NOV 7th - Ferguson Twilight Ramble

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Are you going through withdrawal from fun FREE biking events?

Although the official Trailnet ride season ended with a bang with our Ride the Rivers Century, our partners are still going strong!

The fine folks in Ferguson are hosting the Live Well Ferguson Twilight Ramble next Sunday, November 7th.

The Twilight Ramble is actually three back-t0-back rides:

3:00 - 3:30pm
1-mile ride on Suburban Avenue (families, small kids, & beginning cyclists)
4:00 - 4:30pm
5-mile ride on the Ted Jones Trail (families, bigger kids, & beginning cyclists)
5:00 - 6:30pm
15-mile ride through Ferguson ending in the dark (more advanced cyclists)

All rides are FREE. All rides begin and end at:
Ferguson's Plaza 501
501 S. Florissant Road
Downtown Ferguson, MO

The Twilight Ramble features:

• free helmets giveaway (protect your brains!)
• ride support for flats and other easy repairs
• free cookout after the last ride

Riders are encouraged to decorate their bikes and themselves with lights! Be creative. Decorate your bike with battery powered Christmas lights, duct tape a lantern to your bike, build a fire pit in your tag-along...

For more information about the Twilight Ramble, visit:
http://www.livewellferguson.com/twilightramble.shtml

The Live Well Ferguson Twilight Ramble is sponsored by Live Well Ferguson! and a whole bunch of other great partners. Live Well Ferguson! was created through a partnership between Trailnet and the City of Ferguson. This event is one of the many exciting spin-off projects that have taken on a life of their own.

We hope to see you out in Ferguson!

I Love Vinita Park

I love Vinita Park. I know the word ‘love’ gets tossed around a lot these days, and some folks think it’s not appropriate to apply the word ‘love’ to a municipality that ‘can’t’ return it, but I stand by my statement and I’ll tell you why:

With a land area of just under one square mile, some people might miss the City of Vinita Park on their Saturday morning ride down Midland Blvd. But those who don’t pay attention to that one square mile are missing a lot – barbecues firing up in the park beside City Hall, the brand new, well-lit trail connecting Midland Blvd. to Page Ave., and Trailnet’s latest offering in Vinita Park – the Earn-2-Bikes class!

A partnership between Trailnet, St. Louis BicycleWORKS, and the City of Vinita Park, Earn-2-Bikes is quickly becoming a Saturday morning staple in the parking lot across from City Hall. The course is a six-week, bike maintenance and safety class, where students learn to work on brakes, tubes and tires, as well as develop on-road biking skills and safety knowledge. Students are encouraged to bring a friend/family member and participate together (hence the name ‘Earn-2-Bikes’), with the hope that they then will have someone to ride with when the course is complete. The class has a warm and encouraging atmosphere and seeks to develop students wherever they are in their bike experience.

Next time you’re riding down Midland or driving towards The Loop, think about stopping by and saying “Hi” to the next generation of bike lovers!

-Charles Johnson, Earn-2-Bikes Instructor

For more information on the Earn-2-Bikes program, e-mail Charles@trailnet.org. To learn about Trailnet’s continuing partnership with the City of Vinita Park, contact Jennifer Allen at Jennifer@trailnet.org or 314-436-1324 x 121.

Trailnet's Active Living Awards is TOMORROW!

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Every Fall Trailnet's Active Living Awards honor leaders in the movement to create more healthy, active, and vibrant communities. The awards ceremony is a celebration of the champions and innovators who are promoting a culture of active living in everything they do.

As with all great celebrations, the Active Living Awards is an incredibly fun event brimming with wonderful people, food, and drinks. We have been promoting the event on Trailnet's main website for months, but wanted to post a quick reminder here on the blog that the 2010 Active Living Awards is taking place tomorrow night:

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

We hope you can join us for this celebration. To learn more about the event, the 2010 honorees, and to purchase tickets, visit:
http://trailnet.org/m_awards.php

"Livability" in Rural America

Photo Caption: Cities and towns of all sizes should be "livable"

The term livability has become a national buzz word over the course of the last two years, in large part, due to efforts at the federal level -- a series of federal agencies have been working to coordinate spending to help create what they are calling more livable communities. Although there is no single definition of the term livable, the common thread is that livable communities provide a high quality of life for all residents and include spaces that are designed for people (for example, a historic main street), not just cars and quick commerce (for example, a big box strip mall).

As the livable communities movement has grown, a common misconception has developed that "livability" is solely a concept for big cities and urban areas. In fact, livability is a universal concept that can and should be adjusted to capitalize on the unique assets of all communities, whether they are urban, suburban, or rural. To dispel the idea that livability is an urban concept, Transportation for America has been publishing a series of case studies that showcase livability in rural and small town America. We encourage you to peruse these case studies and share them with your community leadership, especially if you happen to live in a small town or a rural area.

Check out the Transportation for America case studies here:
http://t4america.org/blog/2010/08/26/livability-in-rural-and-small-town-america/

Happy Labor Day from Trailnet!

Gone Fishing - Trailnet-style

Happy Labor Day to you and yours! We hope your holiday weekend is filled with all the things you love.

Link Between Driving and Obesity

Image Credit: GOOD.is

The great people at GOOD recently posted a great graphic full of good information. Indeed, they did.

The graphic allows you to see the linkage between the way people travel and the obesity rates, by state. In short, the states that appear lighter in color have a greater percentage of people that travel via foot, bike, and public transit. The states that are dark blue rely heavily on cars for transportation.

Visit GOOD's site to zoom in and explore!

Arch Ground Design Concepts Unveiled!

Photo Caption: The Framing a Modern Masterpiece competition to re-design the St. Louis Arch and surrounding area just unveiled the five design concepts. The above design comes from the Behnisch Architekten team.

For the last series of months, five international design teams have been developing their visions for enhancing the St. Louis Arch grounds and adjacent area, including both sides of the Mississippi River. The five design concepts were unveiled to the public earlier this week. You can view them on the Framing a Modern Masterpiece website or in person at the Arch Visitors' Center located below the Arch.

The public comment period is only open through this Monday, August 23rd. Since this project will invariably transform St. Louis, we strongly encourage you to take the time to view the proposed designs and share your feedback with the competition coordinators. As you look through the designs, we encourage you to look for connectivity, walkable and bikeable environments, human-scale design (the creation of spaces and places that feel inviting, safe, and enjoyable), and designs that strengthen St. Louis's relationship with our natural and cultural heritage.

A local coalition called City to River has been strongly advocating that the designs reconnect the downtown to the Arch by removing the section of I-70 that currently divides the two. Once the New Mississippi River Bridge is built to the north of the existing MLK Bridge, that section of I-70 will be redundant, serving more as an obstacle than an asset to St. Louis. City to River has a series of renderings on their website that illustrate their vision.

The following are additional images submitted by the five design teams. To see the full designs, visit the Framing a Modern Masterpiece website. To provide your comments, visit the National Park Service comment form for the competition.

Photo Caption: The Weiss/Manfredi team envisions converting dead space beneath the highways as space for active recreation.

Photo Caption: Re-design of the actual Arch grounds presented by the Van Valkenburgh team

Livable St. Louis Network to take bus of regional leaders to Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2010

Flickr Photo Credit: tandemracer

Livable St. Louis Network (LSLN) partners are bringing 30 regional leaders to attend the 2010 Pro Walk / Pro Bike Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. LSLN has provided scholarships and Great Rivers Greenway has provided free travel on a charter bus to create the opportunity for our leaders to move our St. Louis livability agenda forward.

We know that Pro Walk/Pro Bike can catalyze change for our region because that's what happened in 2008--Trailnet brought regional leaders to the conference and it lead to the passage of the City of Ferguson and City of St. Louis Complete Streets policies. Read the full story in "Pro Walk/Pro Bike Attendee Spotlight: St. Louis is sending a bus!"

Want to ride with us? There's still room on the bus! Contact Cindy Mense at cindy@trailnet.org or 314.436.1324 x113 for more info.

Want to know more about the Livable St. Louis Network? The Livable St. Louis Network works to catalyze partnerships to enhance the capacity to adopt model transportation and land use policies to remove barriers and open avenues for creating livable communities. It accomplishes this by leveraging resources to provide professional development, technical assistance, and avenues for new and expanded partnerships.

St. Louis University School of Public Health funds LSLN; Trailnet is the lead partner.

For more information about LSLN, contact Cindy Mense. Her contact information is above.

Tour and Taste of Ferguson

Caption: The Old Ferguson West Community Garden is just one of the gorgeous gardens on the Tour

Trailnet's community partners in the City of Ferguson are hosting an upcoming event that combines two things we love: riding bikes and local/organic produce. The City of Ferguson is rapidly becoming an innovator in the movement to create healthy, active & vibrant communities. Their recent successes include Ferguson Sunday Parkways events, their inaugural Live Well 5K that attracted nearly 900 people, adoption of a Complete Streets policy, urban farming and community garden ordinances, and more.

See what all the excitement is about this Sunday:

Tour and Taste of Ferguson
Sunday, August 22, 1 - 4pm

The Ferguson Cycling Club in partnership with EarthDance is hosting their inaugural Tour and Taste of Ferguson this coming Sunday afternoon, August 22, 1-4pm. Join the group for an easy bike ride around lovely Ferguson. The tour will visit community gardens, resident gardens, and finish at the historic Mueller Organic Farm (the oldest organic farm in the region!). You'll have the opportunity to "taste" local produce at each stop along the way.

The ride will be a total of 10 miles and move at an easy pace along quiet neighborhood streets. The ride will begin at the Plaza at 501, located at 501 S. Florissant Road in Ferguson.

If you plan to attend or have questions, please send an email to Gerry Noll:
grnoll@sbcglobal.net

For additional info on the ride, including a helmet-cam video of part of the route, visit the following websites:

Ferguson Cycling Club
Helmet-Cam Video made by the one and only Gerry Noll
NOCO, The online magazine of North County

F as in Fat - 2010

Caption: THE annual report on obesity in America. The 2010 report focuses considerable attention on the link between city design and health.

The announcement from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation goes like this:

"The country’s obesity epidemic continues to worsen, as detailed in F as in Fat 2010: How the Obesity Crisis Threatens America’s Future. Adult obesity rates climbed in 28 states during the past year and now exceed 25 percent in more than two-thirds of the states, with rates higher among Blacks and Latinos.

The report, by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), discusses how the nation’s response has yet to fully match the magnitude of the problem. At the same time, it highlights public recognition of the issue and acute concern over the prevalence of childhood obesity.

A survey commissioned by RWJF and TFAH found that eight in 10 voters believe childhood obesity is a serious problem—a viewpoint that transcends all demographic boundaries. More than half of voters say that a comprehensive program to combat childhood obesity is worth the financial investment, even if the program would sharply increase government spending.

The report suggests ways to ensure that the disease-prevention measures in the new health reform law are implemented most strategically to help prevent and reduce obesity. Other recommendations include expanding the commitment to community-based prevention programs and sustaining investments in research and evaluation."

The following announcement comes from the fine folks at Re-Connecting America:

"The report contains the latest data on adult and child obesity rates in America, as well as policy recommendations for local, regional, state, and federal officials to help combat the obesity epidemic.

While the majority of recommendations focus on nutrition and physical activity, the report devotes significant attention to the link between the built environment and health, and calls for programs and policies that increase walking, bicycling, and the use of public transportation. Under "Increasing Access to, Availability and Affordability of Physical Activity," (p. 83), it lists "Support mixed-use development and locate businesses, recreation centers, parks, libraries and other facilities near public transportation" as a strategy. There are also recommendations specific to the next transportation reauthorization bill on page 96, including "mass transit and pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure should be enhanced because they help reduce harmful vehicle emissions and promote physical activity" and "all major transit projects should assess their impact on health." The report also contains a good summary of current federal legislation that can potentially promote active transportation and expand funding for mass transit and transit-oriented development."

Review: Clips of Faith Beer and Film Tour

by Caroline Hillard

What do beer, movies, and bicycling have in common (aside from being my favorite pastimes)? All three were featured at last Friday’s Clips of Faith Beer and Film Tour in Soulard, sponsored by New Belgium Breweryout of Fort Collins, CO. I was one of several volunteers pouring beer there for Trailnet.

New Belgium characterized the event as a celebration of “the creative expressions of both brewing and film.” The idea here is that both filmmaking and beer making are artistic endeavors, so why not enjoy handmade films while sipping handmade beer? The link becomes more explicit when you realize that many of the filmettes featured on the tour unabashedly promote NB beers. Take, for example, a noir vignette in which the enigmatic protagonist reaches for a Fat Tire or the clip about two anthropomorphized bottles of Lips of Faith that go to New York City.

In any case, the beers did have an inspired quality to them. Although the line-up included NB’s well-known varieties such as Fat Tire and Skinny Dip, there was also a selection of truly unique (some only available on the tour) craft beers destined for a more discriminating consumer. These “esoteric” brews included the super-sour La Folie, the likes of which I had never encountered before. The beer-tasters could record their reactions to the samples in a “beer passport,” a booklet with basic info about each beer and an “attribute flower” for charting its characteristics. A few more ambitious tasters applied their skills to the Lips of Faith contest. The contenders had to guess the names and percentages of three beers mixed together in a pitcher. The very excited winner’s name (there was screaming) was then entered in drawing for the chance to win a trip to CO.

What does this have to do with cycling? Although perhaps not obvious to the attendees, an important objective of this beer-and-film fest was to raise money for bicycling advocacy. All proceeds from each stop on the Clips of Faith tour benefit the principal bicycle-based nonprofit group of the host city, which in St. Louis is Trailnet. And since it was staffed mainly by volunteers, that means all profits from the sale of beer, t-shirts, and donations have gone directly to Trailnet. Got that? Drink New Belgium beer, and foster more livable, bike-friendly cities! What other major beer producer do you know that hosts fundraisers for cycling organizations? As a company, New Belgium not only makes great beer, but they do so with an eye towards sustainability and environmentalism that seems to be unmatched in the beer-drinking world. Hats off!

So this was a night of beer-drinking with a purpose. From my vantage point behind the tap, the crowd appeared to be a relaxed group of folks: lots of couples, some cyclists, some dog-walkers, a variety of people of different ages and stripes. The atmosphere in the park adjacent to the Soulard market was lovely. This was not a huge sprawling affair, but rather was somewhat intimate, with around 350 attendees. A perfectly delightful Friday evening.

This event was my first experience as a volunteer for Trailnet, and I was impressed with the hard work and enthusiasm of the other volunteers and staff. I’ve been cycling in St. Louis since I moved here eight years ago, and, having never owned a car, I rely on the work of Trailnet and other cycling advocates to promote the infrastructure and local policies needed to make the streets here safer and more pleasant for my daily commute. Participating in Clips of Faith was a modest way to give a little bit back, while enjoying a fun evening in the process.

Caroline Hillard

Breakfast For Bikers

Brake for coffee with fellow cyclists, Trailnet, and the Downtown Partnership for St. Louis on your way to work! Enjoy coffee provided by The London Tea Room and bagels provided by St. Louis Bread Company. Join us downtown the last Wednesday of every month! For more information, e-mail emily@trailnet.org.

Time: 6:30am-9:30am
Location: The Old Post Office Plaza, 9th and Locust
Date: Wednesday, June 30th


Photos from Trailnet's Bike to Work Day

Why should I bike to work?
Commuting by bike is a great way to get exercise while making St. Louis a better place. Biking to work is not just for the Lance Armstrong look-alikes or cuffed jean hipsters--it is for everyone! Here are some quick facts on how biking to work cannot only change your life and your workplace, but the environment, as well!

Biking to Work Helps Your Health:

• Employees who exercise 30 minutes a day have lower health care costs than those who remain sedentary*
  
• 80% of new bicyclists improve their heart and lungs in only eight weeks
  
• Cycling leads to improved mental health and productivity in the workplace
  
• Cyclists on average live two years longer than non-cyclists and take 15% fewer days off work due to illness
  
• Those who bike to work are more fit, leaner, less likely to be obese, and have better triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and insulin levels than those who do not actively commute to work, according to a study of nearly 2,400 adults.

Biking to Work Helps Your Business:

• In a 2007 survey of young professionals, 92% said they prefer to work for a company that is environmentally friendly.**
  
• It costs three to four times more to enroll a sedentary adult in a structured exercise program than to teach them how to integrate moderate-intensity physical activity into their life (such as bicycling for transportation.)

Biking to Work Helps the Environment:

• Motor vehicles produce $56 billion in health and other non-climate-related damages, about 1.2 to 1.7 cents for every mile traveled, according to a 2005
  
• A short, four-mile round trip by bicycle keeps about fifteen pounds of pollutants out of the air
  
• The more cyclists on the road, the more aware drivers are leading to less cycling accidents and fatalities

*Active Living Research Active Transportation Research Brief http://www.activelivingresearch.org
**Statistics from the Bikes Belong Coalition http://www.bikesbelong.org/statistics

Mayor Slay Signs Complete Streets Bill

Photo Caption: President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed, Alderman Shane Cohn, and Trailnet Executive Director Ann Mack look on as Mayor Slay signs the Complete Streets bill into law.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay hosted a press conference and signing ceremony this morning to sign the St. Louis Complete Streets bill into law. It's official.

Trailnet has been working closely with City staff and elected officials for nearly two years to move the bill forward. The work is one part of our Healthy, Active & Vibrant Communities Initiative made possible through funding from Missouri Foundation for Health. As the national movement to reconnect urban planning, public health, and public policy grows, the St. Louis Complete Streets bill stands as a great example of a broad partnership securing an important win that will benefit health, livability, the environment, and create a foundation for a strong local economy. Our staff worked hard to build consensus around this bill, and we are very proud that it passed with near unanimous support from the Board of Aldermen (26 yea’s and 1 abstention), as well as, strong support from the Mayor’s office, Board President Lewis Reed’s office, and key city staff in the Board of Public Service and the Streets Department.

Congratulations to all involved on this important milestone for the City of St. Louis!

Who is next? Do you think your community is ready to consider a Complete Streets policy? Trailnet staff are available to provide communities with information, resources, and technical assistance to move Complete Streets and other important infrastructure policies forward. If you are interested, please contact Trailnet's Active Living Program Manager, Phil Valko, at phil@trailnet.org

Improving the Safety of Crosswalks - Daylighting

Now that the Complete Streets Bill has passed in St. Louis, we want to continue the conversation by focusing on some specific ways that we can improve the walkability, bikeability, and overall safety of streets throughout the region. We'll be posting a series of videos and photos highlighting specific strategies that communities should consider. This first video from streetfilms.org showcases a technique called "daylighting" that improves visibility at intersections and crosswalks.

St. Louis Complete Streets Bill PASSES!!!

Photo Caption: The St. Louis Board Chamber this morning

We are thrilled to announce that the St. Louis Board of Alderman just voted to pass the Complete Streets bill (Board Bill 7)!

Congratulations to the bill's sponsor Shane Cohn, all of the co-sponsors, and all the city staff who have worked hard to draft and promote this important bill! The Mayor will likely hold a signing ceremony in the coming week(s) to formalize the bill into St. Louis law.

We do not have the final vote tally; however, we believe the bill passed with unanimous support.

This is phenomenal news for St. Louis. In the next few weeks and months, we will continue to work with the City to develop a plan to implement Complete Streets throughout the City. As you might expect, implementation will happen gradually as the City undertakes street projects. We will keep you in the loop every step of the way.

Stay tuned...