ABQ in 25

So I went to a town hall with Mayor Richard Berry at the Historic Kimo Theater last night. The goal was to drum up support for a ballot measure in October that would create a funding stream for investing in our fair city.   If passed, then the mayor, taking cues from us, would spend it on a variety of projects.

Now, to be honest, I didn't vote for Berry.   Even though I didn't know much about him, I generally don't vote for anyone with the Republican brand.  It's kind of a tarnished brand, but I like Mayor Berry.   He's seems to be a smart guy and doesn't have the same sort of ego maniacal vibe that bothered me about Marty.   And the plans he was proposing were well thought out, looked potentially doable, and would benefit Albuquerque.

The possible projects (from what I understand) are all entirely doable so the real input is in which order we choose to do them.

Follow this link to see more specifics, but here's the list:

Bus Rapid Transit

Expo New Mexico

Civic Plaza

Convention Center Facelift

Fourth Street Mall

Barelas Railyard

ABQ Cultural Trail

Regional Sports Parks

50 Mile Bike Loop

Rio Grande Enhancements

Paseo del Norte & I-25 Interchange

Unfortunately the link doesn't have the valuable graphics nor Mayor Berry's comments (I believe that is coming).

Some thoughts:   

1) Many of these projects seem to suggest that we should cater to tourists (Regional Sports Parks, ABQ Cultural Trail, 50 Mile Bike Loop, Convention Center Facelift)

2) And many of these are just quality of life improvements (Paseo del Norte/I-25, Barelas Railyards, Rio Grande Enhancements, Civic Plaza, 4th Street, Bus Rapid Transit, Expo New Mexico)

So the list boils down to two factors:  1) How do we improve life for the people who live here? and 2) How do we attract more tourists?   Arguably, some of the options I list as for tourists will be utilized by residents. But honestly, how many times have you been to the Natural History museum?   I can count the number of times I've been to the Natural History Museum on one hand, because I go to museums when I visit other cities (I go to Chicago about once a year).   Thus, I'd bet that a lot of the cultural amenities serve more tourists than residents.   Just a guess...I could be way off here.   Likewise, as a biker, I love the idea of a 50 mile loop around the city that is safe and contiguous.   But, as a biker, I don't ride that way.   The Loop seems set up for recreational users, not commuters.  

Now, I'm biased in favor of projects that will benefit my life.   So, the ideas I liked:   Bus Rapid Transit, Railyard, 4th Street, Civic Plaza, Rio Grande Enhancement, and the Bike Loop (with hopes that it would also greatly improve biking infrastructure as well overall).   The Paseo/I-25 interchange?   I know that people have hellish commutes and this particular interchange really needs a facelift, but frankly, I don't care.  If you seriously enjoy living out on the fringes of ABQ and don't mind driving everywhere, then we aren't going to see eye to eye.  Ever.  You don't like your commute?  Move closer to where you "live."  

I also am not terribly enthused by all his choices of cities that he visited.  I know that many people tout the OKC canals, but come on?   Seriously?   A canal in Oklahoma?   I'm sorry... even though we can't boast of being the home of the Flaming Lips, ABQ is way cooler than OKC.   There's no comparison.

Now, I'm from Denver, but using the 16th Street Mall as an example is a bit unsettling too.   The 16th Street Mall is basically a glorified mall with corporate chains dominating the area.   And the subsequent development took one of the rare historical gems of LoDo (Larimer Street) and turned it into an upscale shopping district. In case you don't know your literary history-Larimer Street was basically where Neal Cassady grew up.   It was the area that Jack and Neal would visit when they came through town.  Now  its a string of upscale galleries.  Yuck!  If you want to visit the most vibrant, creative part of Denver, it's not the 16th Street Mall; it's Colfax Avenue in Capital Hill.   

What other cities did he visit?  Indianapolis, Orlando, Chicago.   If I remember correctly, he didn't visit Austin, Portland, Seattle, Oakland.   And this seems to point out how different Mayor Berry is from me.  I know he'd say he's not opposed to cultural amenities and many of the projects would benefit our artistic heritage, but nothing was specifically designed for arts.   Lots of explicit emphasis on sports, but nothing explicitly for arts.

But this is just my opinion.

Share the Road

A few weeks ago a woman I know told me her partner didn't do a good job fixing her inner tube, so her ride felt unsteady. I asked her if she knew how to work on her bike herself, she admitted to not knowing -but knew it would be a good idea if she did.

"I don't want to be eight or ten miles out of town with a flat."

I agreed and told her about the biking 101 class given by the city (which I still haven't taken).

The other day she excitingly told me that she signed up for the class this Saturday (yesterday). She was proud and excited as she felt she was doing her part, as a bicyclist, by learning how to navigate the roads and by acquiring the tools to build a good relationship with others who occupy the roads-mainly the vehicles.

It was obvious she was the kind of biker that is concerned not only about her rights and responsibilities, but rights and responsibilities of the ones behind the wheel. During one of our earlier conversations, she told me about being "run off the road" (very similar to my own experience described in an earlier entry.) Like myself, she went on the sidewalk to avoid a run in with some oblivious cars. What she got instead was a run in with a pedestrian who yelled at her for being on the sidewalk.

Now, I understand that the sidewalks can be narrow and that in many cities it is actually illegal to be on the sidewalks. But, it seems here the bike rider is at times in the mercy of the traffic on either form of pavement, and too often has to apologize no matter which she chooses. She told me about the bike/car accident that occurred near Indian School that severely injured the biker. I came home to find out there was yet another accident on Tramway; this time the person was killed. The first accident was due to the driver running a red light, the second was due to some medical issue that caused the driver to lose control of his/her faculties, meander off the road and strike the biker.

It was a bad day for bikers and drivers alike. The first accident was obviously avoidable if the driver had not run the red light. The second, since it was due to some condition that rendered the driver incapable of navigating the car, was just really really bad luck for both biker and driver. I do not know the condition of the biker in the first scenario nor the driver in the second. We do know that the driver in the first scenario will hope that the biker pulls through and that the biker in the second scenario will not have the opportunity to bike on the open road.

The news was a quick flash on the local stations...too quick for us to know anything about any of the individuals in the cars/bikes that day. It was too quick for anyone to consider the larger implications of the relationships being built or destroyed between those who occupy the roads.

No doubt, those who knew each of those individuals are going through their own sort of emotional confusion and pain. For the rest of us, we just know that the "conversation" on the road between the first biker and driver has yet to be resolved. We are wondering if the driver will learn from this episode and whether the biker will feel safe enough to get back on the road again. The conversation between the second set on the road, unfortunately, will not have the opportunity to continue.

Of course, we, as a community of bikers, drivers, pedestrians, can continue the conversation for them. The conversation I speak of is experiential. Meaning, the way in which we approach the road, consider one another, honor the space of the other and recognize the other's rights. This is the give and take that happens each time we all share the roads. Much like cars have been conversing (with the help of traffic signs, lights, signals) with one another, bikes, cars and pedestrians need to continue to learn a common language.

I fear that the frequency of accidents on the road will inhibit bikers from utilizing the roads, especially those who are looking for a different way of traveling. And, as I stated in earlier blogs, this is the most important way of making it safer for everyone on the roads.

I am proud of my acquaintance who is choosing to be a proactive biker. She is interested in learning the language of biking and interacting on the road. I would like to see the same interest on the part of drivers, or, at least start with those who are responsible for teaching us how to drive. Of course, it is the bikers who may feel more pressed to take the class, as they are usually the ones who are more vulnerable on the road. But, lest we forget...

It takes two to be in a relationship.

Biking Drunk

[Note:  after several comments I realized that I didn't really date the below experience.  So I will now.  This post relates an episode that happened over 10 years ago]

It was a long night and  I was drunk.  I don't remember how I exactly got this way (other than just drinking and drinking), but I was.   I was a regular at a bar called Sonny's.   I liked to dance, and it was actually pretty common for me to put my beer down just about anywhere.   Usually the tables were taken, but people shared table space, spots on counters, etc. to deal with the simple fact that not everyone could possibly sit down or want to.

The night just sort of flipped at about one A.M, and I started throwing up.   This in itself is not that unusual with the consumption of alcohol, but it didn't make sense to me.   I'd been coming almost every week for well over a year and this night seemed about average so why was this episode particularly worse than any other.   As last call came and went, I laid my head down on a table and literally threw up again and again into a variety of empty glasses.  Having stopped drinking about an hour before, I was still very much in trouble.   And as the bar closed, I was in no shape to go home.

As people asked me if I needed a ride, I kept shrugging them off, mumbling, "I'll be okay."  I remember the owner telling one of the cocktail waitresses, "Don't worry about Don.  Let him sober up.  He's not in the way."   The band was still loading out and as the morning wore on the effects diminished, I finally got up stumbled out of the bar and onto my bike. I managed to bike the 2 miles on side streets, weaving in and out but staying on the bike convinced that I'd been drugged (something beyond the alcohol) and slept for most of the next day.

Studies show that a not insignificant amount of bike fatalities are the result of riding while drunk.  Of course, the actually fatalities overall is pretty minimal but then again one death is too many.   Another note, however, that is not mentioned is how many of those bike fatalities resulted in driver fatalities?  That's always been my contention.  If I bike and drink, then the person I am putting most at risk is myself (for the record--don't do it.  Don't bike and drink.).   Instead of stumbling out of the bar and getting behind the wheel of a 2 ton machine, a potentially very deadly weapon, I'm hopping on a machine that weighs about 1/5th of me....something that could certainly traumatize someone, but is very unlikely to kill anyone besides myself.

Ideally, I shouldn't have the impulse to go to a bar, drink to intoxication, and thus ponder my transportation options but that's beyond the scope of this piece.  We all do things we know we shouldn't be doing.

But that is for some other time....

American Triumphalism

Of course I remember that day.  When it actually happened, I was on my bike.  I was a substitute teacher at Menaul School and was riding along the North Diversion Channel Bike Trail.   At about University & I-40, it turns north and I'd take my mountain bike down this gravelly social path (it was way more fun to bounce down that than the paved path a little bit further) and then ride up University to Menaul then down Menaul to the school.

As I checked in I noticed everybody standing by a television in the office and that's when I got it.   Two planes had crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center, and a third had crashed into the Pentagon (I don't remember when I got the news about Flight #93).   I was stunned, and the networks showing at first the plane hitting the south tower, then the endless repetition of the north tower collapsing then the south tower collapsing.   It was confusing and I still can't get the image out of my head. 

By about mid-day, the principal called the whole school together and tried to soothe every one.   I know I needed soothing.   The whole thing seemed surreal.   At the time, I'd never been to New York and the image of the towers was mediated by television or movies.   I wanted to understand it.  I wanted to be able to explain it to the 7th & 8th graders as we watched the news reports in the classroom for the rest of the afternoon.  

By the end of the day, I was emotionally drained.   I was still confused, and it probably took a whole month for me to really grasp the significance.   What seemed to be shaping up in mind anyway was the ungodly amount of death and destruction that was a part of this event and it was only just beginning.

We can certainly rationalize and justify, but no amount of either is going to bring back the 3000+ that died that day, or the innocent civilians we continue to kill in Afghanistan, or the innocent Iraqis, or soldiers just doing their jobs.   The spectre of war...an almost malevolent spirit...was unleashed that day.   And I know that my more liberal friends can argue about how we shouldn't have been surprised.  That American foreign policy is more about empire than we're lead to believe.   But nothing changes the fact that a lot of people who died did nothing more than show up for work.  And nothing changes the fact that as a direct result we started bombing a country in Asia in an effort to close up terrorist training cells and capture/kill the masterminds and as a result have killed numerous people (no matter how hard we try to avoid it) that are doing nothing more than living their life.

So when I read the news, today, about us finally killing Osama Bin Laden, my confusion comes back.   Yes, I'm relieved that we finally got him, happy even.   But I'm also a little sad that as a species we still can't move beyond solving our problems violently.   And I'm also a little bit sad that in all the YouTube videos, and news reports, we're still not connecting that part of the reason we are even meddling in the affairs of that part of the world is our addiction to oil.   And as I navigate in traffic and cross busy streets and inhale exhaust fumes, I wonder if there is more that I can do.   How do we break our addiction to oil?   How do we do it responsibly?   And I can't help but think that if a lot more of us would just get out of our cars a bit more often, try biking to work, taking the bus, walking our neighborhoods, we'd discover that living peacefully is possible, beautful, and will create the world we want to live in.

I'll see you on the streets.