Over the Rhine and Blind Boys of Alabama June 9th

Update: Heard from the promoter that the show has been canceled :(

Over the Rhine will open for the Blind Boys of Alabama June 9th in Bowness.  Sweet!

Easter on Nose Hill

Lead a short Easter Liturgy for Calgary Church and some friend from Xalt on Nose Hill this morning.  Told a compressed version of Holy week in 4 stops pairing the stories with our progress on the path.

The ancient practice of going up to Jerusalem / at the trail head before the climb.
Jesus in the temple, washing of feat, last supper / at the stones near the top of nose hill.
Jesus death and Holy Saturday / bottom of valley
Waiting to recognize the Risen Jesus / The large erratic on the other side of the valley.

Took about 45 minutes.  We made it just in time to see the sun appear in the NE.

We followed it with a potluck breakfast at The House in Kensington.   Good food, good times.

Posted 8 shots to flickr.

- Peace

Tough Day at Work

Some days are better than others. Today the Director of QA sprayed me with mud. I may or may not have helped organize a group of people to spray her with a large amount of water. Oh the joys of office politics.

- Peace

Calgary to become a premier cycling city, someday.

Calgary's proposed Cycling Strategy lays out the vision.

The City has a vision to become one of the premier cycling cities in North America

Unfortunately there's not much analysis on where we are or what it will take to get there. Calgary likes to tell its self it's a world class cycling city and it is, as long as you see cycling as recreation not a way to get from A to B. The pathway system is wonderful to ride, but unless your A to B aligns with the river it's not much help.

While the Stategy doesn't directly ackowledeg this there are hints:

The Calgary Streets Bylaw 20M88 or Traffic Bylaw 26M96, for example, could specify a penalty for parking in a bicycle lane.

OK so that explains why there is always at least one car parked in the bike lane on 53rd St NW. That's not a bike lane, that a place bikes can ride, if no one parks their car there.

The Strategy calls for hiring a Dedicate a Bicycle Design Engineer, Bicycle Planner and a Bicycle Education and Promotion Coordinator. Let's face it, the people who put up signs like this



need the help. I'm guessing that's why there aren't more concrete plans in Strategy, we just don't have the expertise to do it.

The proposed Bike Share program has gotten some heat as being a frill given how far behind we are. Though the strategy does propose getting a sponsor to cover the $425 000 / year cost. If they can do that then great. Of course Montreal had to bail out it's bike share program recently so the city should tread carefully.

I'm in favor of the plan, just wish we could be more honest about how far we have to go. If you'd like to see the city move forward on becoming a premier cycling city be sure to let your Alderman know. The next vote on this is Tuesday.

- Peace

Why we need Bike Lanes not Bike Paths

Calgary's proposed Cycling Strategy has me thinking about what I'd like to see. I'd really like to see Elbow Drive turned into a North South bike lane. Not all four lanes, just take one lane for bikes and use lane reversal on the center lane to keep 2 lanes for the rush hour direction. There only three lanes of traffic on Elbow drive now. Two Lanes with rush hour and one lane going the other way. If we had designated bike lanes then cars wouldn't have to share with bikes so it's more space for cars during rush hour.

Reasons for a bike path on Elbow Drive:
- there are a almost a dozen schools that are within a block or two of Elbow Drive
- it's parallel the south c train line, so if you break down you can limp to a train station and go from there
- it goes through a number of residential neighborhoods connecting to downtown. [Ok so I'd like to include 4th Street south of 10th Ave in this too]
- The north most section of Elbow Drive is all ready a 40 KM zone, so it's not targeted as a major traffic route.

Now I'm sure someone would point out that there are bike paths just east of Elbow Drive, you can see them on Google maps, why not take those?

With Elbow Drive as a bike path directions to downtown are: take Elbow Drive north then take a left on 4th Street (just after the safeway).

The directions to downtown from Canyon Meadows to Downtown on the bike paths as they are now? It's 34 separate steps. I would like someone from the city to lead me on that path from memory with only the sparse bike route signage we have now. That path involves switching between road and sidewalk multiple times and being in tight places with pedestrians. Not Good. It's also 17% longer than the Elbow Drive route. It's much harder to go 17% faster on bike than it is in a car.

That's why we need bike lanes, not just more bike paths.

- Peace

Over the Rhine in Calgary

Image Journal brought Over the Rhine to Calgary last week. Would have missed it, if not for a last minute email from Talitha, Thanks Talitha!

The Engineered Air Theater is a wonderfully intimate setting to see OtR, a great match for their music that sneaks up on you and pulls you into the story of everyone. The concert was followed up by a discussion panel on Faith and Art that included local artists.

I'm just getting to posting pictures from the event now. It was good to make contact with folk who are interested in the questions of art and faith.

- Peace

Bike 3%, Solve Major Commuting Issues

Naheed Nenshi was in Ward 13 tonight. The SW section of the ring road was a hot issue. Mayor Nenshi was pushing for rapid transit as a necessary component to solving congesting in the SW. He pointed out that a 3% reduction in traffic on 14th Street is all it would take to get 14th Street flowing again. Small changes can have a big impact on all of us.

I'm on the record as a fan of How Mayor Nenshi ran his campaign. There was one thing that bugged me. While in favor of more people cycling, he said he wouldn't do it " cause well, look at me, I'm clearly not a cyclist." - I hope I got that right.

Anyone who knows me in person, or has seen me from a block away, knows I don't look like a cyclist. Still I did 2500 km last year, and that was down from the goal of 4500 km due to still recovering from an ankle injury, Star Craft II being released and a broken hub in Sept. (a custom part that took weeks to replace, sigh)

The "I won't ride, I don't look like a cyclist" bothered me.

That %3 stat got me thinking. 22 work days a month * 12 = 264. Let's say the Mayor get's 4 weeks vacation. So that's 20 days off. 244. 3% of 244 is 7.32. By biking 7 to 8 working days a year we could have a major impact on congestion in this city. It would be great to have a Mayor who has first hand experience with the challenges and the joys of bike commuting. It would set a great example for all of us, who don't look like cyclists.

- Peace

How Nenshi Won

A great article in the Calgary Herald on how Nenshi won.

- Peace

Calgary Mayoral Race Re-Cap

First off Dave Bronconnier announced he wasn't running again.

This left Ric McIver and his sizable ($700 000) campaign war chest as the front runner. Ric is reported to have been raising money since 2007 - doing "constant fund raising".

Barb Higgins quit her position as local CTV news anchor to run for mayor. Having been on TV almost every night for 20 plus years she has amazing name recognition.

Conventional Political wisdom says municipal politics comes down to money and name recognition, money helping you buy name recognition. This should have been a battle of two titans.

But...

Here we are with three days to go and it's a three way race, McIver, Higgins and Nenshi.

Naheed Nenshi was at the back of the pack at %4 support when Higgins entered the race. He didn't have her name recognition, and he doesn't have McIver's war chest. So what's going on? He's beat conventional wisdom by working out side of the traditional system. He's engaged with his supporters beyond just asking them for money. His web site had content and ideas on it! (what a crazy idea) He showed supporters how they could spread the word via their social networks. He asked tough questions about the Police budget. That upset the Chief of Police, though the chief couldn't say why Nenshi was wrong. That exchange got Nenshi coverage. Also it showed him asking tough questions. That is worth way more than saying you know how to ask questions.

Defying conventional wisdom by doing more with less; that's the type of thinking we need at City Hall.

Don't forget to vote on Monday!

- Peace

Megatunes is Closing

Looks like Calgary is loosing it's coolest music store. Megatunes is closing. The staff confirmed it. Nothing about it on their web page though.

Update CBC has a story on the closing.

- Peace

Thanks to the Chinook Triathalon Volunteers

No I'm not a triathlete. I did ride 50 KM on 22x today, and 22x was part of the Chinook Triathlon today. The Volunteers cheered and gave me an electrolyte drink. Even after I explained I wasn't in the race.

- Peace

Biking Calgary and Vancouver

Calgary City council is voting on Monday, June 7 to work up a comprehensive biking strategy for our city over the next year, one that:

“identifies actions The City will take in the short, medium and long term in order to make Calgary a bicycle-friendly city for all – a city where cycling is a great option for transportation and recreation purposes.”

D'Arcy Norman has great post that outlines the need for a plan in Calgary.  Having spent a week in May biking in Vancouver I can say there is hope.  The bike routes in Vancouver work,  the routes are well marked, with bike symbols on the main street signs.  I was able to follow the routes with ease.  Bike lanes on main roads are well marked, and are well separated from parking spaces for cars.  Most of the routes are on side streets, but unlike Calgary there aren't stop signs every block or two.  Cross streets have stop signs but the bike route has the flow.  They also use small traffic calming roundabouts.     When a bike route crosses a major route there are buttons for the lights are placed at the curb where a cyclist can reach them without getting off their bike.    One is not expected to go kilometers out of the we to get to a bike route.  It was wonderful to ride in a city that had planned for people to ride in it.

I rode in Vancouver back in 95 or 96 and I don't remember it being so welcoming to cyclists, so progress is possible over 15 years.   I hope our city council gets started soon.

- Peace

Eugene Peterson, Calgary May 27th

Rocky Mountain College is bringing in Eugene Peterson May 27th. They have PDF for the event. I've been reading Peterson since the mid 90's. Know a number of people who've studied under him. Will be the first time I get to hear him speak in person.

- Peace

Neighbourhood Fire

As I left work CBC had the new of a major condo fire in my neighbourhood. The good news is no one was hurt. I talked to a couple of owners, one was very shaken up as it was her first place. The other was a landlord, it would be a huge inconvenience for him, but more of an issue for his tenants. This was a new building that was only finished in the last year or so. The sign for the developer is still on the side of the building.

- Peace

Community Kitchen

Wilma and Dorothy have been kind enough to include me in their cooking group with the Community Kitchen. The Community Kitchen provides all the things you need to hold a big cook with a group of people, Wilma and Dorothy provide the leadership and grace to our group. Thanks to Wilma, Dorothy, the rest of the group and the Community Kitchen; I've been able to contribute in a significant way to the cooking of meals at our house. The Community Kitchen is a great way to save time and money. Home made frozen dinners, half the cost - twice the value.

I'll be looking to take the coordinator training through the Community Kitchen as I'd like to see if we can start an other group to spread the advantages of cooking in community. Let me know if you're interested.

- Peace

Lilac Festival 2009

Lilac Festival is an annual street fair market on 4th Street. Lot's of vendors and all sorts of interesting people come out. For a photographer it's a target rich environment. Took over 600 pictures today, will be posting the better ones to flickr over the next few days.

- Peace

Calgary Losing McNally Robinson

I love McNally Robinson for it's cafe, live music and free wifi. When I worked downtown it was a great place to get books, or meet a friend for coffee. Sadly they will close their Calgary location in Aug of 2008.

The value of the real estate over-reaches the potential of the bookselling business, In an average cost structure, the store would be viable and profitable. In downtown Calgary, not so much.

Given that they own the building, is that taxes are did they get an offer the just couldn't refuse? Either way Stephen avenue just lost it's most interesting shop.

- Peace

Cab Turning at 3300 KM

Passed 3300 KM last night, in the snow and the ice.

- Peace

Elbow Blur at 3200 KM

Hit 3200 KM on the ride home last night.

Thank You

To the very kind person who turned in my keys to Calgary transit yesterday, thank you!

Yeah I know the chance of that person reading this is 1% or less, but isn't it good to know good people are out there?

- Peace