For the second time this year Streetsblog rolled in to Pasadena to take to a stage and talk Livable Streets. We didn't quite pack the house as we did back in January, but we did have a fun night showing Streetfilms to roughly 50 people with CICLE, New Belgium Brewing, and REI as part of Bike Week Pasadena. Thanks to a raffle, we even made a couple of bucks off the fun.
Unfortunately, due to some technical difficulties we ended up bouncing between a couple of DVD's to sho w a series of the best bike Streetfilms. Since we jumped off script, I'm embedding all of the films we were scheduled to show with a brief comment after the jump.
In 2007, Clarence Eckerson Jr., Aaron Naperstek and a film crew visited Bogota, Columbia to take part in its massive open street festival called, Ciclovia. At this point, there were no festivals similar to this anywhere in North America. Armed with this film, advocates have convinced cities to experiment with these festivals all throughout the country, including the three cities that host local Streetsblogs.
While L.A. has a long way to go to mach Bogota, we can be proud of our CicLAvia. Here's the Streetfilm from this year's CicLAvia.
In 2009, CICLE hosted a showing of "Contested Streets" which documented the ongoing fight for street space for pedestrians and cyclists in the Apple. Just a couple of years later, things have changed dramatically in New York, thanks in large part to the leadership of the new NYCDOT Commisionar, Janette Sadik-Khan. Consider this interview with the Commish the epilogue to Contested Streets:
During the evening, we had a question about safe bike parking. The reality is that while bike parking remains at a premium, we can still minimize the risk to our bikes by locking them up properly.
Bike lanes are so passe. Just ask Bikeside. Separated Bike Lanes are where its at, baby!
Less than a year ago, Streetfilms visited the Velo City conference in Copenhagen and went for a bike ride with the leaders and planners of North America's bicycling and Livable Streets Movement. CICLE's Felicia Williams, who is featured in the film, told the audience last night that she cried when she had to turn her rental bike back in. Copenhagen rocks.
This last Streetfilm is still my favorite. Shot the three days preceding the election of Barack Obama, it tells the story of (the then) three Bike Co-ops that were far enough along to be housed in a store front: the Bicycle Kitchen, Bike Oven and Bikerowave. Check it out:
