Date set for ¡Tucson Ciclovia! — April 18, 2010
At yesterday’s meeting the date was set for the Tucson Ciclovia — April 18, 2010. This is the same day as the bike swap, which obviously is good in some ways, bad in others. Greg Yares, who puts on the bike swap twice a year, attended the meeting and gave his insights into how the two events will mesh. The date was not the first choice, but various other conflicts kind of drove us to choose the 18th.
Anyway, the date is set and now we are looking for sponsors (to help pay for police officers to keep the streets closed), event coordinators (for the “nodes” which will have various outdoor exercise themes), volunteers, and people to get the word out.
Here’s a video of what the Bogota Ciclovia has accomplished. It’s a very moving piece about what can happen when a city prioritizes the health of its citizens and makes the decision to provide safe streets for them to enjoy. This is the video that caused me to visit Bogota last month and ride in their ciclovia. I’ve posted it before, but if you didn’t watch it then, you really should do so now! And please give your support to the Tucson Ciclovia.
–Erik Ryberg
December 16th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Hi Erik,
Sounds great! Do you know if there is a website for the Tucson Ciclovia? I’d be happy to help get the word out on my site.
Thanks!
December 16th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Only in Tucson,
In LA they talk about ciclovia.
In Tucson they take a few weeks?
December 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Hi Melanie, no website yet, but there should be one soon!
EBR
December 17th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Don’t worry BB, it’s a pretty safe bet the city won’t allow any *real* streets to be closed for something like this – can’t disrupt traffic ya know. I’m betting this gets done on Mountain or Third or some other existing residential bike route. Not that it invalidates the event, don’t get me wrong, this is still pretty cool – it’s just that we’re not gonna see anything like that video. Tucson city council is just fine with token gestures as long as they don’t cost anything or piss off any voters.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Jared said he would volunteer to make a website for it…hey- it’s free. haha.
December 17th, 2009 at 11:10 am
@scott just another block party.
I want something which is giong to allow shopping.
Is Jared going to include skulls?
December 17th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Well, this is a blog so let’s play.
I haven’t been to any of the ciclovia
meetings, but I know how to correctly
pronounce the word.
I will put forth (and maybe others will,
too) my suggested route for the event.
Start at UofA, west on 6th St. past the
optional swap meet to Stone, south to
Congress, then west to Silverbell past
the optional ‘A’ mountain climb (which
would be closed to cars for the event),
north on Silverbell to Christopher
Columbus park. Simple, eh?
An easy 4 mile route with nodes along the
way for events, utilizing main roads without
being too obtrusive (we want *some* visibility).
Anybody else? This event really isn’t very far
off.
December 17th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Before we get too excited . . . . There already is a route. If I were more on the ball I could tell you what it is. It’s a six mile loop that includes a lot of 4th Avenue and Treat, and has an extension that goes around the bike swap and through the 4th Avenue Tunnel. I’ll try to get a map up soon. I think it’s a good route. It takes advantage of passing a number of parks to use as “nodes” for dance, yoga, aerobics classes etc.
EBR
December 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Hmmm- It would be very cool to incorporate the swap as part of the route, seeing as how it’s bike-related shopping, and connected at the South end to the Aviation MUP – if Tucson can handle closing University, we can continue from the North end of the swap around the 4th/University corner and on through the UA campus. As long as we’re wishing, east of campus let’s route two-way car traffic all on the north (normally the westbound) side of Speedway so as to use the south side of the median for this shindig – running it as far as we can get away with.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
@BB- Assuming you are indeed referring to L.A. and not Louisiana, Bike Snob has your answer today:
“On the spectrum of bike friendliness, cities like Copenhagen and Portland lie on the “very friendly” end, while Los Angeles lies more on the “hostile” end, just next to the surface of the planet Mercury.”
December 17th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
BB there is always room for skulls!
January 7th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
My spies tell me that the route has been seriously truncated – though I don’t have exact details. Is anyone here privy?