On Thursday, November 19th, Jeff Mapes will visit Long Beach. This is a fantastic opportunity to discuss how cycling is impacting our city.
Mapes is the author of Pedaling Revolution—How Cyclists are Changing American Cities. Mapes has much to say about making Long Beach streets more ‘livable.’ With humor and insight, Pedaling Revolution looks at vehicular cycling, and examines road use and various kinds of separate facilities. Mapes looks at what other cities are doing and provides us with many ideas and considerations that we might incorporate or adapt here in Long Beach.
Bicycle with flag illustration by David Drummond.
On November 19th, Jeff Mapes will meet locally at three locations, first at lunch time, then in the afternoon, and then in the early evening.
At noon, Mapes will be downtown for a brown bag lunch, and will talk with a ‘professional’ focus—How is Long Beach measuring up to its goal of becoming the best bike city in America. (Click on EVENTS at the top of the Long Beach Cyclists web page to view the calendar for location and specifics.)
At 2:30 PM, Mapes will be at CSULB (see EVENTS for specifics), and will participate in a lively discussion with an ‘academic’ focus—Social and political changes, and how cyclists are reshaping American cities.
At 6:00 PM, Mapes will be at the Long Beach Museum of Art, and will meet with the public with a ‘community’ focus—What works, what are our concerns, how might we get there.
“In a world of growing traffic congestion, expensive oil, and threats of cataclysmic climate change, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on the streets of urban cityscapes. In Pedaling Revolution, Jeff Mapes explores the growing urban bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities across the U.S.”
Jeff Mapes visited Long Beach on November 19. I learned about his planned visit from Charles Gandy, Mobility Coordinator of the City of Long Beach. BikeLongBeach.org created a PDF “join the discussion, meet the author” with specifics about the three events that would take place on the 19th. That PDF was the source for much of the Long Beach Cyclists blurb. I read Pedaling Revolution by Jeff Mapes in August of 2009. While reading it, I took six pages of notes. The book if full of many interesting observations, clever ideas, neat, hopeful energy. Later, I would like to turn some key points in my notes into an inspiring paragraph or two that might find itself on the LBC web page or somewhere else where it might encourage others to read Mapes’ book and contemplate the issues he raises. Best wishes, Michael Bos.