Bailout the Bicycles

Apparently the Federal Bailout Bill has some nice little tidbits attached, such as employers being able to claim a $20/month/biker tax relief, passed down to the biking employee via fringe benefits. Now, a couple extra Jacksons in the wallet isn't going to ease much pain, it actually might not even be worth the extra work required to prove qualification, but it's definitely a pedal in the right direction.

Go to page 205:

http://senateconservatives.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/bailouttext.pdf

It goes without saying but I will say it anyway: using cycling for transportation can save you money regardless, even if you already use an thrifty means, like the subway or bus system.

Now all we need are more bike parking spots, tire pumping stations, and severe prosecution for people who park or open their car doors into bike traffic lanes.

A Bike Lane aint a Bike Lane if...

...if you can't bike in it!  Let me just say, I do commend the efforts of city planners and the cooperation of the DOT to paint green bike lanes on Broadway and other streets throughout the city. HOWEVER, why would you add another space in between the bike lane and the traffic lane with tables and benches for people to occupy? That forces people to walk through the bike lane. ARRRGHHHHHH! Why!?!? Look at this!

Why not just put the seating area next to the sidewalk where the pedestrians belong, not sandwiched between two moving lanes? Did anybody think this through? I almost took out like 8 people in a 3 block span. I ended up just using the road. For this lane: thanks, but no thanks.

CWM

I'm interested in discovering the economics of building relevant regional recycling facilities where there is a market for them, specifically in terms of, allowing a large amount of waste producers to have a venue for their own waste. A public database could be created, of waste producers, what type of waste they produce, and their location (GIS style), that could assist in locating markets for anything, including polystyrene. This is no different from old fashioned market research, but it applies to a relatively newer market and technology. My expertise right now is C&D waste so I don't know much about plastic recycling (and other MSW), but I hope to research this more.

BIfaSP

I bring up this because we were JUST talking about this tonight. Regarding reducing building construction waste, on 'Big Ideas for a Small Planet' on Sundance today there was Michelle Kaufmann, a "prefab architect" who, after building her own home prefab, started a company in the bay area doing sustainable modular prefab homes. Everything is made in the shop in pieces (everything), and brought to site to be "installed." Since it's all manufactured in one place they can also assure quality control and of course environmental standards (recycled content, insulation, etc...). I'd like to think about how this would apply to hi-rises in NYC, but I'm scared I'd wake up in the middle of the night with union rep business agents and large scary men who intend on placing me at the bottom of some river, or in a wet concrete footing somewhere.

Oh yeah, on that same episode, there was bit on Carlton Brown building green affordable housing in Harlem and it showed some Pratt students.

PS:

"The most sustainable material is the one that you don't use."
-Michelle Kaufmann

"If you're standing on the sideline, you don't have the right to complain."
-Carlton Brown

"Bla bla bla, bla bla bla bla"
-Senators McCain and Obama

Flood Proof TA Grates

We talked about this in the first class. Check out the recent prototypes of NYC's new flood proof subways grates, serving other purposes as well.

http://gothamist.com/2008/10/01/mta_installs_second_prototype_of_st.php

Now these are only elevated a mere 6", but target low elevation areas. No doubt it will help, but not if there's a massive flood.

Biking the Bridges

My first one to try was Queensboro Bridge. Not a bad ride at all. It's nice racing the Roosevelt Island cage lift. The downfall of this bridge are the entrances on either side. Although the bridge starts on 2nd Ave in Manhattan, there's a high fence wrapping back down to 1st Ave. This isn't a big issue coming back, since I live on 1st Ave and go that way anyway, but approaching the bridge after coming down 2nd Ave forces me to go an extra block (times 2) out of my way. C'mon, that's not cool. Also, the approach and exit on the Queens side is just a messy long stretch of atypical intersections, which take an effort to cross. My bridge rating = 6/10.

My favorite one thus far is the Williamsburg Bridge. This giant red caged bike platform is wide and splits into two sides on the Brooklyn half. It overlooks the subway tracks and highway below, and offers nice views coming back of midtown to the north and down town to the south.  My only small qualm is when the path splits, the south path is technically for pedestrians only. Because of this they put rumble strips at the bottom, which is very annoying for bikers. As far as I'm concerend, pedestrians are not as important as bikers. I realize I have a long way to go until I fully consider pedestrian safety as important as my convenience, but I'm not quite there yet. It's probalby because pedestrians are so freaking unaware of their surroundings even when given adequate visual or audible warning. This is a topic you can be sure to hear more of from me later on. Regardless of this small inconvenience, my Billiesburg Bridge rating = 9/10.

I have tried the Manhattan Bridge once. It could be the best option if going to or coming from west Fort Greene area, but other than that it's narrow and the entrances are tough to find.  It does offer a nice view down onto the Verizon baseball field on the Manhattan side, but other than that it's not the greatest. My bridge rating = 4/10.

I have yet to ride over the Brooklyn Bridge (although I have walked it), but I look foward to doing it when the opportunity presents itself. I almost did this when attempting to cut the 5 Boro bike tour down to 4 boros to save time, but I never even got to Queens due to the bottleneck at the entrance to the Queensboro and my overwhelming impatience. I also hear that the Verrazano Narrows Bridge offers pretty amazing views of lower Manhattan.

Green Walls

When you think of LEED's "heat island effect" for "non-roof" most people just think of the ground. But what about the walls? Just because a wall is vertical doesn't mean there isn't significant heat gain. And if a nice green roof or ground level garden can offer us other benefits like insulation, mitigating water runoff and absorbing CO2, why can't a wall?

A green wall popped up a block away from my jobsite up on 86th and 3rd, covering the PURE YOGA studio. At first I though it was just a greenwashing gimmick but as I thought about it more, I realized that, most principles applied to a roof can somehow be utilized by a wall as well. AND you can see it!

This morning I found an article in treehugger.com, which is not my favorite website, but regardless...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/11-buildings-wrapped-in-green-walls.php

The company gsky is the biggest manufacturer thus far. And once again I was disgusted to find that, even though these are fairly new in the US, Europe already has a ton of them....

http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/

Regarding the inside green wall, are there any methods in place for insect mitigation? That's the only concern I would have. I had a bunch of plants in my office and one of my succulents was attracting these little flies.

The MillionTreesNYC project is pretty extensive, welcoming the efforts of other charities as well. I spent a day out in Kissena Park in Queens with the NYCares program doing just that. Random community residents also joined in throughout the day. It was pretty powerful.