Right Now Downtown

BIKING GAINS MOMENTUM

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Statehouse on Monday, May 17, 2010, to celebrate Bike To Work Day sponsored by Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District.

Bikers converged at OSU Gateway along with Mayor “Bikin’ Mike” Coleman, ODOT Director Jolene Molitoris, members of Columbus City Council, the Columbus Foundation and Consider Biking for the Third Annual Bike To Work Launch and Cycling CEO Challenge.  Dozens of area CEOs assembled teams to ride to the Statehouse to champion alternative transportation.

Riders from the Columbus Chamber even donned Pearl Market veggie costumes to show their support of bicycle commuting.

Lisa Courtice from The Columbus Foundation presented Consider Biking with a check for $295,000 to pursue the “2 by 2010″ initiative, which is a program that encourages every central Ohioan to use a bike or other form of alternative transportation to get to work or school at least two days per month by the City’s bicentennial in 2012.

Doug Morgan, attorney at Hahn Loeser and Parks, presented a check for $15,000 on behalf of the firm and challenged the corporate community to pull together to match The Columbus Foundation gift.

To see more photos of the event, click below.

Bike To Work 2010

Several years ago, the national Sierra Club analyzed urban sprawl and ranked metropolitan areas from those with the biggest sprawl problem to those that spread out the least.  The study looked at population and land area.  If urban land area grew, but the population did not, the metro had a sprawl problem.

The Sierra Club ranked Dayton as the area with the worst sprawl in the U.S.  Dayton’s urban land mass grew tremendously and pushed into outlying counties, yet its population remained flat.  “Growth” was merely a shell game.

An article in the March 24 Columbus Dispatch, “I-75 corridor driving economic growth” came as a disappointment given all the talk about “smart” growth.  The Ohio Department of Transportation is investing $1.5 billion in roadway improvements between Cincinnati and Dayton with the express goal of generating “green field” development.

Sadly, the Dayton shell game will continue at an accelerating rate.  I-75 improvements will shift more jobs and residents from existing neighborhoods to areas with lower and less sustainable densities.  ODOT will create two new taxpayer burdens, one to pay for even more new infrastructure once the green fields are developed and a second to address the social problems where divestment occurs.