Bikes: no oil, more toil - Pitt News article

Bikes: no oil, more toil - News: "A bike is more than a mode of transportation for senior Steve Kurpiewski. It's a source of freedom. "

I love bikes. The city of Pittsburgh can do much, much more with bikes.

In the past, Mayor Murphy put in about 15 miles of bike baths along the edges of the rivers. He was here 12 years. His legacy amounts to about one new mile of trail for each year in office.


Some think that Murphy did a lot. I think he was a joke as a mayor and his bike legacy is a joke as well.

We've lived in two of the world's greatest bike cities: Chengdu in China and Christchurch in New Zealand.

Bike ways need to go to where we live, work, shop, worship and play. Along the river is fine, but we don't get from here to there by going along the rivers, often.

We should take a much more aggressive approach to bike through ways in our neighborhoods. Bikes do NOT need to be along the main business streets. Bikes do NOT need to be on the sidewalks either. But bikes can we woven on many streets, alleys, and by ways.

From NZ bike

Furthermore, bikes do NOT work in every single neighborhood and section of the city. But there are plenty of places where they do work very well -- after we get the infrastructure established.

Bikes need to be woven into the city's landscape along with a new effort to greatly increase 'in-fill parking.' We need to get some cars along some streets to be parked in better places.

There are lots and lots of spaces off the streets that need to be made into mini parking lots. Most of all the city gets in the way. But more so, the city can offer better tool for in-fill parking.

In a global way, if we bike more in Pittsburgh, we'll be building up the city life, city residents, and city property values. The city should be a priority, not urban sprawl.

From china - my bike

I have a plan that I'd love to research while on the job after being an elected official to tackle health care concerns with bikes and bikers. Discussions and solutions about bike riders, accidents, injuries and prevention could make Pittsburgh a much better place for fitness. We can spending on gasoline, help the environment, and make for more interesting options in a holistic way.

Bike Pittsburgh is fine. But, I'm sure that they could be much more aggressive in the demands for bike treatments.

The Birmingham Bridge that connects the South Side to Oakland has been a sore spot. The sidewalk stops! Cuts to the jersey barrier would allow people to be split about from the cars.