Underperforming Asphalt: Salem

March 9, 2011

Eye-Catching Bike Racks, Pt 2

More excellent snaps of rad bike racks, courtesy of our far-flung Northwest Correspondent, M.E. A feast for the eyes, for the collective imagination of bikers looking to stable their steed, and for businesses looking for conspicuously positive sidewalk branding. Triple win!

January 17, 2011

Salem Photo-Essay: Bike Racks

Our Chief Bike Infrastructure Photography Editor, Pacific Northwest Division, AKA MRE, has turned in an eagle-eyed debut.

Below please find some quite wonderful bike racks Our Correspondent noticed whilst perambulating scenic downtown Salem, OR.

Proof that bike racks can be an enlightening, amusing part of the small-town streetscape, though some will inevitably disagree and move to convene task forces debating the issue.

Statue of Liberty

I think that every coffee shop should have steaming-coffee-cup shaped bike racks.

Some cursory internet searching turned up some other interesting examples. Courtesy of David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame), the following were temporary additions to New York City sidewalks:

Seriously: bike racks could be a great way to accentuate a business's street/sidewalk presence. And provide bike parking, and public art.

Premise

Suburban areas are automobile scale. This requires surfeits of space and asphalt, generating lower densities and further necessitating automobiles. The positive feedback (and resource consumption) loop goes on and on.

This blog is first and foremost about establishing that suburbs need to change, and deconstructing the assumption that such places cannot evolve toward more sustainable patterns. With smart retooling, suburbs can accommodate more diverse uses than their land-use lets on.

I'll explore suburban busing, biking, BARTing, walking, parking, building designing, retrofitting, greening, funding, and zoning, all with an eye toward rethinking the shape and function of the suburbs.