a panel with Talking Heads

Or headlined by one of the Talking Heads.

David Bryne brought his tour through PVD tonight. Interesting talk, wicked uncomfortably seats. A bit scattered and not the most well meshed group of 4 presentations from 4 people. The Mayor's key note may have been almost as long as David's slide show. Which really was mostly a book tour that brought in a handful of local folks, a Brown U prof, an advocacy leader and one of the state planners office officials.

I gained a better appreciation for certain plans in the works, and learned a bit more about the man who wrote the book most of my cycling friends got for Christmas (the Bicycle Diaries).

After riding home in the dark with half the LED power normally (still plenty of illumination, but funny how one 1 watter died the same time one 2 watter did) I'm pretty pooped, but needing a second to sit on the couch with my 75 pound lap dog I figured i should at least gather a few thoughts from the presentation.

And,

well...

I'm very glad i went, it was interesting to see, but of all that i don't have a huge amount to say about it.

David's talk was a bit like his book, scattered, prepared but hap-hazard a bit, disjointed but not hard to follow. He has his gray hair spiked up wearing a light silver gray shirt, white pants and white keds(? - white canvas sneaker at anyrate), and next to the suits and the blacks that everyone else was wearing (well not everyone but those two sitting on his side of the panel at least) put some dramatic contrast up there.

A dismanyingly few people raised their hands saying they rode there by bike. It was pretty sad. Close to the 10% of the population that ride i guess.

Best line was David's almost ending comment. Incremental changes are the best. Make one section of a path/bike lane/access that is usable and people will begin to use it *if it is safe* ...if it is safe.

We'll see. I don't expect to see rush hour bike traffic like Portland, or The Netherlands any time soon, but it would be nice to see more and more people using it as a primary transport method.

Time to take my wicked heavy legs and hit the reset button (you know if you drop the e from reset you get rest - awesome and so true).

heddwch
G