Ypsi [heart] bikes

As mentioned "in brief" in the AANews, WBWC will host a little non-motorized get-together at the Corner Brewery in Ypsi on Thursday, Feb 22. The event includes a showing of "Still We Ride", the Critical Mass movie, as well as updates and info on upcoming NMT projects and events in Ypsi. The News is quick to point out that these projects "would be funded by grants from groups outside of Ypsilanti."

Upcoming Ypsi events include a Safe Routs to School training session on March 13 and "Get Active Ypsi", a month of fun events that encourage Ypsians to get 30 minutes of exercise every day which is very easy if you walk or bike to work). The events coincide with Ann Arbor's Curb Your Car Month.

EMU proposes pedestrian plaza

Overwhelmed by passionate exuberance, the university's interim director of finance predicts that the proposed closing of College Place to vehicular traffic as "an outstanding opportunity to improve the interface on the southeastern corner of our campus."

The article's brief descripition sounds similar to the pedestrianization of East University in Ann Arbor a few years back. The project would eliminate metered parking on this stretch of road and limit access to bikes and pedestrians.

The city and U seem to be generally in sync on this project. Questions linger as to how, exactly, the parking will be replaced and who will cover the 20% of costs to match federal level grants.

While the project sounds "nice" and is well supported, one might wonder how this will fit into the existing or future plans for pedestrian and bike facilities and policies in Ypsi.

Is this a benefit to carfree folks in Ypsi, or just a well decorated yard that adds little to the non-motorized network in town?

Cycling in Ypsi

The Ann Arbor News had a nice piece on how easy it is to get around Ypsilanti by bike along with quotes from local cyclists. They also point out the improved bike access between Ypsi and A2 via the cross-county bike path. Bob Krzewinski says,"A lot of people don't realize that you can hop on your bike right now, and, pretty much, when you're on the west side of Ypsilanti ride on bike paths pretty much all the way into Ann Arbor''It seems that, if they continue along this path, Ypsi could easily outpace Ann Arbor in the race for the Bike Friendly Community (BFC) platinum level. The League of American Bicyclists runs this program that acknowledges community efforts to accommodate and promote cycling with bronze, silver, gold and platinum rankings. In 2005, Ann Arbor was awarded a bronze level. It would be great to see someone from Ypsi submit an application this year.