute for Transportation Development and Policy and of Transportation Alternatives, New York City. She now lives in Shanghai.)
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