In this blog the topic of urban/lifestyle cycling is explored in the wider context of city planning & design, sustainability, local economics, environment, health, recreation and broader topics in transportation.
Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014. Show all posts
Friday, November 7, 2014
Cost of suburban sprawl / questions to candidates
Another questionnaire was sent out to Maple Ridge candidates, this one being about the cost of suburban sprawl. For more information and links to the questionnaire and responses received, click here.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Municipal election 2014: Vote to Bike!
HUB asked candidates across Metro Vancouver two questions related to cycling. Both Maple Ridge (69%) and Pitt Meadows (92%) had high response rates compared to other Metro Vancouver municipalities.
The first question was specific to each community:
In the case of Maple Ridge:
"Do you agree that it's absolutely critical that we start to apply the principles of Smart Growth not only in the Town Core, but within the urban boundary, so that we can build a healthier, more sustainable community where people are much less car-dependent?"
Pitt Meadows:
"Do you agree that we need to more to facilitate alternative modes of transportation - transit, walking and cycling, as per the Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan - to help prevent future gridlock in our communities and that 'all ages and abilities' cycling is part of the solution?"
The second question was the same for all municipalities:
"Would you vote in favour of infrastructure investments that close the gaps in the municipal and regional cycling network so it is well connected and allows people to travel safely by bicycle?"
Check out the responses from candidates here.
School trustee responses are in too, but will be published later this week.
The first question was specific to each community:
In the case of Maple Ridge:
"Do you agree that it's absolutely critical that we start to apply the principles of Smart Growth not only in the Town Core, but within the urban boundary, so that we can build a healthier, more sustainable community where people are much less car-dependent?"
Pitt Meadows:
"Do you agree that we need to more to facilitate alternative modes of transportation - transit, walking and cycling, as per the Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan - to help prevent future gridlock in our communities and that 'all ages and abilities' cycling is part of the solution?"
The second question was the same for all municipalities:
"Would you vote in favour of infrastructure investments that close the gaps in the municipal and regional cycling network so it is well connected and allows people to travel safely by bicycle?"
Check out the responses from candidates here.
School trustee responses are in too, but will be published later this week.
Friday, October 10, 2014
The cost of sprawl: election issue?
Election time is upon us; much is at stake. Which will be the main issues on the table? We'll probably once again see the same old discussions about shopping, garbage, council and staff salaries, and our ever rising property taxes, none of which ever seem to get resolved to our satisfaction.
Metro Vancouver is facing significant challenges, as a region and as individual municipalities.
The experts are telling us we will see continued population growth for the next 30 years in Metro Vancouver, with the expected addition of a million more people and 600,000 more jobs. We'll have more than our fair share happening in Maple Ridge and to a lesser extent in Pitt Meadows. After that, population growth is expected to level off.
That means that how we grow and develop our cities over the next 30 years will determine for a large part how we will live for the next few hundred years.
If Maple Ridge decides, with our present land use pattern and with our soon to be adopted Transportation Plan, that we will continue to allow a significant amount of hopscotch, sprawling, inefficient greenfield and largely residential development instead of opting for contiguous, more compact and mixed-use smart growth, then an ever increasing number of residents will be car-dependent for a very long time to come indeed. That's a scary thought!
The threat of the real possibility of a failing transit referendum next Spring means that we may not be able to look forward to any significant expansion of transit and increased spending on cycling to improve the balance of options we have in our area.
In Maple Ridge we're not doing much to reduce our community Greenhouse Gas Emissions, even though the majority of present Council members a few years ago committed our City to the goal of 33% reduction from 2007 levels by 2020.
There are so many other reasons why we need to get serious about getting people out of their cars and onto transit, and walking and biking for shorter trips. Growing smarter, more efficient, is one of the most important things we can do to help convince more people to look for options in the way they get around for at least some of their trips.
There's another urgent reason why we can't keep growing the way we do: the "Infrastructure Deficit".
It's a significant and complex problem, not unique to Maple Ridge, that past and present Council members have so far not wanted to address.
Mr. Gill, our diligent penny counter at the City of Maple Ridge, has tried to warn us earlier this year. The article 'For every 'burb built, Maple Ridge pays' by Phil Melnychuk in The News seemed to generate a lot of interest. I added my two cents about it in "We need to stop Suburban Sprawl"As explained, other communities that have done the math have realized they can save many millions of dollars and significantly reduce their infrastructure deficit by growing smarter.
Why is Council still not talking about this? Is it because their constituents are still not concerned?
I think they should be, so I would like to raise the issue again, hoping that the average voter will understand we have a variety of more important things to worry about than not having some big box shopping in our community, which seemed to be the main determinant of the outcome of our last municipal election.
What's the problem? Well, when a new development gets built, the developer builds the infrastructure within the development - roads, sewer, water - and also pays Development Cost Charges to the City to pay for some of the necessary upgrades of surrounding infrastructure that are impacted by the development. Sounds good, right?
Development cost charges are provincially legislated and can only be used for things like roads, water, sewer, drainage and parks, but not for things like a new fire hall or added police services and community halls.
If you've ever taken a look at where our tax money is spent, you'll know that RCMP and fire services together make up a whopping 40% of all municipal expenses. When we approve more development and another fire hall is needed, all tax payers, including existing ones, are paying for that. Every time we build a new fire hall, if we need additional police services or we need to expand our library, all tax payers are on the hook. The more spread out and disconnected the development patterns, the more these services cost per household.
The infrastructure that's paid for by the developer is handed over to the city as soon as it's built. So now it's ours. Nice, eh?
Maybe not quite so nice once you realize that about 80% of the cost of infrastructure is in the operational budget. In other words, all tax payers pay for about 80% of the cost of the infrastructure over its lifetime. So on the one hand, it's nice that we get this gift from the developer, but on the other hand, it's a gift that keeps on taking, from all of us tax payers.
So it's essential that the long-term cost of any development application is carefully considered, in the interest of existing tax payers, but also and especially future tax payers: our kids.
Right now, the infrastructure items that appear on the municipal books as "assets" are valued at over $1.5 billion. The maintenance cost as estimated in 2006, when we had about $1.3 billion worth of infrastructure, was about $30 million per year. Of course the cost of maintenance goes up over time as more infrastructure gets built and also the cost of material and labour goes up. Looks like these "assets" are more like "liabilities"!
So are we actually paying the required $30+ million per year to maintain these assets? No, not by a long shot. We have been spending roughly one tenth of that. The good news is that, since 2008, a 1% annual cumulative tax increase is being set aside to start dealing with this Infrastructure Deficit. If we keep raising our property taxes in this manner, by 2031 we should have cut our infrastructure deficit in half. That means, in the best case scenario, it's highly unlikely that most of us would see the problem resolved within our lifetime, but if we're principled enough, we can make a significant dent in it.
However, because of our low tolerance for ever increasing property taxes, Council already caved in and reduced this increase by half last year and it'll probably be at least a few more years before we should be back to being charged the full 1% increase. To make up for some of the difference until then, we're using some of the gaming revenues.
The question is, are tax payers going to tolerate these cumulative annual increases for the next 20+ years or so, and are the increases even keeping up with the infrastructure added during that time?
What happens if we don't put enough money aside to pay for maintenance and eventual replacement? Well, roads start to crumble, and bridges will start to collapse. We've seen that for example in Montreal, and many cities in the U.S. offer frightening examples.
Like Mr. Gill says: "pay me now, or pay me much more later". If we don't look after the infrastructure now, it's going to be much more costly to fix things when they start to crumble.
My take-aways from this:
So this should give you some ideas as to questions you can ask your mayoral and council candidates!
Metro Vancouver is facing significant challenges, as a region and as individual municipalities.
The experts are telling us we will see continued population growth for the next 30 years in Metro Vancouver, with the expected addition of a million more people and 600,000 more jobs. We'll have more than our fair share happening in Maple Ridge and to a lesser extent in Pitt Meadows. After that, population growth is expected to level off.
That means that how we grow and develop our cities over the next 30 years will determine for a large part how we will live for the next few hundred years.
If Maple Ridge decides, with our present land use pattern and with our soon to be adopted Transportation Plan, that we will continue to allow a significant amount of hopscotch, sprawling, inefficient greenfield and largely residential development instead of opting for contiguous, more compact and mixed-use smart growth, then an ever increasing number of residents will be car-dependent for a very long time to come indeed. That's a scary thought!
The threat of the real possibility of a failing transit referendum next Spring means that we may not be able to look forward to any significant expansion of transit and increased spending on cycling to improve the balance of options we have in our area.
In Maple Ridge we're not doing much to reduce our community Greenhouse Gas Emissions, even though the majority of present Council members a few years ago committed our City to the goal of 33% reduction from 2007 levels by 2020.
There are so many other reasons why we need to get serious about getting people out of their cars and onto transit, and walking and biking for shorter trips. Growing smarter, more efficient, is one of the most important things we can do to help convince more people to look for options in the way they get around for at least some of their trips.
There's another urgent reason why we can't keep growing the way we do: the "Infrastructure Deficit".
It's a significant and complex problem, not unique to Maple Ridge, that past and present Council members have so far not wanted to address.
Mr. Gill, our diligent penny counter at the City of Maple Ridge, has tried to warn us earlier this year. The article 'For every 'burb built, Maple Ridge pays' by Phil Melnychuk in The News seemed to generate a lot of interest. I added my two cents about it in "We need to stop Suburban Sprawl"As explained, other communities that have done the math have realized they can save many millions of dollars and significantly reduce their infrastructure deficit by growing smarter.
Why is Council still not talking about this? Is it because their constituents are still not concerned?
I think they should be, so I would like to raise the issue again, hoping that the average voter will understand we have a variety of more important things to worry about than not having some big box shopping in our community, which seemed to be the main determinant of the outcome of our last municipal election.
What's the problem? Well, when a new development gets built, the developer builds the infrastructure within the development - roads, sewer, water - and also pays Development Cost Charges to the City to pay for some of the necessary upgrades of surrounding infrastructure that are impacted by the development. Sounds good, right?
Development cost charges are provincially legislated and can only be used for things like roads, water, sewer, drainage and parks, but not for things like a new fire hall or added police services and community halls.
If you've ever taken a look at where our tax money is spent, you'll know that RCMP and fire services together make up a whopping 40% of all municipal expenses. When we approve more development and another fire hall is needed, all tax payers, including existing ones, are paying for that. Every time we build a new fire hall, if we need additional police services or we need to expand our library, all tax payers are on the hook. The more spread out and disconnected the development patterns, the more these services cost per household.
The infrastructure that's paid for by the developer is handed over to the city as soon as it's built. So now it's ours. Nice, eh?
Maybe not quite so nice once you realize that about 80% of the cost of infrastructure is in the operational budget. In other words, all tax payers pay for about 80% of the cost of the infrastructure over its lifetime. So on the one hand, it's nice that we get this gift from the developer, but on the other hand, it's a gift that keeps on taking, from all of us tax payers.
So it's essential that the long-term cost of any development application is carefully considered, in the interest of existing tax payers, but also and especially future tax payers: our kids.
Right now, the infrastructure items that appear on the municipal books as "assets" are valued at over $1.5 billion. The maintenance cost as estimated in 2006, when we had about $1.3 billion worth of infrastructure, was about $30 million per year. Of course the cost of maintenance goes up over time as more infrastructure gets built and also the cost of material and labour goes up. Looks like these "assets" are more like "liabilities"!
So are we actually paying the required $30+ million per year to maintain these assets? No, not by a long shot. We have been spending roughly one tenth of that. The good news is that, since 2008, a 1% annual cumulative tax increase is being set aside to start dealing with this Infrastructure Deficit. If we keep raising our property taxes in this manner, by 2031 we should have cut our infrastructure deficit in half. That means, in the best case scenario, it's highly unlikely that most of us would see the problem resolved within our lifetime, but if we're principled enough, we can make a significant dent in it.
However, because of our low tolerance for ever increasing property taxes, Council already caved in and reduced this increase by half last year and it'll probably be at least a few more years before we should be back to being charged the full 1% increase. To make up for some of the difference until then, we're using some of the gaming revenues.
The question is, are tax payers going to tolerate these cumulative annual increases for the next 20+ years or so, and are the increases even keeping up with the infrastructure added during that time?
What happens if we don't put enough money aside to pay for maintenance and eventual replacement? Well, roads start to crumble, and bridges will start to collapse. We've seen that for example in Montreal, and many cities in the U.S. offer frightening examples.
Like Mr. Gill says: "pay me now, or pay me much more later". If we don't look after the infrastructure now, it's going to be much more costly to fix things when they start to crumble.
My take-aways from this:
- We need to start tackling the problem at the source: we need to stop inefficient, hopscotch sprawling development that makes more of us more car dependent and that we simply can't afford;
- Our new Council will need to work with other BC municipalities, through the Union of BC Municipalities, to appeal to the Province for changes in the legislative framework of Development Cost Charges and property taxes, to ensure that new development pays for the full cost, and that smart development does not unfairly end up subsidizing new dumb development, of course recognizing that the unfairness in the way existing development is taxed cannot be simply undone from one day to the next.
- BC Municipalities can't tackle the problem on their own. Both the federal and provincial governments will need to share more of their tax revenues with municipalities as more responsibilities get downloaded by higher levels of government to municipalities. Municipalities need to band together through the UBCM to get reliable long-term funding from the province and the federal government to help pay for maintenance of the infrastructure that's the backbone of our cities and economy.
So this should give you some ideas as to questions you can ask your mayoral and council candidates!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
GETI Fest 2014, Sept. 20: bike decorating, bike rodeo and much more!
GETI Fest 2014 is fast approaching. Click on the link to find out more about all the exciting stuff that's happening this year.
Of course, we're back for the 4th year in a row with our bike decorating and bike rodeo station:
We're hoping to see lots of kids this year. Bring the kids' bikes so they can make them look great and practice their skills while having loads of fun. We have two small bikes and a few helmets available, so even if you don't bring any bikes, please drop by and use ours.
I'm excited that eProdigy will be at the Station with some electric bikes for people to try out. Electric bikes are getting quite popular, especially in places that have traditionally seen more cycling. Besides regular bikes, electric bikes offer huge potential for communities that want to start transitioning away from our over-reliance on cars onto more sustainable and healthier modes of transportation. In more sprawling communities, like Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, with e-bikes more people will be able to bike for transportation more often, since they can more easily cover longer distances and hills are much easier to tackle. They also enable people with physical limitations to continue to stay active.
The GETI Fest volunteer coordinator is still looking for lots of volunteers. We can use some too! If you volunteer through the volunteer coordinator, a free lunch is provided. It's good to state your preference if you want to volunteer with HUB, but it's kind of nice at the same time to be flexible and have something to do all the time. The numbers of kids at our station may vary throughout the day. I've arranged with the volunteer coordinator that she will send me volunteers as I need them, so hopefully that'll work out best for everyone. Please let Chelsa know if you would like to volunteer: cwebb@mapleridge.ca.
To see the photos I took at last year's GETI Fest, click here.
Bike to Farms ride, Sunday Sept. 7
Join Golden Ears Community Co-op and our HUB committee for our second Bike to Farms ride on Sunday, Sept. 7. We'll be leaving from Big Feast restaurant (11920 227 St., Maple Ridge) at about 1:00 pm, and we should return there by about 4:30 pm.
The length of the ride is about 15 kms. Here is a map of the route:
This year's participating farms are:
- *NEW* Brookfield Farm, a historic farm owned and operated by Matthew and Deanna Laity. Lots of animals and lots of interesting stories!
- Lorea McCready, who lives on a lovely property overlooking the Golden Ears mountains, where she, with the help of her kids, lovingly and expertly grows, and preserves, an amazing variety of vegetables and fruits to feed her family.
- Red Barn Plants and Produce. This is where much of the produce is grown that owners Elke and Ken Knechtel sell through their CSA program, as well as at the farm gate and at the Haney Farmers Market.
This year's ride is sponsored by the Maple Ridge Agricultural Advisory Committee.
Donations to the Golden Ears Community Co-op would be much appreciated.
Donations to the Golden Ears Community Co-op would be much appreciated.
For those of you who were wondering: out of safety concerns we decided not to visit Golden Ears Cheesecrafters this year, but we're hoping to once again include this yummy destination in future Bike to Farms rides once the planned multi-use path along 128th Ave. is completed.
Participants will be required to sign a waiver at the start of the ride. Of course we will all be expected to follow the rules of the road, such as wearing a helmet, riding single file when riding on the road, and pulling over when an emergency vehicle is approaching.
Participants will be required to sign a waiver at the start of the ride. Of course we will all be expected to follow the rules of the road, such as wearing a helmet, riding single file when riding on the road, and pulling over when an emergency vehicle is approaching.
You can view a description and photos of last year's ride here.
My husband and I participated in the Slow Food Cycle Tour in Agassiz a few weeks ago. Same idea, only much bigger! Hundreds of people participate every year. I wrote about it in my last column in the Maple Ridge News.
It would be appreciated if you could register for the Bike to Farms ride in advance, so we have an idea how many people we can expect. Please send me an e-mail at jchow23708@yahoo.ca.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Our meeting dates for the coming year
Good news! We're once again getting a free meeting room in the Maple Ridge Library from the District of Maple Ridge for the coming year! We're still getting the same room: the Alouette Room, which is upstairs.
We have one more meeting on the 3rd Thursday of the month in August, on the 21st. We'll be in Memorial Peace Park for this meeting for our annual "Pizza in the Park". So if anyone is thinking of joining us, please let me know ahead of time so I can make sure we have enough food and drink (my e-mail: jchow23708@yahoo.ca).
Starting in September we're back to the 2nd Thursday of the month, and our meeting schedule will be as follows:
Sept. 11
Oct. 9
Nov. 13
No regular meeting in December
No room available in January; meeting in open space area upstairs
Feb. 12
Mar 12
Apr. 9
May 14
June 11
July 9
Aug. 13
Time: 6:45 to 8:45 pm
We have one more meeting on the 3rd Thursday of the month in August, on the 21st. We'll be in Memorial Peace Park for this meeting for our annual "Pizza in the Park". So if anyone is thinking of joining us, please let me know ahead of time so I can make sure we have enough food and drink (my e-mail: jchow23708@yahoo.ca).
Starting in September we're back to the 2nd Thursday of the month, and our meeting schedule will be as follows:
Sept. 11
Oct. 9
Nov. 13
No regular meeting in December
No room available in January; meeting in open space area upstairs
Feb. 12
Mar 12
Apr. 9
May 14
June 11
July 9
Aug. 13
Time: 6:45 to 8:45 pm
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Pitt Meadows Day: free bike parking and draw for free bike tune-ups!
If you're planning to go to Pitt Meadows Day (Sat. June 7), consider taking your bike! The new Pitt Meadows Active Transportation Committee is offering free bike parking from noon till 5:00 pm.
You can read about the chance to win a free bike tune-up, offered by Pitt Meadows Cycle, in this e-mail.
You can read about the chance to win a free bike tune-up, offered by Pitt Meadows Cycle, in this e-mail.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Bike to Work Week: May 26 - June 1
Bike to Work Week is just two weeks away! Register by May 18 (Sunday!) and you'll still be entered in our early bird registration contest.
Over 50 celebration stations will be set up across Metro Vancouver this spring - stop by for free snacks, free coffee and free bike repairs! Find all the celebration stations - check out our interactive map.
Sign up, log your trips and be part of making Metro Vancouver a better place to live, work and play - register for Bike to Work Week today.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Art Studio Bike Tour, May 11: photos
The weather was fabulous on Sunday, just perfect for our first Art Studio Bike Tour. It happened to coincide with Mother's Day, which I thought was going to bring out lots of moms. Not so. We only had 8 people altogether on our tour. It made it certainly more relaxing for me to have fewer people than expected, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As did the others.
The art was amazing. We saw a.o. beautiful paintings by Diane Speirs, clearly inspired by the beautiful nature in our area, lifelike wood sculptures by Bruce Rothe, made from wood found by the Fraser River and beautifully transformed into various types of fish such as, of course, salmon. Also beautiful glass dishes and jewelry by Jane McKay, more gorgeous paintings by amazingly versatile artist Elaine Booth-Kallweit, leather art by Joie Pare, and more.
Some of the comments I received:
..."Thanks for a great day! I loved it! ...A great ride!"...
..."I wanted to thank you again for making today so enjoyable. Following the bike with the flowers turned out to be great fun! Thank you for making my mother's day one I will remember."...
For more photos, click here.
I'd love to do this again next year. I read some interesting articles in the paper about some of the other artists in the Tour. Perhaps our next one should be in Pitt Meadows: great art, and suitably flat terrain!
The art was amazing. We saw a.o. beautiful paintings by Diane Speirs, clearly inspired by the beautiful nature in our area, lifelike wood sculptures by Bruce Rothe, made from wood found by the Fraser River and beautifully transformed into various types of fish such as, of course, salmon. Also beautiful glass dishes and jewelry by Jane McKay, more gorgeous paintings by amazingly versatile artist Elaine Booth-Kallweit, leather art by Joie Pare, and more.
Some of the comments I received:
..."Thanks for a great day! I loved it! ...A great ride!"...
..."I wanted to thank you again for making today so enjoyable. Following the bike with the flowers turned out to be great fun! Thank you for making my mother's day one I will remember."...
 |
| Credit: Art Studio Tour |
I'd love to do this again next year. I read some interesting articles in the paper about some of the other artists in the Tour. Perhaps our next one should be in Pitt Meadows: great art, and suitably flat terrain!
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Photos: our first Spring Bike Tune-up Workshop
Quite a few people had told us over the last few years that they would like to learn how to do simple repairs and maintenance on their bikes.On May 10, we finally organized a Spring Bike Tune-up Workshop at the first Haney Farmers Market of the season.
It was a rather cold and miserable day, but we actually had just the right number of people drop by with their bikes in the morning to keep our volunteer mechanics Chris and Joan quite busy. At noon Malcolm took over from Joan, but it wasn't as busy in the afternoon. We also got help from Miles and his daughter Chantelle.
The Haney Farmers Market was celebrating its 10th anniversary, so we all got some yummy carrot cake. I also had shopping coupons to hand out to the first 25 cyclists to arrive at the Bandstand (thank you Haney Farmers Market!). I gave away most of them.
Here are some pictures:
It was a rather cold and miserable day, but we actually had just the right number of people drop by with their bikes in the morning to keep our volunteer mechanics Chris and Joan quite busy. At noon Malcolm took over from Joan, but it wasn't as busy in the afternoon. We also got help from Miles and his daughter Chantelle.
The Haney Farmers Market was celebrating its 10th anniversary, so we all got some yummy carrot cake. I also had shopping coupons to hand out to the first 25 cyclists to arrive at the Bandstand (thank you Haney Farmers Market!). I gave away most of them.
Here are some pictures:
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| We were nice and dry in the Bandstand |
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| Chris and Fred are having a talk about gears |
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| Miles and Chantelle manning the HUB booth |
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| Joan adjusting some brakes |
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| Chris talking to a cyclist who's just about to depart on a solo cycling trip to Mexico |
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| Chris fine-tuning some gears |
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| Bill Archibald, a.k.a. the "Trail Boss" of the Haney Horsemen, dropped off some special bikes for next year's Cycle Recycle |
Monday, April 28, 2014
Earth Day 2014: HUB's Cycle Recycle photos
Here are some photos of our annual Cycle Recycle at Earth Day 2014 in Maple Ridge:
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| Bikes have all been cleaned and are ready to go |
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| Barry trucked all 16 bikes and the parts box over to Memorial Peace Park - photo: Geoff Hancock |
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| Hmmm...what's this all about? Free bikes? Really? |
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| There are Gerry Pinel of GETI and John McKenzie, who's keeping a close eye on his bike. |
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| Dave takes his job as Chief Mechanic pretty serious... - photo Geoff Hancock |
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| with Geoff as his assistant. |
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| Barry checking some brakes and Dave looking for more work - photo Geoff Hancock |
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| Dave replacing a broken pedal - photo Geoff Hancock |
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| Barry pumped all the tires to perfection - photo Geoff Hancock |
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| Lindy Sisson, Exec. Dir. of the ACT, announcing the winners of the draw - photo Geoff Hancock |
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| The best part of the event: the happy faces! - photo Geoff Hancock |
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
FREE Spring Bike Tune-up Workshop, May 10
At the Haney Farmers Market, HUB volunteers will be teaching basic bike repair and maintenance to whoever wants to learn!Where: Bandstand, Memorial Peace Park
When: Saturday, May 10
Time: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Just drop by!
Update April 28: the first 25 people to arrive by bike at the market will receive a $5 coupon, donated by the Haney Farmers Market!
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Art Studio Bike Tour, May 11
Do you know the annual Art Studio Tour in Maple Ridge is coming up? It’ll take place on May 10th and 11th.
This year you have the option of joining members of our local HUB committee on our first Art Studio Bike Tour.
Date: Sunday, May 11
Time: 10:00 am
Where: The ACT, Memorial Peace Park
We’ve selected a nice variety of art studios along a pleasant route for this ride. Length of the route is about 16 kms, so quite doable for the average person. You can expect some refreshments along the way, offered by the various artists, but you may want to bring along a small lunch and a water bottle as well, since we’ll be on the road for several hours.
Doing it by bike adds another dimension to exploring the arts scene in Maple Ridge. It’s just as much about enjoying the exercise and the outdoors as about discovering the amazing artsy talents in our community!
We have been asked by the District's Engineering Department, the RCMP and the Fire Department to point out to participants that:
- it is illegal to ride 2 or more abreast,
- cyclists are legally required to wear a helmet,
- riders must obey all traffic rules/regulations specially at intersections,
- riders must yield to all emergency vehicles,
- Barbara Heller (tapestry artist) at the ACT
- Kerry McLaren and Donnae Bell (clay artists), 21536 River Road, Maple Ridge
- Elaine Booth-Kallweit (paintings – nature, carving, native art) and Joie Pare (leather art), 12507 – 216 Street
- Jane McKay (art glass design), 22416 129 Avenue
- Bruce Rothe (wood carving), 12717 – 228th Street
- Diane (painting) and Craig (wood/found objects) Speirs , 23386 124th Ave
Please contact Jackie at jchow23708@yahoo.ca.
This is the approximate route:
Friday, April 11, 2014
Cycle Recycle at Earth Day 2014 on April 26
HUB will be back at Maple Ridge Earth Day 2014 with our Cycle Recycle. The Earth Day event happens this year on April 26, from 10 am to 2 pm.
It looks like we may have more than 10 used bikes to give away. Some kid's bikes, some adult bikes; a great selection.
I just found out today that we'll get a prime location this time in Memorial Peace Park instead of our regular, rather hidden location in front of the Leisure Centre; this time we'll be between the bandstand and the ACT, right in the middle of all the action.
Drop by in the morning to take a look at the bikes we have. Enter a ticket for each bike you're interested in. You can only win one bike though! The draw will be at 1:00 pm, by Lindy Sisson, Executive Director of the ACT. The winners of the bikes will have to be present during the draw; if not, we'll have to draw another ticket.
Some of the bikes may need some minor repairs, so we'll be busy with that in the morning. Good opportunity to learn something about bike mechanics!
We'll borrow the bike engraver from the RCMP Crime Prevention Unit. Good idea to have your name or driver's licence engraved on your bike. If it ever gets stolen, it'll be easy for the RCMP to find its rightful owner. Good reason to bike to Earth Day, if doing it just for the benefit of the environment and your health weren't good enough reasons yet!
To find out more about what's happening at this year's Earth Day, check out the information on the Ridge Meadows Recycle website, and the Celebrate Earth Day in Maple Ridge facebook page.
It looks like we may have more than 10 used bikes to give away. Some kid's bikes, some adult bikes; a great selection.
I just found out today that we'll get a prime location this time in Memorial Peace Park instead of our regular, rather hidden location in front of the Leisure Centre; this time we'll be between the bandstand and the ACT, right in the middle of all the action.
Drop by in the morning to take a look at the bikes we have. Enter a ticket for each bike you're interested in. You can only win one bike though! The draw will be at 1:00 pm, by Lindy Sisson, Executive Director of the ACT. The winners of the bikes will have to be present during the draw; if not, we'll have to draw another ticket.
Some of the bikes may need some minor repairs, so we'll be busy with that in the morning. Good opportunity to learn something about bike mechanics!
We'll borrow the bike engraver from the RCMP Crime Prevention Unit. Good idea to have your name or driver's licence engraved on your bike. If it ever gets stolen, it'll be easy for the RCMP to find its rightful owner. Good reason to bike to Earth Day, if doing it just for the benefit of the environment and your health weren't good enough reasons yet!
To find out more about what's happening at this year's Earth Day, check out the information on the Ridge Meadows Recycle website, and the Celebrate Earth Day in Maple Ridge facebook page.
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