BY GREG HANSCOM - Grist

This year, as we have in years past, my wife and I packed up the kids and flew across the country to spend the holidays with her family in suburban Baltimore. Christmas at the Thomas house is always a festive affair: crab soup, wine by the bottleful, quality time with grandma and grandpa and sundry cousins. And for my benefit, they keep the Barry Manilow Christmas tunes to a minimum. (Sincere thanks for that, guys.)

There's just one problem: Put me in the 'burbs for more than about 48 hours and I go completely batshit. I'm not sure what it is that sets me off. I completely understand the appeal of the place, having lived in Baltimore proper. It's peaceful here. And safe. No need to lock your doors. But in suburbia, I feel trapped.

I need wheels. But here's the other problem: Put me in a car in traffic for more than about 48 seconds and, you guessed it, I go completely batshit. Instant road rage. I swear. I'm just not a well-adjusted 20th/21st century human. My parents did their best, really (here's looking at you, mom and dad), but they brought me into the world about a hundred years late.

This year, though, I was determined to spare my family the experience of dealing with yours truly in the midst of a stoplight- or split-level-induced freak-out. I went looking for a bike. I needed something that could get me around the neighborhood and to the town-bound train. Bonus points if I could take it on the train and use it to get around the city.
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Something of interest for those promoting Baltimore's Sunday Streets:

http://bikeportland.org/2011/12/20/study-health-benefits-outweigh-costs-of-ciclovia-type-events-64002

For those of you working on Sunday Streets or Cyclovia check this out: http://openstreetsproject.org/

This original (and hilarious, sad) report from 1961 on David Troy's website as a PDF — warning, it's 238MB, so it may take a few minutes to load. MUST READ. http://davetroy.com/docs/jfp-gbc1961.pdf

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‎"Time is running out. Truly this is a time of decision. Shall the Jones Falls Valley continue to be a rubbish heap — an object of catch-as-catch-can speculation and abuse? Will we travel on the Jones Falls Expressway, past derelict factories with bricked-up windows, through a treeless landscape with billboards glaring at us from every conceivable angle?

Or will the Valley become, by one master stroke, a great Valley Parkway, making travel on it — by expressway, by scenic road, by commuter train, on foot — a pleasure and relief for the daily traveler?

To delay our decision will mean that the opportunity will be lost forever. Jones Falls Valley must be saved!" - Greater Baltimore Committee, 1961

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[B' Spokes: It is absolutely amazing how this vision has failed. The car has sold us so many false visions of the future.]

The 3rd Annual Holiday Lights Bike Ride tours the famous Christmas lights of Baltimore including the Washington Monument and 34th Street in Hampden.

[B' Spokes: This is a must read to get a feel for the overall goal we would like to accomplish for Baltimore. Here are just some highlights:]
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Desolate Jones Falls Bikeway blows opportunity to create a livable Mount Vernon neighborhood
BY GERALD NEILY

Trying to make the city safer for cyclists sounds like a laudable goal, but the city has once again shown that it is oblivious to its most important priority - neighborhoods.
...
Bicyclists have been among the greatest victims. Bikes should be an ideal transportation mode for the historic high density neighborhood, except that the streets are overwhelmed by cars.

The solution is straightforward: Divert as much traffic as possible into the underutilized Jones Falls corridor just to the east, to free up the local residential streets for humans, bikes, and above all, peace and quiet. But the city has never seen fit to do any of that.

The city's latest solution is to move the bikes out of the community, not the cars.
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The city should concentrate as much heavy traffic as possible into corridors like the Jones Falls - on the expressway as well as next to it. Then the city should focus on creating calm, normal, livable environments in its neighborhoods and "people places" like around the Inner Harbor. This is best for traffic, best for bikes and best for people. If this is not done, all will become increasingly dysfunctional.
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By Gerald Neily - Baltimore Brew (highlights)

• Focus on the streets – They are where we perceive the city. Get heavy traffic off local streets and free them up for as much real urban-oriented activity (walking, biking, window-shopping) as possible. Avoid superblocks and fortress developments.

• Fix local transit – Put a fire under the MTA to tear down its happenstance bus system. Convert it into logical community-based short routes, efficient express routes and transit hubs to connect them. No more convoluted routes from Sandtown to Fort McHenry. No more endless slogs from UMBC to White Marsh.

• No more diversionary downtown gimmicks – Like 175 mph street race cars. Like Disneyfication of the Inner Harbor.

http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2011/12/09/opinion-10-ways-to-grow-baltimore-at-little-cost-and-with-big-benefits/

http://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/yXsYwIRq9d

Update: They have almost reached their goal so I am featuring this again to help.

[B' Spokes: The Baltimore Brew feels like family to me, as they too are trying to make Baltimore a better place to live and they even acknowledge a connection with cyclists in the video on the linked article. They have been helpful in raising some important issues for us, so we should help them as well.]

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Baltimore Brew Has Teamed Up With

To raise funds to bring you more of the accountability reporting, smart commentary and lively culture you’ve been missing in Baltimore - until the Brew came around!

About this project

• Giving a voice to Baltimore’s voiceless through coverage of the workers at the Sparrows Point steel mill and residents of impoverished neighborhoods in one of America’s poorest cities.
  
• Holding city and other officials accountable by reporting on deals with favored contractors, tax breaks for big political contributors and regulatory concessions to major industries.
  
• Creating a forum for city planners and visionaries to re-imagine Baltimore, helping ensure that in the future it can provide the jobs and neighborhoods its residents need – without resorting to tax gimmicks and giveaways.
  

Now we want to expand the Brew’s coverage of the city’s spending practices and tax breaks, to make sure Baltimore uses its scarce resources for programs that benefit its people and not the politically-connected. And we want to make the Brew sustainable by tapping new income streams and eventually paying salaries.  We plan to do this by:

• Expanding coverage to include online video and podcasts.
• Creating more interactive features with readers.
• Publishing special food, culture and lifestyle pages.
• Expanding school and neighborhood coverage.

So far, we’ve kept the Brew percolating with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of donated time. With a bare-bones budget, we’ve broken stories, shaped the civic conversation and modeled a new kind of local media.

Read more and watch the video: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fernshen/baltimore-brew-a-news-website-for-the-city

About 16 months from now, bicyclists will be able to ride from the Inner Harbor to Pennsylvania Station on a smooth path all their own.
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-bike-trail-construction-20111129,0,4417518.story