IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

A BILL

To ensure that all users of the transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, children, older individuals, and individuals with disabilities, are able to travel safely and conveniently on and across federally funded streets and highways.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011’’.

1 (1) COMPLETE STREET.—The term ‘‘complete

2 street’’ means a roadway that—

3 (A) safely accommodates all travelers, par-

4 ticularly public transit users, bicyclists, pedes-

5 trians (including individuals of all ages and in-

6 dividuals with mobility, sensory, neurological, or

7 hidden disabilities), motorists, and freight vehi-

8 cle operators; and

9 (B) enables all travelers to use the road-

10 way safely and efficiently.

Bill sponsor Tom Harkin understands the connection between autocentric street design and health and safety. “In many places across the country, there is a complete lack of sidewalks and bike lanes,” said Sen. Harkin in a statement upon release of the legislation. “This not only makes our roadways more dangerous for pedestrians, it discourages people from being more active by walking or riding a bike.” (from dc.streetsblog.org)

Gas is over $4 a gallon

On April 7th, I will return a car I have been driving for nearly a year to it's owner. I will then be without a car again. This will give me an opportunity to revisit what I felt nearly 3 years ago when giving up my own car. Interestingly, gas had gone above $4 a gallon then. It seems there is much less concern or panic that gas is as high as it is. Probably $5 is the threshold for panic/worry at this point. I think that rising gas prices, while not good for the economy or people with lower incomes, higher gas prices will lead to more alternatives to automobile for day to day transportation which is a good thing. Most alternatives to the automobile have multiple benefits both for society and the environment. I have been riding my bicycle to work, but not for any other errands really. I quote Oscar Wilde here "I can resist everything except temptation." Initially, early in the year, I drove the car less. But as the year progressed, I drove it more. One can do

a lot with a car, there is a sense of getting around and accomplishing a lot and as Americans we admire that. It is part of our culture to do a lot, see a lot, and be busy. All this busy-ness has a cost which we largely ignore. I am looking forward to slowing down the pace of my life in a couple of weeks, to get back to my inner snail. Thanks for the year in the car Andy.

A Confession

Last year, my friend and neighbor got a DUI. She was drinking and driving. In April of 2010 her license to drive was revoked for a year. I have had her car in my driveway since then. I have driven her car a fair amount and have felt a lot of guilt about that driving. I justify and I rationalize that I drive her car by noting that since she is not driving, that lessens my impact, that it is really her impact, she would be driving if she could. That might not make a lot of sense, but some rationalizations don't make a lot of sense.

I want to incorporate her story into my story, to relate an addiction to alcohol to our addiction to cars. I have not been writing much. My friend has written some. Her blog is http://canthurry.blogspot.com/. It is quite good.

Copenhagen is Cool

How many cars are in the United States? Take a guess. Answer is after the video.


There were 254,403,082 cars in the United States as of 2007. Did you guess correctly?
Here is an interesting table that shows the Number of U.S. Aircraft, Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Conveyances in the US from 1960 to 2007. The numbers paint an interesting picture. There are more than a quarter BILLION cars in the country now. There are only around 300 million people in the US. This is simply not sustainable. What we need to do at the local, state and national levels is promote the two most sustainable forms of transportation... walking and bicycling.

Small things can make a big difference SALT

A 3-gram daily salt reduction per person would lower annual cases of heart disease and stroke by about one-third, according to an analysis published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine. One-half teaspoon does not seem like much to me. And the study estimated that "consuming just half a teaspoon less salt each day may save as many as 92,000 US deaths and as much as $24 billion in medical costs a year." Here is the article from the Boston Globe.

It seems that this is a reasonably easy goal to accomplish. If food manufacturers across the board would reduce the amount of salt in their products, bingo, healthier Americans. If we as consumers buy reduced salt products, we are on the road to substantial savings in health care costs and a better and longer life. Small changes can have big results. A little less salt, a little more biking or walking, a little less car driving, and we are on a way to a healthier planet and a healthier population. Except for the additional label reading for salt content, I am sure that I would not notice a reduction in flavor by reducing salt.

Tell Congress: Make walking and biking safe!

In the last 15 years, 76,000 Americans have been killed while walking or crossing a street – too many of our roads are built for cars only.

But thousands of people are stepping up to make biking and walking safe. Rep. Earl Blumenauer introduced a piece of legislation that could set aside $2 billion for grants to fund safe networks for biking and walking in communities all across the country. And Secretary Ray LaHood just joined the fight by issuing a directive that makes safe walking and biking a priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation!

Help us keep the pressure on! Urge your representative to co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act.

Back from Santa Fe

WOW!!! The train ride was a vacation in itself. I met many people including Andy from Brighter Planet www.brighterplanet.com who was traveling by train all the way across the country. Lots of good information on the web site which says this:

On Brighter Planet you’ll measure your carbon footprint, discover simple ways to reduce it, track your progress, and share your experiences.

No politics, no arguments. Just real people, real actions — all making a real difference.

I am enamoured with train travel. Here is a list of 10 advantages to travel by rail vs by airplane or automobile:

More room compared to plane or automobile travel
Friendly conversations with fellow passengers
Better views through bigger window
Dining car with good food and good conversation
Observation lounge with bigger windows to view the great American landscape
Coach seats with lots of leg room
Doors between cars are exciting to pass through
Very cool sleeper cars
The pace of travel is slower and the feeling is civilized
The number one thing... lower carbon than other modes of travel

Look for videos of some of the train travel.

I am going to Santa Fe without traveling in a car or an airplane. I will leave the house with a nice rolling luggage bag and walk to the bus stop (about a mile) then take the bus to downtown San Diego, catch the Surfliner to LA and catch the Amtrak Southwest Chief to Albuquerque and from there, the Rail Runner to Santa Fe. Pretty low carbon travel. My reading material for the trip is "Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream", plus I will have the Helmet Cam and will document some of the trip.
The train ride is overnight, I'll see how that is in a coach seat. I am really looking forward to traveling through the southwest in this manner.

Helmet Cam Footage on Youtube

I have finally gotten the correct cable and a capable computer. I transferred one DV tape with 51 minutes of HELMET CAM footage today. I used iMovie even though I have Final Cut Pro. The results are interesting. This is a starting point and I am happy that the process is working. Hopefully I can find someone to edit the footage at a later date. Until then, I will work with the program and learn as much as I can. I just wanted to get some footage up, so do not judge this little clip too harshly. This was a trip to Jimbo's Natural Food Store in Rancho Bernard a few weeks ago. We used a short cut we had found. Speaking of short cuts, I used Google Maps Friday and noticed that there is a directions for walking route feature. But it does not locate or use shortcuts that are not roads. Shortcuts would be very useful.

The youtube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfXtII96CA

Rain Gauge

We have a rain gauge in the garden. The last storm dropped about an inch and a quarter. This is good for the radishes, onions, lettuce and other stuff growing in our raised planter. One red radish globe is pushing up through the soil, tempting us, telling us it is nearly ready to pull and eat. Austin is proud of his plantings and marvels at their continuing growth. He has become more interested in vegetables and that is good too. I have written Michael Pollan's advice on eating on the chalkboard in the kitchen: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. pics tomorrow

Plant a Meadow Not a Lawn & Limit the Use of Non-Road Engines

Each weekend, about 54 million Americans mow their lawns, using 800 million gallons of gas per year and producing tons of air pollutants. Garden equipment engines, which have had unregulated emissions until very recently, emit high levels of carbon and other pollutants, producing up to 5% of the nation's air pollution and a good deal more in metropolitan areas.

A typical 3.5 horsepower gas mower, for instance, can emit the same amount of VOCs -- key precursors to smog -- in an hour as a new car driven 340 miles, say industry experts.

The exchange of 1,000 gasoline-powered lawn mowers for electric mowers has the potential of reducing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by 9.8 tons per year, which is equivalent to removing 230 cars from the highways. (From EPA Lawn Equipment)

There are the facts. One of the beautiful things about getting rid of a lawn and planting a meadow, is that a meadow is more enticing for birds and butterflies and other beneficial insects. A meadow is a more complex pattern with changing colors and motion from breezes. But some of these meadow grasses can be walked and played on. There is no need to give up functionality because choosing a low growing sedge can produce a similar texture and look of a turf grass lawn. Best of all, meadows are watered and mowed far less frequently and do not require the chemical inputs that turf does.

The goal is to reduce the burning of fossil fuels as much as we can. That is better for us and better for the planet. And it might be more beautiful. Inspiration for this post was John Greenlee, author of The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn

Pasadena, Disney Hall and Watts Towers

I took a road trip to Pasadena to pick up a computer, an iMac Friday. You might wonder how this sansautomobile blog seems to have a fair amount of automobile travel. My PC has been on the decline for quite some time. I dumped $300 into it this past summer. That was pretty much a waste. I have been meaning to return to Apple and now I have. I feel that I am one step closer to processing the Helmet Cam footage I have been collecting for a year and a half. I need one more cable, as the iMac Firewire is different than the PC Firewire. I have Final Cut Pro installed.

After picking up the computer, we drove to the Disney Concert Hall and walked around paying homage to Frank Ghery and his sculpture project which took 16 years to complete and required over 30,000 architectural drawings. Our next stop was Watts Towers, a project on the other end of the design spectrum. The Towers are the result of the efforts and ideas of one man, Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant. He used found objects and spent 30 years building the towers. Both structures are the result of a visionary idea and intense passion and the desire create a monument. Rodia said " I set out to do something big and I did."

Los Angeles is Mecca for the automobile. No other city in the world is as dependent on and is as defined by the automobile. It was rainy and gray and there is an endless line of cars.

Rusty Things

I am not yet riding. My injury is improving, but I still have a lot of pain when trying to grip or squeeze.
My bicycle has a few rusty spots... mostly allen bolts that will hold any moisture. It doesn't help, I suppose, that I store my bicycle outside. Lately, I have found that rust can add value to an object. Maybe not my bicycle, but other things. I have been selling some rusty bed springs that I found while on a hike with Lisa a couple of weeks ago. I dragged the mattress skeleton out of a nearby canyon and separated the springs to photograph and list on eBay. As crazy as it sounds, I have sold more than a dozen RUSTY BED SPRINGS for between $1.50 and $2.00 each. And I am shipping 2 to Europe! I think the term is up-cycle... or re-purpose... anyway the people purchasing these rusted treasures are making something with them. I will be on the look out now, whether riding or hiking, for rusty things.

Rented A Car

I rented a car for the weekend... a KIA. I wanted to get some bigger errands run. I use Enterprise because they will pick me up at my house. I have rented from them about once a month since I sold the Element. If I have a photography shoot, I rent a car as most of my jobs have been in the Inland Empire or Los Angeles or even further north. Austin and I were driving and I had the experience of CAR SEDUCTION. Cars are powerful and give the driver a sense of freedom. Car Seduction is the reason it will be a long hard withdrawal from the automobile as a major means of transportation. Car Seduction is not as potent when I am riding with my DAD in his Saturn. I am not exactly sure why that is, maybe because it is a bare bones kind of car... a 5 speed, 4 cylinder engine that gets better gas mileage than a Prius. So I am not Sans Automobile this weekend. What was up with Enterprise and the brown wrapping paper on the car?

I Rode With A Brace On My Thumb

I got brave and rode my bicycle to the grocery store. This involves going down a fairly long steep hill. I have mentioned that in general I like to ride pretty fast down this hill. But without full functioning of my left hand which operates my front brake, I am leery of going fast. I rested the heel of my hand on the handlebar and used my middle and ring fingers to brake. I have index shifting and found it impossible to turn the grip without excruciating pain, so I did not shift my chain rings at all. This little foray into a bit of a handicap got me thinking about really how physical bike riding is and how one needs most body parts to be functioning to do it with ease. I googled for some kind of hydraulic or "easy" braking systems and came up short. I think children have the same problem with brakes, their hands are weaker and smaller and so they have a hard time with hand brakes. I rode one handed back up the hill as my left hand was sore.

Injured Thumb

I jammed my thumb Saturday and am so bummed, mad, hobbled, etc. I tried to stop a 110 pound black lab from running away. Silly me. Dogs will run. He bounded toward me and I put my hands out at chest level to grab his collar. My thumb took the full impact. My thumb made a weird popping noise later when I pulled on it. Lesson learned is; let a dog go... especially a big one, a dog will do dog things like run and there is no stopping it.

Fortunately, it is my left hand because I am right-handed. This is not my x-ray, I just thought it looked cool. The bruising covers more than half my palm now and around the thumb. I am guessing that the recovery will be about 6 weeks give or take. I am not sure when I will be able to get on the bicycle again. I walked to the post office and found that crossing over 10 lanes of freeway to be very unpleasant. It is much better to get across that overpass quickly.

Wet Weather and More

This is the second hail storm in 2 days. This hail was white, the hail yesterday was clear and looked more like little ice cubes. Lisa's yard flooded and some water flowed into her house. A concrete swale got blocked up and the water poured down the hill in her backyard. We worked frantically to dig a trench and divert the water away from the house. While trying to find the best place to divert the water, we found that another neighbor's yard had also flooded. We worked for nearly two hours and I was completely drenched and cold. I have a rain gauge in my yard and the cumulative total for the week of storms in now nearly 6.5 inches.

I did not ride the bicycle today. It was cold, so I shopped with my Dad who is also my neighbor. He drives a very efficient Saturn.

More Rain

The good thing about the rain is that the chapparral on the hills will turn really green. I love the soft bright green of the Ceanothus. San Diego County has 1,003,441 acres of chapparral. If you want to know more about the chapparral, check out the CALIFORNIA CHAPARRAL INSTITUTE : http://www.californiachaparral.com/

But the rain is hard for biking. Imagine being next to this car. Fenders would not help.

Rain - No Biking Today

There are a couple of things that make it hard for me to bike. One of those things is rain. I just do not like to bicycle in the rain. I had some packages to ship, but since the post office was closed, I did not go. Had it been not raining, I would have biked. I don't like to bike when I am not feeling well. Fortunately, that is not often. It easier to get in a car when you are not feeling well than it is to get on a bike.

Easier to get in a car when it is raining too. So I borrowed my neighbor's Prius. I couldn't figure out how to start it. After a brief lesson, which was "...put the key in your pocket, put your foot on the brake and push the power button", the car was running. Sweet... the MPG indicator read 99.9.

Watching Laundry Dry

Part of not owning a car is about slowing down. Our culture lives life at a frenetic pace, and even admires those who maintain that pace. I am enjoying expending my own energy to reduce consumption of energy produced by a power plant. A dryer is an appliance that sucks a lot of energy.

The photo on the top is the way I "hung" my laundry at first. I just threw it over the line. I was bothered that hanging it was taking more time than using the dryer. My attempts at speeding up the process by chucking the clothes onto the line were not too satisfying. The bottom photo shows how I hang it now. I have more clothes pins and I take a bit of pride in hanging it. I made a taller pole for lifting the line. When I was growing up, clothes lines were around... my grandmother had one on her porch. I remember somewhere, some one's yard, running between bed sheets hung on several lines in a row. I love the smell of laundry dried in the sun.