Dot Bike

There was a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony this past Saturday at the new Transit oriented Carruth Building in Peabody Square.  The Mayor was there, as was state representative Linda Dorcena Forry and various other high mucky mucks.

The Carruth is right near the Ashmont T station and houses some new great local business including Tavolo restaurant, Flat Black Coffee, AtHome real estate and Wainwright bank.  All great for the neighborhood and good places to frequent.

Despite the cold some of us wheeled down to check out the action.  As this picture clearly demonstrates there is an aspect sadly lacking at this location, namely bike parking.

If you ride to any of these businesses let them know that you want a good safe place to park your bicycle.  And we’ll work to keep up the pressure on the project developers. Let’s get some more parking in places that need it.

A couple of weeks ago Pete Stidman published a nice article in the Dorchester Reporter that gave a bit of a historical perspective on Boston bike groups at the turn of the last century.  We went on to highlight some of the things that DotBike has accomplished and how others have been inspired to start up other neighborhood bike groups.

You can read the article here.

However, he characterized DotBike as a “small group of dedicated bike commuters” and while it is true that there is a core group involved in much of the organizational matters we know there is more to DotBike than just these folks.  This was nicely stated in a follow up ‘Letter to the Editor’ published in last weeks Reporter written by Phil a DotBiker.

Here’s a link to his letter.

Free Beer, Free Food, BoldSprints Racing, Good Times!

This years Annual Meeting, a fun open to the public event, will be held at Coogan’s Pub.. Come out and join us Wednesday November 19th at 6:30pm.

The annual meeting will start at 6:30pm, this will be a 15 minute talk by Executive Director David Watson. Learn what MassBike has been up to, hear about our future plans, and in general stay up to date on all MassBike related activities. Once David is done the real fun starts!

The first 100 people through the door get a free beer (generously provided by Harpoon), and snacks donated by Coogan’s. After the free hooch runs out there will be reasonably priced fair at the bar.

If that wasn’t enough to bring you downtown on a Wednesday night, from 7pm to 10pm we are going to have BoldSprints!

If you have never experienced the fun and excitement of indoor roller racing, now is your chance! Picture two bicycles side by side on rollers (don’t worry they use a fork stand, you don’t need to balance) the crowd counts down 3,2,1 and they are off! The first person to pedal two simulated laps around the track wins! High drama, loads of fun, and thrilling to watch!

When: Wednesday November 19th 6:30pm to 10pm
Where: Coogan’s Pub 171 Milk Street (map)
What: MassBikes Annual Meeting
Why: Free beer from Harpoon, free snacks, Boldsprints! 

You may have heard that there is a Franklin Park Transportation and Access Study happening to make access to and biking in Franklin Park easier for all.  More on that below.

Someone decided that they didn’t want to wait for the study to finish and the money found to make the recommended changes and decided to do their own small part to make biking through the park easier.

The simple “bridge” allows a rider to cross an open culvert without stopping or dismounting, a difficult feat prior to the installation.

Debbie and I both tested the bridge and its sturdy and stable and a definite improvement.

Gotta love guerilla bike improvements.

Oh and about that official study.  The draft recommendations available for download from the Parks page of the city website as a 3 pdf document (check out the Reports and Publications section near the bottom of the page) outlines the proposed bicycle and pedestrian improvements.   The comment period goes until November 24th so if you want to give your opinions or suggestions you send them to Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates, Attn: Joseph SanClemente, P.E, 38 Chauncy Street, 9th Floor, Boston, MA, 02111  or send them to us via email using our contact form and we’ll forward them along.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Bernard Cohen, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay President Patricia A. Foley, Gillette Director of Massachusetts Government and Community Relations Brian E. Hodgett invite you to join them as they unveil the wayfinding system for the South Bay Harbor Trail.

Friday, November 7th, 2008
10:00 a.m.
Binford Street Park on Fort Point Channel
Gillette Campus
Boston, Massachusetts

For directions, please visit the Save the Harbor/Save the Bay site
Please RSVP to Save the Harbor/Save the Bay: (617) 451-2860 x8
For centuries Boston Harbor has been at the heart of our great waterfront city. Today, with miles of HarborWalk, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway the 34 islands of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, five public swimming beaches and some of the cleanest water in urban America, Boston’s Harbor and waterfront are a great place to ride a bike, to take a walk, to swim, to fish, to sail, and to enjoy! The South Bay Harbor Trail will connect Bostonians from across the city with America’s past and our city’s future on Boston Harbor

Wednesday November 5th, 7:00 p.m.

Old Dorchester Post
500 Gallivan Blvd.
Dorchester

Monthly meeting. All are welcome. For more information contact Candice Cook at BNAN at 617-542-7696 x16 or candice@bostonnatural.org or check out the BNAN site.