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Father and daughter on their custom scraper bikes, with Skim, a volunteer.
Because of the gracious donations of Jim Freeman and 12 donors, Get Lit held its first bike light distribution event on Friday, June 8, in Lincoln Park. Ten volunteers (Calvin, Brandon, Erik, Wilbur, Skim, Adrianna, Santiago, Jim, Rebecca, and myself) distributed lights to 115 people at Diversey Avenue and Orchard Street, and Clark Street and Diversey Avenue for two hours. The recipients included food delivery guys, couples on dates (or so I guess), a father and daughter riding through the neighborhood, and countless others who didn’t know state law (and the desire to be seen) requires a front headlight.
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Calvin installs a light.
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This recent graduate of DePaul’s law school is happy to know he now rides a bike legally at night.
One of the Get Lit donors has been randomly chosen to receive the Monkeylectric spoke lights I advertised in May. Derek R., please email Grid Chicago to claim it (you should have received an email announcing you as the winner). Get Lit is a partnership with Active Transportation Alliance and we are now collecting donations to put on a second event in 2012: you can donate online at Active Transportation Alliance’s special Get Lit website, mail your donation to their office with “Get Lit” in the memo (address at the end), or hand it to me.
Do you have an idea of where the next Get Lit distribution event should be? Would your business or organization like to sponsor a Get Lit event in a certain area or at an already-scheduled event? Contact me.
Active Transportation Alliance
9 W Hubbard, Suite 402
Chicago, IL 60654
I think it would be great to have a distribution event on the south side. I personally see a lot of people biking without lights in Hyde Park.
Do you have a specific intersection in mind?
Would it be better to do a Hyde Park distribution event when school is in session, or do you think there’s enough ridership at other times?
Bicycling in Hyde Park is a mostly side-street affair–but the many one-way streets and non-through streets lead to some concentrations. A particular intersection where I see a lot of cyclists is 53rd and Woodlawn. Once the protected lanes go in on 55th, I expect a lot of traffic to migrate there, and I would suggest 55th and Woodlawn.
There are a lot of cyclists in the neighborhood who are not students. Furthermore, the University of Chicago has the interesting distinction of having more graduate students than undergrad (twice as many!), and the graduate students tend to live in the neighborhood year round. Still, planning an event for the fall would capture the greatest number.