Category: Grid Extras

Upcoming events, Dec. 7 through Dec. 17, including John’s book signing

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Cyclocross event on Sunday, December 4, 2011, at Montrose Beach. 

So many events coming up soon. All of these are also listed in the October to December events page. Last update was 12-09-11, adding three events.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 (two events)

(1) Alderman Solis will discuss his recent fact-finding mission to one of the most bicycle-friendly countries in the world – the Netherlands – and share with us some of his observations that could be applied to Chicago’s bikeway network.

6 to 7:30 PM
Simone’s
960 W 18th Street
Chicago, IL 60608

(2) Get the first glimpse of how the planned multi-million-dollar overhaul of Daley Bicentennial Plaza is taking shape. Read more about this project at the Chicago Sun-Times.

6 to 8 PM
Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park, Gold Room
200 N Columbus Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
Continue reading Upcoming events, Dec. 7 through Dec. 17, including John’s book signing

Win two books by liking us on Facebook

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Photo of cycling on the Lakefront Trail by Mike Travis. 

We’re trying to grow the number of people who “like” Grid Chicago on Facebook, a good place to publish our stories and engage readers. It’s an additional outlet for posting photos and timely information like events and construction updates. So we’re holding a contest where you can win two books:

It’s so easy to win: Just go to our Facebook page and click “Like” before November 26th (if you’re already a fan, then stay one). We’ll randomly pick a fan on November 26th.

Introducing the holiday gift guide

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Po Campo bags are made by Emily and Maria in Chicago. Photo by Umberto Brayj. 

Grid Chicago promotes sustainable transportation in Chicagoland and now we want to promote locally-made products and local businesses related to sustainable transportation in the 2011 Holiday gift guide.

John and I have started building a list of products and businesses, but we’d like your input on completing the list. Leave a comment below or on the gift guide page.

Introducing the Grid Chicago Network

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The Grid Chicago Network is a collection of sites with a similar focus on active and sustainable transportation. Their latest posts are listed on the Network page, organized by time and date. We’ll occasionally feature these posts.

We launched it on October 26, 2011, softly, to make sure it worked okay. It does. We included a lot of the sites already listed on our links page. Once an hour, the application seeks out new posts from all of the site’s feeds and presents them in a list on the Network page. The full list of included sites is listed at the bottom of the Network page.

Recent posts in the Network were:

To get your site, or someone else’s site in the Network, fill out the form below. Contact Steven if you would like your site removed from the Network. Continue reading Introducing the Grid Chicago Network

What is Page 2?

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The multi-modal Dan Ryan corridor features 16 lanes of automobile traffic and the Red Line train. Photo by Alton Parker. 

Page 2 is the “back page” of Grid Chicago. It contains articles that aren’t our daily featured articles. We try to post our daily feature article between 8 and 9 AM each weekday with some exceptions. Articles may appear on Page 2 at any time. Sometimes they’re supporting pieces to featured articles, and others are independent; you’ll even find some short opinion editorials in there. But they’re all worth checking out.

The Page 2 link is prominently featured in the top menu.

Recent articles include:

  • Today: Mia Birk’s full speech about combating misinformation (media backlash) about bike lanes. Read it.
  • A short review of what Mayor Emanuel said in his budget speech to City Council about a congestion premium tax on people who park downtown on weekdays. Read it.
  • Comparing three CTA transit trackers for Android devices. Read it.
  • A new train viaduct in the Englewood neighborhood will reduce Metra delays. Read it.
  • Let’s subsidize transit at the same rate we subsidize roads and see what happens. Read it.

Dottie interviews John and me for first Let’s Go Ride a Bike podcast

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What the podcast with Dottie didn’t look like. 

In September, John and I sat down with Dottie Brackett in Logan Square for 90 minutes discussing our personal history of urban biking and opinions on what’s happening now in Chicago with protected bike lanes (among other topics). Thankfully, Dottie cut that down to 27 minutes so you can listen to us converse while you walk the dog this morning.

Or listen here!