Monday, a friend tells me her family has downsized to one car - husband, wife, and child will now coordinate transportation to school, work, and play. Sharing basically. I told her that's sweet, and she should consider getting a rack for the car, so whomever's on bike can always meet whomever's in car for dinner, groceries, etc...
Same day I put in a call to the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District - See, a friend owns a car that's in its death throws and I mentioned that years ago when I was selling my car, I'd considered participating in the DMV dying vehicle buy back program, where the state will offer you up to $1,000 to take your car off the road - forever.
Well, as it turns out, the Voluntary Accelerated Vehicle Retirement (VAVR) program, as executed by the California Environmental Protection Agency, has a certain level of restrictions - one of which is that if your old car does pass a smog check, the county in which the car is registered determines if the car can be "VAVRed." There are many counties that participate in the VAVR program - San Mateo, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, but Santa Cruz (as part of the tri-county area of Monterey and San Benito) does not.
Can anyone explain this to me?
http://www.mbuapcd.org/
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/avrp/avrpeo.htm
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Hipster Bikes Go Mainstream
First Kafias, now this. Urban Outfitters, the ultimate purveyors of commodified irony and sincere insincerity are selling made to order bikes. Not just any kind of bike mind you. Hipster bikes. You know, the kind you (I) laughed at years ago when folks hacked out these tiny handle-bared, bare-bones, single-speeds - Just the kind of ride that's good for showing off one's skills in chopping, but that's about it.
In retrospect, I can give props to the folks I know who actually build these things for the sheer novelty and impracticality of it. Handle bars the length of a ruler? Hey, I'm no weekend warrior but even I know your handle bars should match the width of your shoulders - you just breathe better.
But this made to order crap - where the only skill you need to buy let's face it, a pre-chopped hog (to use Hells Angels slang), is an ability to match colors and a working credit card; well, it demeans the whole point of learning how to work on a bike and out sources a really cool skill to have.
Only a culture sucking corporate leech like Urban Outfitters could think to pull this off with a straight face. Just like Harley Davidson, and to a lesser degree, mall franchise Hot Topic, Urban Outfitters' business model is based on co-opting counter-culture symbols of rebellion and creativity, and mass producing it, thereby killing the original meaning, or to put it crudely, cutting its balls off. But whereas Harley Davidson had a few decades to perfect and sell the image of working class biker attitude to white collar men in the throws of a mid-life crisis, Urban Outfitters' turn around time is much faster.
Still, there are plenty of folks who'll undoubtedly say "well, at least they're getting people on bikes." Okay, sure. But isn't this just a scenester version of a weekend warrior ride? I mean, Urban Outfitters and Aristotle/Republic Bikes are essentially selling toy-like accessories. More lifestyle shit for a generation of lifestyle consumers. Whycome none of the pictures depict racks and baskets for carrying groceries? Or what about kids trailers? Oh yeah, right - cuz' Urban Outfitters doesn't cater to that demographic. The best thing I can say about these glorified hipster toys is that they're employing people within the United States to build bikes - that's good.
But to me, the over-arching danger here is simply that this will become another fad, and like the weekend warriors, who play dress up in spandex on the weekends, but see no problem with the very existence of 6 lane freeways, this week's "made to order" bike will be chucked into the garage and sold at a yard sale once the next fad hits.
http://bikes.urbanoutfitters.com/build.asp
vs.
https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html
In retrospect, I can give props to the folks I know who actually build these things for the sheer novelty and impracticality of it. Handle bars the length of a ruler? Hey, I'm no weekend warrior but even I know your handle bars should match the width of your shoulders - you just breathe better.
But this made to order crap - where the only skill you need to buy let's face it, a pre-chopped hog (to use Hells Angels slang), is an ability to match colors and a working credit card; well, it demeans the whole point of learning how to work on a bike and out sources a really cool skill to have.
Only a culture sucking corporate leech like Urban Outfitters could think to pull this off with a straight face. Just like Harley Davidson, and to a lesser degree, mall franchise Hot Topic, Urban Outfitters' business model is based on co-opting counter-culture symbols of rebellion and creativity, and mass producing it, thereby killing the original meaning, or to put it crudely, cutting its balls off. But whereas Harley Davidson had a few decades to perfect and sell the image of working class biker attitude to white collar men in the throws of a mid-life crisis, Urban Outfitters' turn around time is much faster.
Still, there are plenty of folks who'll undoubtedly say "well, at least they're getting people on bikes." Okay, sure. But isn't this just a scenester version of a weekend warrior ride? I mean, Urban Outfitters and Aristotle/Republic Bikes are essentially selling toy-like accessories. More lifestyle shit for a generation of lifestyle consumers. Whycome none of the pictures depict racks and baskets for carrying groceries? Or what about kids trailers? Oh yeah, right - cuz' Urban Outfitters doesn't cater to that demographic. The best thing I can say about these glorified hipster toys is that they're employing people within the United States to build bikes - that's good.
But to me, the over-arching danger here is simply that this will become another fad, and like the weekend warriors, who play dress up in spandex on the weekends, but see no problem with the very existence of 6 lane freeways, this week's "made to order" bike will be chucked into the garage and sold at a yard sale once the next fad hits.
http://bikes.urbanoutfitters.com/build.asp
vs.
https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Empty town, empty racks
Rode without a helmet this morning. It happened by accident - one minute I was running to get under the closing garage door, the next I realized I'd left my helmet inside. Too much of a hassle to get the keys, go around the back, and risk waking everyone up, so I got on my bike and figured today is as a good day to die as any.
On the road, the streets are empty. Schools out. Fuck yeah. It's nice and quiet. I pass a dead skunk on the road. Poor little critter. Fucking murderous cars. I pass the morning drunks out by the train trestle, getting their Coors light on. I consider joining them, ya know, cuz, alcohol and weed are cheaper than the therapy that office jobs inevitably drive us to. But they're bros and hobos and a lot tougher than me and besides, I don't drink Coors.
Monday afternoon, at the bike rack by the bus stop on the corner of Mission and Bay I noticed two mountain bikes completely stripped down. Okay, well...their wheels and seats were gone but the handle bars and brake pads were still there. Around the area were multiple bike locks still clinging to the rack - no bikes though; and one lone front wheel - It wasn't even locked to anything. It was a sad sight and I thought, "yup, schools out." I thought, "bike vandals are like baby pigeons, you know they exist, but you never see them." I thought, "The cops will cut a lock to take away a striped frame, but what happens to the locks that have no frame or anything attached?" And then, I kept riding.
On the road, the streets are empty. Schools out. Fuck yeah. It's nice and quiet. I pass a dead skunk on the road. Poor little critter. Fucking murderous cars. I pass the morning drunks out by the train trestle, getting their Coors light on. I consider joining them, ya know, cuz, alcohol and weed are cheaper than the therapy that office jobs inevitably drive us to. But they're bros and hobos and a lot tougher than me and besides, I don't drink Coors.
Monday afternoon, at the bike rack by the bus stop on the corner of Mission and Bay I noticed two mountain bikes completely stripped down. Okay, well...their wheels and seats were gone but the handle bars and brake pads were still there. Around the area were multiple bike locks still clinging to the rack - no bikes though; and one lone front wheel - It wasn't even locked to anything. It was a sad sight and I thought, "yup, schools out." I thought, "bike vandals are like baby pigeons, you know they exist, but you never see them." I thought, "The cops will cut a lock to take away a striped frame, but what happens to the locks that have no frame or anything attached?" And then, I kept riding.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
King Street Bike Boulevard Dead in the Water
The headline in the Senile today reads, "King Street Bicycle Boulevard on Hold" but the article itself doesn't back that claim up. If anything, the King Street Bicycle Boulevard that many of us fought so hard for after 2 people died on Mission Street, is dead.
Noticeably absent from yesterday's Public Works Department wish (a.k.a. Capital Improvement Projects) list presented to the city council, the King Street Bike Boulevard has been put on "indefinite hold" due to a budget deficit the size of the grand canyon...or Ryan Coonerty's gut. But budget issues only tell a part of the story - political will, priorities, and the fecklessness of our so-called "progressive" city council is the other part.
This isn't simply a defeat for bicyclists. It is a defeat for folks concerned about oil dependence, global warming, and yeah, bike safety. Public Works Department assistant director Chris Schneiter claims that accidents on King Street are already low so it's safe for bicyclists to ride but that's not the issue. The issue is accidents on Mission Street being high, and likewise the need for an infrastructure that encourages more people to ride/walk while simultaneously discouraging driving. The interests of bicyclists verses automobile drivers here are mutually exclusive.
Even at a deeper level this illustrates the fundamental flaw in approaching something like a bike boulevard as being solely an issue of transportation when in reality it involves ecology, mental health, safety, and sustainability. So the King Street Bike Boulevard is dead....and wouldn't you know it? It's Earth Day today.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12196586
Noticeably absent from yesterday's Public Works Department wish (a.k.a. Capital Improvement Projects) list presented to the city council, the King Street Bike Boulevard has been put on "indefinite hold" due to a budget deficit the size of the grand canyon...or Ryan Coonerty's gut. But budget issues only tell a part of the story - political will, priorities, and the fecklessness of our so-called "progressive" city council is the other part.
This isn't simply a defeat for bicyclists. It is a defeat for folks concerned about oil dependence, global warming, and yeah, bike safety. Public Works Department assistant director Chris Schneiter claims that accidents on King Street are already low so it's safe for bicyclists to ride but that's not the issue. The issue is accidents on Mission Street being high, and likewise the need for an infrastructure that encourages more people to ride/walk while simultaneously discouraging driving. The interests of bicyclists verses automobile drivers here are mutually exclusive.
Even at a deeper level this illustrates the fundamental flaw in approaching something like a bike boulevard as being solely an issue of transportation when in reality it involves ecology, mental health, safety, and sustainability. So the King Street Bike Boulevard is dead....and wouldn't you know it? It's Earth Day today.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12196586
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Obama, Trains, & Hobos
"Eat shit boozshwa pig!"
Railroads. James Howard Kunstler has been talking about this for years. Namely, the United States' myopic reliance on building a bloated and costly auto-infrastructure while neglecting rail lines. From an anti-capitalist perspective, both of these forms of transportation enable the exploitation and export of life we humans refer to as "resources." Today though, I'm gonna look the other way and say that Obama coming out and supporting railroads as an alternative to a 100 years of car-addiction is a step in the right direction.
Considering yesterday's idiotic tea-parties, Obama has my support...at least for this week.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53D78C20090414
Friday, April 3, 2009
Cannondale layoffs
two words: fuck globalization
Apr 3rd, 2009 | BEDFORD, Pa. -- The company that makes Cannondale bicycles is eliminating 200 jobs at a south-central Pennsylvania facility that will no longer make the bike frames...
http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/business/2009/04/03/D97B55K01_cannondale_layoffs/index.html
Apr 3rd, 2009 | BEDFORD, Pa. -- The company that makes Cannondale bicycles is eliminating 200 jobs at a south-central Pennsylvania facility that will no longer make the bike frames...
http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/business/2009/04/03/D97B55K01_cannondale_layoffs/index.html
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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