City bike racks are starting to appear in Dot!
dotbike advocacy August 28th, 2008Finally! After what has seemed a long wait since the start of the process the city has actually installed some of the promised racks in the neighborhood. I had heard rumors that some racks were starting to appear so Debbie and I did a bit of reconaissance on our ride home last evening.
Of the 9 rack requests that had made it through all the bureaucratic steps of the process and been submitted to the contractor for installation we were able to confirm with our own eyes that at least 5 of them have been installed.
On Dorchester Ave. racks have been installed in front of the Dot2Dot cafe (1739), the Plaster Place (1730), JJ’s Irish Pub (1130) and the Banshee (934).
Here’s a picture of the one near the Banshee and look it’s being used!
A rack has also been installed in front of the Dorchester YMCA at 776 Washington.
Not sure if the one planned at COB Inspectional Services 1010 Dot. Ave. is there as we couldn’t locate the address and we didn’t check out the one slotted for the Strand Theatre in Upham’s corner.
The racks planned for 1452 Dot Ave. in Fields corner and the Ashmont Grill don’t appear to be installed as of yesterday.
It’s a start. Thanks to Nicole and the City for getting this going and I am hoping to see more of the over 30 requested racks installed over the coming weeks.
Bike parking issues have recently been in the local news and have been keeping DotBike busy but not in the way that we would wish. A couple of local business owners have been complaining and have prevented requested city post racks from being installed in Lower Mills near the Ice Cream Smith and Flat Black Coffee and jeopardized a rack on MBTA property at the Savin Hill station. Not Good! But the appearance of the new city racks in our neighborhood is all to the good.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:39 am
We’ve started seeing new racks in Allston Village as well. Yay!
August 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am
[…] DotBike reports that new bike racks (as part of the cities pledge to install hundreds of them) are starting to pop up. Have you seen any in your area? If so please send me a picture (shane at Bostonbiker.org) and let me know where you found it! Tags: bike racks, City of Boston, DotBike, newPosted in advocacy, fun | […]
August 29th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Now, if they just did that citywide…
August 29th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Is this rack the rack you mentioned at the Strand Theatre? It looked a bit rusted and old but I’ve never seen it there before though I didn’t look before either.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Adam, I don’t think that that is a new rack but perhaps one already existed there. The new racks they are installing are as far as I know only the lollipop type like that in the picture in the post.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:21 am
fyi, the “COB 1010 Dot Ave” should be City of Boston, 1010 Mass Ave. in Roxbury, just past the Dorchester boundary of the Fairmount train overpass.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
A new update from Pete
I noticed a new one outside my fave diner- Ashley’s in Bowdoin-Geneva.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Is there one to be installed outside the Fields Corner Library. Many bikes get stolen while patrons run inside to pick out books. If there are no plans for that, then who should I contact?
September 17th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Yes, there is a rack requested for the Fields Corner library. Last that I know (and I am working off a list a bit more than a month old) the status of that rack as well as those in front of other Dot library branches was “awaiting municipal approval”. DotBike is going to request an update on the status of the installations after this weekends ‘Hub on Wheels’ ride as the Boston bike coordinator and her staff are no doubt fully occupied with that event. If you go to the City of Boston Bikes page here: http://www.cityofboston.gov/bikes/ in the “Get Involved” Section on the right hand side there is a rack request link that will send an email to Nicole Freedman the Boston bike coordinator.