by Bike Courier | Aug 1, 2016 | Uncategorized
Green continues to challenge bike citations Friday, July 29th 2016, 8:27 pm EDT By Josh Cook Jackie Green (Source: WAVE 3 News) LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – He once ran for mayor an now he’s challenging citations in a high-profile case, involving his bicycle. Jackie Green was charged with obstructing a highway and disregarding a traffic light on his bike in November. In his third preliminary hearing Friday his attorney motioned to bring an expert witness to the trial. Green has been offered a plea deal, by pleading guilty to the traffic light charge and paying court fees, to avoid up to 90 days in jail. Green says he’ll fight this until his entire case is dismissed in order to bring justice for all bicycle commuters. “This is bigger than me,” he said. “This is about the safety of cyclists. It’s about cyclists being able to operate on their bicycles in a safe manner, taking measures that increase their safety without fear of wrongful prosecution by the state.” A police officer claims to have warned Green to use the bike lane and subsequently caught him riding through a red light. The case returns to court Sept. 22. Copyright 2016 WAVE 3 News. All...
by Bike Courier | Jul 13, 2016 | Advocacy
Louisville Harmony is asking Metro to bring into alignment local policies and practices so community resiliency, climate change, urban heat, public transit, urban forestry, flooding, air quality and compassion are truly addressed. We ask that Metro begin by taking on a major nexus of all of these issues, the surface parking lot. We ask Metro to begin taking immediate actions leading to the phase-out of privately and publicly owned surface parking lots. Louisville Harmony and Louisville Harmony supporters stand ready to assist Metro in the expeditious meeting of this...
by Bike Courier | Apr 30, 2016 | Advocacy
“Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer is calling on residents to work within their own neighborhoods to help combat the city’s rising temperatures in urban areas. The city has one of the fastest-growing urban heat islands in the nation… During a news conference, he stressed the ways the study’s data can help inform individuals and neighborhood groups about what they can do in various areas of town…. the onus will be on people to make changes on a micro-level…. Fischer said “And the government can only do so much with trees. Most trees are obviously on private land, so we need all of our private citizens to step up.” His administration rolled out an online database where residents can search for their neighborhoods, identify their primary heat island challenges and pinpoint the exact number of cooler roofs or additional trees that will help measurably lower summer temperatures. Fischer is calling the initiative “Cool502,” and is encouraging residents to share their cooling efforts on social media using the hashtag: #cool502.” From – http://wfpl.org/fischer-launches-cool502-initiative-encourage-residents-combat-urban-heat/ ??? “the government can only do so much with trees” ??? Metro can stop clear cutting forests by investors in remote real estate invest. Metro can reduce urban speeds that result in cars taking out trees. Metro can re-purpose surface parking lots as housing, retail, offices, parks, community gardens, solar farms or parking garages. Mayor Fischer is all about big data documenting the obvious, and shifting the burden to the backs of citizens rather than having the city lead by example....
by Bike Courier | Apr 30, 2016 | Advocacy
Under the mayor’s direction, Louisville launched a Sustainability Plan, Trees Louisville, Move Louisville, Cool502, renewed the city’s commitment to the Climate Protection Agreement and signed Climate Compact of Mayors. Examination of these acts as a unit quickly reveals fundamental and self defeating contradictions and weaknesses (the word ‘acts’ was intentionally chosen). The weaknesses begin with the Sustainability Plan. The Sustainability Plan was immediately upon release declared unambitious in scope and timing. Trees Louisville, a non-profit raising money to plant trees, cannot compete with the destruction wrought on forests by ‘developers’. Nor can Trees Louisville compete with the destruction wrought on urban trees by cars and trucks. Cool502, the Climate Protection Agreement and the Climate Compact of Mayors all three contradict Move Louisville, the city’s transportation (and land use) plan. This is no surprise as Move Louisville contradicts itself with its new Urton Lane and Oxmoor Farms projects bumping up against Move Louisville’s ‘Fix it First’ priority. Move Louisville’s Urton Lane and Oxmoor Farms projects will result in clear cutting forests and paving fields while draining resources that create a more population-dense, walkable and cooler Louisville. Move Louisville also commits nothing significant to public transit. Several proposals should be adopted and aggressively pursued if the city’s sustainability acts are to move beyond mere play acting. The city should purge the Urton Lane and Oxmoor Farms projects and shift funding from those projects to public transit, concentrating additional TARC service (strategically and temporarily) within the Watterson. For the sake of neighborhoods, pedestrians and trees, the city should reduce and enforce urban speed limits to a safe speed. And the city should lead the community by beginning to re-purpose the city owned surface parking lots as housing, retail,offices, parks, community gardens, solar farms or parking garages. http://www.courier-journal.com/story/tech/science/environment/2016/04/25/mayor-fischer-launches-cool502-effort/83301648/...
