Bike to Work Day 2011

Smart Commute sponsored Hamilton's Bike to Work Day last Monday in Gore Park.

Participants were given free breakfast, a tee-shirt and entered into a draw with a chance to win all kinds of great bicycle related things.

Even though I didn't bike to the event (nor was I on my way to work...) I was pressured into entering the draw.  Well I ended up winning the grand prize of a $100 gift certificate to Downtown Bike Hounds... here's to new accessories for the new bike.

Looks like all this volunteering is beginning to pay off..

Bicycles mean exploration.

I've recently made one of the largest purchases of my life.

While living in this city I've taken the odd road trip up north and have gone on a hand-full of hikes leading me to where the city meets the country-side.  Both have given me a brief fix of nature and silence - two essential components which many of us lack in our urban lives.

Though after living downtown for nearly 8 months I've recently decided that a mere hike to the edge of the city isn't enough.  Living in the most urban setting I've ever lived in has left my 'exploration quota' neglected and time spent away from the city minimal.  Hiking to areas of the city where traffic can still be heard has become barely sufficient - far from refreshing or rejuvenating.

So I bought myself a bicycle.

A touring bicycle.

A friend got me a sweet deal on it so I jumped on the timely opportunity.  Over the past week I've taken it out for a few rides, while yesterday I took it on its first day trip out of the city.  In a few weeks time this new and endless ticket out of town will take me to Lake Erie.  The plan is to prep for a larger bike tour for later on in the summer - anywhere I can get using 100% pedal power.  Care to join?  Any recommendations??

                                                     And summer exploration begins!

Planning and planting for locally produced food...

The warmth has arrived and so have many ideas for growing both tasty and local food.

A few friends and myself have begun this seasons planting of vegetables and fruits both within and just outside of the city.  This afternoon a group of us made out way out to a friends property on the 6th Concession for a planting party to kick start her garden into the growing season.

Why grow your own?

Gas prices are high, and will just get higher.  
The average Canadian meal comes from 2500 kms away. 

If we really want to stimulate the economy we should be buying things produced locally.  If we are to blindly choose to purchase imported goods over local goods (Chilean apples vs. Ontario apples), we are giving into an economy dependent on oil and an economy which is dependent on foreign markets (stable or unstable).  There are too many variables.

As time goes on, food miles will determine the cost of food at our grocery stores, rather than well-negotiated trade agreements.

Buy local!

City of Wateloo to become the first city in Canada to build Complete Streets!

What does that mean?

check out their website!

This means that:
a) Waterloo streets will be safer, 
b) Waterloo communities will be healthier, and 
c) Waterloo air will be cleaner 

...all through giving people more options to walk, cycle and use transit to reach their destination.

Incomplete streets - road designed mainly for movement of vehicular traffic - exclude safe passage for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.

Building complete streets will guarantee that infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users will be routinely accommodated in the city’s transportation plans. 

They are the first city in Canada to adopt such a policy, which has been used in numerous municipalities throughout the States.

Check out this article for more info!

“If you have six-lane roads everywhere it means you have lots of cars and it is really hard to walk or cycle in that environment ... I think Complete Streets is really putting the focus where it needs to be — thinking about the most vulnerable user first and then designing around that.” 

- Phil Hewitson, Director of Transportation, City of Waterloo

The economics of walkability

Check out this article published in the Hamilton Spectator today by Christopher Leinberger - he discusses walkable neighbourhoods as being more economcally viable than suburban neighbourhoods.

"While cities are thriving and growing, suburbs have grown more congested, less green, even more car-centric and been pushed further out into the hinterland ... What is in trouble is the entry level, low-end fringe development. Those are the next slums.”

-Christopher Leinberger

Downtown revitalization, walkability and Open Streets

The city I live in is quickly changing.

From the mid-1970s to the late-1990s the city was in decline.  The steel mills closed their doors and large malls were built on the outskirts.  Downtown began to crumble and funding for social programs was cut.  Hamilton's streets were unsafe.

James & Rebecca, beside Listor Block (April 2011)

Though the scars associated with 3 decades of neglect remain, the lower-city is doing the best it has since the 1950s.  The amount of change I can see even in my lifetime is huge.  Before I left this city to go to school 8 years ago there were near-entire blocks of vacant buildings downtown - hollow window frames and bad graffiti on red brick.  When I moved back last September into a neighbourhood in the downtown north end I saw those same buildings now as coffee shops and construction sites. 

Last year, a street festival called Open Streets began in the downtown north end, just outside the apartment a friend and I moved into last autumn.  For two afternoons last year they closed down the road for the festival which is an offshoot of the Latin American Ciclovia- a street festival built on promoting active transportation world-wide.  (active transportation, by the way, refers to any type of transportation which requires you being physically active to get to where you need -- biking, walking, riding the bus, rollerblading, etc. all good, respectable things.)

The difference between the two street festivals is that the Open Streets festival has added a unique spin to it's mission statement.  Since January, I have been sitting on the steering committee for the group and it's been pretty cool to see the direction we are steering the festival in.  Rather than merely promoting active transportation, Open Streets promotes healthy neighbourhoods and downtown living.

Last year at Open Streets, people played ball hockey on the road while buskers sang songs along side.  People jogged and rode their bikes on the street playing games while patios were packed.  NGOs and community groups handed out flyers of various community issues and events, artists sold their art on the sidewalk while parents bought their kids balloons.

What this comes down to is that choosing to be active (by riding your bike, or walking) is not merely a matter of choosing a particular type of mobility.  Rather, choosing to walk, take the bus, or ride your bike is choosing to be an active member of your community, your city and your natural environment. 

The purpose of using a car is strictly to get us from point A to point B in as little time and in as much comfort as possible.  It looks at all other variables - the sidewalk, saying “hi” to a friend on the road, waving to a kid in a shop window, buying a coffee on your way to where you are going - as obstacles.  Driving a car deems anything in between you and your destination as an interruption, a set of interferences, things of which you are not a part and things which should not, by any means, stand in your way.  Our entire notion of “space”, when driving, is diminished and we do not include ourselves in it.

The main point here is that individuals, if we choose, can be active members in those things which surround us.  Hamiltonians are learning this, and we are choosing to use this method to heal our city.  The ideology many Hamiltonian’s share is that healthy individuals (not cars) make for healthy communities, therefore making healthy cities and a healthier natural environment.

Get on your bike and ride it. 

And check out this festival if you’re in town!

Contested Spaces: San Felipé, Panama City --> Photos up at Mulberry Coffee Shop for April.

A recent project of mine is finally coming to a close!  Images taken last year in Panama City and framed just recently will be up at Mulberry for the next month.

The images attempt to capture the current identity of Latin America’s oldest Spanish settlement on the Pacific coast; San Felipé.  Through decades of neglect, this neighbourhood in Panama City had remained what many would call a ‘slum’.  

Recent restoration projects and the tourism industry have lead to the rapid development of hostels, hotels and high-end restaurants in what was considered Panama City’s most dangerous neighbourhood no longer than 10 years ago.

Though the neighbourhood has its economic and social struggles, it would be foolish to assume that the changes brought on by tourism would make the neighbourhood economically and social better off.  It may go either way.


As tourism increases in Panama City, San Felipe will be forced to undergo certain changes.  It's current identity is being challenged by wealth - something the neighbourhood hasn't had for perhaps centuries.