Maine Alliance for Sustainable Transportation

The Maine Alliance for Sustainable Transportation, MaST for short, will be holding a general meeting on October 25th at Peloton Labs, 795 Congress Street. Check out the poster below and this post at the Portland Green Streets website for more info and to RSVP.

Liberate Spring Street!

The Portland Society of Architects will be hosting a (members-only) event on September 20th concerning Spring Street. Check out this page for details. They summarize the situation by saying:

The city planners of the early 1970′s, fueled with Federal money, demolished the core of Portland in an attempt to build a suburban mall downtown. Now we are left with jersey barriers between High and Exchange St and a senseless highway that, except a few skateboarders, is only used by automobiles.

It’s time to fix this six block mistake.

The section of Spring Street that they are interested in liberating is the highway-like area between High Street (where the West End starts) and Middle Street (where the Old Port starts) is highlighted below:

This slightly unpleasant stretch of street was once similar to how it still is further in the West End. This highway-like section was built around the same time as Franklin Arterial and coincided with the construction of the Civic Center and Holiday Inn but also the destruction of several buildings and smaller streets. Although this stretch of road is not as offensive of Franklin Street post-urban renewal, I applaud the Portland Society of Architects for getting the conversation started on how to improve this area. Although it is   early in the process, I look forward to hearing the ideas that they come up with. Read more about this topic in this recent Daily Sun article.

Back Cove Block Party

As you can see from the post below (click to enlarge it), there will a block party on the cove next Sunday, August 8th. It is being put on by the Back Cove Neighborhood Association and the City if Portland. 

Part of the event includes closing Baxter Boulevard to automobile traffic from Vannah Avenue to Payson Park, roughly the route highlighted in the map below (PS - Google Earth recently updated the satellite images  for Portland, the images are now about 2 months old and look great!):

This will provide about a mile of car-free street for pedestrians, cyclists, and lots of other uses for a few hours. I like to think of this as a mini-Summer Streets event. Summer Streets in New York takes place a few  times a year in which Park Avenue and the connecting  streets are closed to motor vehicles from the Brooklyn  Bridge to Central Park. There are a few other cities that have similar events, and I am glad that Portland is allowing this to be tried here. Although Baxter Boulevard is usually a pretty calm street and has great pedestrian infrastructure lining it and suitable  bike lanes, allowing people  to venture into the street every now  and then can allow people to see the street in a different way and ponder the thought  that we don't have to build streets just for cars.

2010 Great Portland Bike-Swap

The annual bike swap at USM's Sullivan Gym is this Sunday, April 24th. It starts at 10am, so if you want to have a wide variety of purchasing choices, you should be sure to arrive a lot earlier than that. I attended last year, and it was an interesting event.

Some local bicycling related links:

Bike Maine

Portland Bike Commuting

Portland Green Streets

Public Bike Forum - Jan. 9, 2010

I saw this on the Press Herald today...

"The city plans to hold a forum on Saturday, Jan. 9, to get public input on developing strategies to improve bicycling in the community.

One goal, according to a release put out this morning, is to help Portland become a Bicycle Friendly Community, as designated by the League of American Bicyclists.

This fall, the release said, the city was awarded an honorable mention for its application to be considered a bike-friendly community. The league suggested a number of ways Portland could improve “bikability,” the release said, including an expansion of Bike to Work Day, increasing the number of bike lines along major arterials, improving public education efforts for safety, and incorporating bicycling issues/needs in planning and large-scale development.

The forum will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the Merrill Rehearsal Hall at City Hall. Members of the public are encouraged to pre-register at http://www.portlandmaine.gov/planning/conferenceregistrationbikes.asp."

Sign up!

Prime Time

Folks, this is the perfect time of year as far as I am concerned.

If you are a reader of this blog, and you must be since you are reading this, I'm sure you also enjoy this time of year. Fall in Maine is colder than winter in some states but I have found that it is just right for my tastes. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy summer, winter, and spring a lot. But as far as good walking weather, fall is my pick.

Maybe I am extra excited since I just walked home from work for the first time in a while and the weather was gorgeous. The summer is too hot for me to make the ~4 mile trek without help from the bus along the way and the winter is a whole different story. Anyhow, it was a very nice fall day in Maine and I even saw a few bits of foliage.

I haven't been posting a lot lately, but I also except that a lot of people haven't been huddled in front of their computers to read local blogs lately. If you haven't, I advise you to step away from your desk or couch as soon as possible and enjoy the weather before it goes away.

Also..

Tomorrow night, September 29th, there is a Maine State Rail Plan meeting at the USM Portland library from 6-8pm. See you there, perhaps.

Summer Streets

Have you heard of New York City's Summer Streets?

NYC DOT and our partners are proud to present Summer Streets. We will temporarily close Park Avenue and connecting streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park to motor vehicles and open it up to people on three consecutive Saturdays in August (August 8, 15, & 22).

I first learned about this interesting event through streetfilms.org, check out a video about the Summer Streets here. Streetfilms is part of the excellent streetsblog network (which this blog is proudly part of).

Could Portland, Maine do something like this? There are currently a couple of events that close down roads here, including the Old Port Fest, which removes cars from most of the Old Port streets, and the Sidewalk Arts Festival, which makes Congress Street a pedestrian only area from Congress Square to Monument Square.

A key aspect to both NYC's Summer Streets and the two events in Portland mentioned above is that not only are the streets car-free, there is also 'stuff to do' besides walking down the middle of the road or not having to look both ways before crossing the street.

I think that Portland could handle a Summer Streets type event several times during the year on Exchange Street, which is a great example of a truly urban street that fits in perfectly with the character of the city. Of course, emergency vehicles and delivery trucks would be let through, but the overall harm of not allowing cars down Exchange Street for every Saturday in August would be minimal and it would be a benefit for the heavy pedestrian traffic in the area. It could even help open up a few people's minds about what new developments (think the Ocean Gateway area and Bayside districts) could be instead of big parking lots and buildings zoned for single uses.

Anyone else want to help me put up some barricades at the top of Exchange Street next Saturday? :-P

First Friday July 2009

This isn't a photo blog, but I wanted to share this picture from earlier today. Today is/was "First Friday" and it was a beautiful sunny day which helped bring a lot of people downtown. I wish Portland's sidewalks always looked this alive:

Portland Greendrinks - June 2009

From the Greendrinks website:

Portland Greendrinks is part of the international Greendrinks network -- aninformal, volunteer-managed social networking group built around a common interest in the natural environment. It occurs on the second Tuesday of every month, starting around 5:30 pm. The goal of Greendrinks is pretty simple: good times shared among people working in, or interested in, environmental and sustainability issues.

This month's event is at Gorham Bike & Ski on Congress street and sounds like it will be a good time.

The event will be held Tuesday, June 9 from 5:30 - 8 PM at Gorham Bike &
Ski's NEW LOCATION next to Local 188 right here on the peninsula at 693 Congress St. Be sure to ride your bike to celebrate the beautiful weather and take full advantage of the complimentary BIKE VALET SERVICE!!!

Bayside Trail Groundbreaking

The groundbreaking for the new Bayside Trail is being held this Saturday, June 6th, at the corner of Marginal Way and Franklin Arterial. It will run from 10am-2pm and looks like quite an event. Check it out on the Portland Regional Chambers website, here. (4th article down)

Here is their description of the trail, which will be a great asset to the city:

The trail, which converts a 13.2 acre former railroad property into a walking trail with pocket parks, gardens and public gathering areas, will become a focal point for cultural activities and community programs, contribute to the economic vitality of the city, and improve the quality of life for the tens of thousands of residents, workers, and visitors to Portland each day.

In addition to providing a safe alternative transportation corridor through the redeveloping neighborhood of Bayside, this ribbon of green will provide a new gateway for Maine's largest city.

Hike the Forest City

Check out this event's page on facebook, 'Hike the Forest City.' It takes place on the 6th of June and is a 10-mile walk around some Portland Trails with one of the organization's founders and other like-minded folk. I wish I could make it but will be out of town that weekend.

From the event page:

"Hike the Forest City " on June 6th (National Trails Day) with Tom Jewell, Portland Trails Co-founder. Walk from the Stroudwater River to the Presumscot River and see Portland in a whole new way! This 10-mile walk starts at the Stroudwater Trailhead at the end of Blueberry Road, off outer Congress Street . There will be shuttles back to the starting point at the end of the walk. Please bring: plenty of water and snacks, sunglasses, bug spray, sunscreen, and any other provisions you may need for the day. There is one stop for lunch and several rest stops along the way. Register for the hike by calling us at 775-2411 or emailing info@trails.org .