John Greenfield – Page 34

Strange signage on the Lakefront Trail

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The Chicago Lakefront Trail at Lawrence Avenue showing possibly conflicting intersection signage. Photo by Robert Powers.

[This piece originally ran in Time Out Chicago. Photos by Hui Hwa Nam.]

Q: What’s up with those signs in Uptown where streets cross the Lakefront Trail? Are drivers supposed to stop for bicyclists or are bicyclists supposed to yield to drivers?

A: This unusual signage is at Montrose, Lawrence and Foster Avenues, where the path not only intersects these east-west streets but also meets on- and off-ramps from Lake Shore Drive (LSD). Street traffic gets stop signs while cyclists and skaters on the trail get yield signs. Continue reading Strange signage on the Lakefront Trail

The second annual Bike Fashion Panel: sharp dressed men

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Panelists James Schonzeit, Adolfo Hernandez and Rubani Shaw

Let’s Go Ride a Bike blogger Dottie Brackett recently told me she thinks Chicago’s male cyclists could put a little more effort into their appearance. “I see a lot of women on bikes who are looking really nice, but I think I’ve only ever seen one man riding a bike in a suit,” she said. “It’d be nice to see more than just jeans and a t-shirt, and if you’re going to some sort of event why not spiff it up a little?”

Last year Brackett participated in the first Bike Fashion Panel organized by the Chicago Cycling Club (CCC), an exploration of how to get around the city on two wheels without sacrificing your personal style, with a focus on women’s fashion. The panel also included Emily Taylor and Maria Bousted from PoCampo bags and Alexis Finch, who produces the Thought You Knew pin-up calendars. The participants discussed their favorite clothes, bikes, accessories, tips and tricks for pedaling with panache.

Earlier this month the fellas finally got their say. This year’s Men’s Bike Fashion panel, also presented by the cycling club takes place in a cozy upstairs room at Schubas Tavern, 3159 N Southport. The three male panelists include product designer James Schonzeit, Active Transportation Alliance staffer Adolfo Hernandez, and graphic designer Rubani Shaw. All three are known as natty dressers who spend plenty of time on bikes.

Continue reading The second annual Bike Fashion Panel: sharp dressed men

A chat with Phyllis Harmon, the grande dame of Chicago bicycling

[flickr]photo:6078852200[/flickr]Phyllis Harmon’s return to bicycling at the age of 94 – photos courtesy of Phyllis Harmon

[This piece also runs in Active Transportation Alliance’s Modeshift.]

Phyllis Harmon is the grande dame of American bicycling. She helped create and nurture a number of clubs and advocacy organizations, including the League of American Wheelmen, now called the League of American Bicyclists. During her 66 years with the league, she wore many hats, including editor of the league’s magazine. In 2005, the league identified Harmon as one of the 25 people who changed bicycling in America.

A longtime Chicagoland resident, Harmon also helped found the Evanston Bike Club and the Wheeling Wheelmen. When the Active Transportation Alliance formed in 1985 (then called the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation), Harmon and Schwinn’s Keith Kingbay, another legend in the national bike advocacy community, used their league experience to mentor the fledgling organization. They provided advice on how to structure the new organization, publish a newsletter and get the word out about bicycle laws and safety issues.

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation inducted Harmon into the CBF Hall of Fame in 2006, and in November 2010 she became the oldest living inductee of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. Now 94, Harmon still leads a very active life. Last year I had the pleasure of chatting with her over the phone on behalf of Active Trans on the eve of the organization’s 25th anniversary.

Continue reading A chat with Phyllis Harmon, the grande dame of Chicago bicycling

Mixed feelings about Chicago’s first Loop bike lane

[flickr]photo:6052421155[/flickr] [All photos courtesy of the Chicago Department of Transportation, except where noted.]

Last Tuesday evening when I first pedaled down the new Madison Street bike lane, crisp white lines on fresh, smooth asphalt, my initial emotion was exhilaration. Just like the first time I rode the Kinzie Street protected bike lane, I was experiencing something that had never been done before in Chicago, and it was a liberating sensation.

For years I’ve wished the city would stripe bike lanes within the central Loop, defined by the Chicago River, Michigan Avenue and the Congress Parkway, but until now this seemed verboten. The taboo against downtown lanes has always struck me as typical of the conservative way the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) did bike improvements under Mayor Daley. The attitude seemed to be that the Central Business District (CBD) was too congested to have bike lanes, when in reality the Loop is too congested NOT to have lanes encouraging people to bicycle instead of driving.

So I was thrilled last week when Steven forwarded a newsletter from 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly announcing that CDOT was striping lanes on Madison from Michigan to Wells. But I confess that a couple blocks into my maiden voyage down the new lane I became a little disappointed. I realized that many cyclists will not feel comfortable riding in the lane because it is marked to the left of a bus-only lane. This means cyclists will be pedaling between two lanes of moving traffic with no protection except paint on the road.

Continue reading Mixed feelings about Chicago’s first Loop bike lane

After Lolla crash CDOT says Queen’s Landing crosswalk will re-open

[flickr]photo:6054914196[/flickr]Fencing installed to keep pedestrians from crossing LSD at Queen’s Landing

[This piece also appears in Time Out Chicago.]

Gabe Klein’s words were eerily prescient. In July I asked the new Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) chief if he’d consider re-installing the signalized crosswalk that had allowed pedestrians to safely cross from Buckingham Fountain to Monroe Harbor for 17 years until Mayor Daley removed it. “I would like to put it back,” he said. “People are crossing anyway and they’re running across Lake Shore Drive.”

On August 6, during Eminem’s set at Lollapalooza, as dozens of kids ran across the drive attempting to jump the fences on the east side of the festival, two young men were struck by a car, sustaining serious-to-critical injuries, as they tried to sprint across the ten lanes of traffic east of the fountain.

Continue reading After Lolla crash CDOT says Queen’s Landing crosswalk will re-open

Talking transportation with 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett Jr.

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Alderman Burnett with John

[This piece also runs on the website Gapers Block.]

This is the first of a series of interviews I hope to conduct with all fifty Chicago aldermen about walking, biking and transit issues in their wards. As “mini mayors,” these City Council representatives have a huge influence on the kinds of projects that are built in their districts.

For example, a handful of aldermen have opted to use menu money discretionary funds to stripe additional bicycle lanes in their wards or to bankroll innovative transportation projects, like the Albany Home Zone traffic-calmed block in Logan Square. On the other hand, they can stand in the way of progress, like when former 50th Ward Alderman Berny Stone vetoed a bike bridge on the North Shore Channel Trail in West Rogers Park. Continue reading Talking transportation with 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett Jr.