Later in the week, here in the lovely GREEN neighborhood of choice, Brooklyn Centre, OCBC's Jim Sheehan will be on hand to help our neighborhood kids gear up for healthy living.
Stop by and watch him show folks how to change a tire and fix a bike!
Walk+Roll has gained national attention and is recognized as a visionary for car-free initiatives that are taking hold all over the world. In 2008 New York, Portland, Miami, San Francisco and Chicago each hosted events that were like Cleveland’s Walk+Roll. Many more towns and cities are planning similar events for this summer. Walk+Roll has been featured in webinars, planning conference calls and newsletters by a diverse number of health, urban planning and advocacy organizations. Additionally, the United Nations’ World Health Organization is planning an initiative to get 1,000 cities across the globe doing events like Walk+Roll on April 4, 2010.
Walk+Roll began in 2006 by opening streets to people by temporarily closing Martin Luther King Jr Blvd to cars. The first year, 10,000 people enjoyed Cleveland’s Rockefeller Park and the Cultural Gardens over two Sundays. Walk+Roll branched out in 2008 and brought their temporary street closing event to Lakewood. For 2009, three new Cleveland neighborhoods are partnering with Walk+Roll to create events that encourage people to get out of their cars and to add more bicycling and walking to their daily lives:
Saturday July 18 – Walk+Roll Old Brooklyn / Brooklyn Centre: Old Brooklyn Community Development Corp is bringing bicycling and walking to the “All Access” Home and Bicycle Tour this year. The event won’t involve a street closing, but it will include free bicycle tours, walking tours and trolley tours of one of Cleveland’s most interesting neighborhoods. The day will include free activities like a family open studio at Art House, tour the areas’s largest and oldest Community Garden, a vintage bicycle show, historic homes will be open, cemeteries with Revolutionary and Civil War veterans will be highlighted, bicycle workshops and “Greening Your Life” presentations. Cleveland Metroparks is sponsoring BrookStock, a free music festival in the neighborhood, that starts just as Walk+Roll is wrapping up, so plan a day exploring what’s outside your own front door.
Saturday July 25 – Walk+Roll Detroit Shoreway / Gordon Square: Nearly three miles of streets and paths will be part of this event which showcases one of Cleveland’s transformative neighborhoods. The route will show new residential developments and lovely historic neighborhoods, Edgewater Beach and Lake Erie, some of the best new restaurants in our area plus the sites of Gordon Square, a new arts and entertainment district that is gaining national recognition. Walk+Roll is partnering with Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization on this special event.
Sunday July 26 – Walk+Roll Slavic Village / Broadway: This is the most ambitious Walk+Roll to date! Nearly eight miles of streets and paths will be used for this route which will include two Cleveland Metroparks, an inner-city golf course, a waterfall and history center, numerous new commercial and residential projects, public art projects, Cleveland Botanical Garden’s community garden, bicycle polo, skateboard lessons, youth concerts and many historic churches. The day will be capped by an open picnic and community celebration at Washington Park sponsored by Slavic Village Development and Councilman Brancatelli.
The July dates were chosen to coincide with The Commuter Challenge, an initiative sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. NOACA’s Commuter Challenge gives you the opportunity to make your air cleaner by conserving fuel and reducing your vehicle emissions. During the week of Commuter Challenge, there will be promotions to encourage carpooling and public transit as well as bicycling and walking.
Walk+Roll is a tiny organization trying to do big things and is run on a shoestring budget by volunteers. It relies on health and wellness organizations, senior centers, youth groups, theatre organizations, schools, artists, musicians, churches, clubs and other community organizations to spread the word and to bring their talents to Walk+Roll events. If you, your business or your community group would like to showcase what you do that relates to sustainability, health, nutrition, active living, diversity, the arts or community building contact Lois Moss at 216-870-0057 or lois [at] walkroll [dot] com.
Cleveland has many residential street corridors--real boulevards--that could easily be converted to predominantly bike thoroughfares (with residential access from arterial streets). This would take very little public monies to implement. Only the approval of residents and a few strategic removable/in-case-of emergency bollards.
Forget bike lanes--let's really be the first American city to implement REAL change!
Lake Ave. on the west side and Fairmount Blvd./or Euclid Heights on the east side are excellent candidate bike corridors. I know that together, we can convert more streets to bikes not cars. READ Walk and Roll's Mission Statement above :)
Kudos to Lois Moss for all she does to promote sensible transportation in NEO!!!
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Good Bike News from Lois
Closing streets to car traffic
Cleveland has many residential street corridors--real boulevards--that could easily be converted to predominantly bike thoroughfares (with residential access from arterial streets). This would take very little public monies to implement. Only the approval of residents and a few strategic removable/in-case-of emergency bollards.
Forget bike lanes--let's really be the first American city to implement REAL change!
Lake Ave. on the west side and Fairmount Blvd./or Euclid Heights on the east side are excellent candidate bike corridors. I know that together, we can convert more streets to bikes not cars. READ Walk and Roll's Mission Statement above :)
Kudos to Lois Moss for all she does to promote sensible transportation in NEO!!!
Sign up for the Bike TOUR
Walk and Roll Cleveland will have incentive prizes for participants in the FREE bike tour of our wonderful GREEN neighborhoods:
SIGN UP TODAY!!!