<br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br><br>Quick Reminder about Tonights Talk!! And next Week's talk with Dan Burden at LivableStreets!!!<br><font color="#888888"><br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Dorothy<br></font><div><div></div>
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STREETTALK! WITH SPECIAL GUEST, ROGER GELLER!<br>
Bicycle Coordinator, Portland (OR)<br>
Mon. Mar. 3, 6 - 8 pm<br>
free and open to the public, donation suggested, beer/wine/drinks served<br>
@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney Street, Cambridge near Central Sq.<br>
<br>
Roger Geller has been with the Office of Transportation in Portland,<br>
Oregon since July, 1994. Roger is the Bicycle Coordinator in the Office<br>
of the Director Planning Division. He currently works on Bikeway Network<br>
Signing, Technical design for bikeways, Bicycle parking, and an update<br>
to the Bicycle Master Plan.<br>
<br>
Roger will overview what Portland has done over the past two decades to<br>
improve bicycling, what successes have been achieved, and how those<br>
successes are measured. He will talk about the four types of cyclists:<br>
"Strong & Brave", "Enthused & Confident", "Untapped majority of<br>
potential cyclists", and "those who never will." He will talk about the<br>
critical roles that political leadership and citizen advocacy play in<br>
influencing change. Also, the willingness of city staff to experiment<br>
and try out new things and measuring their effectiveness. But things<br>
aren't finished with Portland. Roger's talk is, in a sense, a "Tale of<br>
Teo Cities:" a city that has had significant transportation<br>
accomplishments, but one that recognizes that it has barely scratched<br>
the surface of what is necessary to truly succeed in shifting people out<br>
of single-occupancy motor vehicles to transit, biking, and walking.<br>
<br>
Beer and home-brewed soft drinks provided courtesy of Harpoon!<br>
<br>
For more information:<br>
<a href="http://livablestreets.info" target="_blank">http://livablestreets.info</a><br>
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STREET TALK with special guest DAN BURDEN !<br>
Simply put, Dan helps communities find their hearts and promote walkable<br>
communities.<br>
<br>
Mon. Mar. 10, 6:30 - 8:30 pm<br>
Dan Burden, founder of Walkable Communities , consultant for Glatting<br>
Jackson<br>
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NOTE LOCATION: @ Adaptive Environments showroom, 200 Portland Street,<br>
next to North Station, Boston<br>
click for directions...<br>
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If you've never heard Dan Burden give a presentation, you really don't<br>
know what you are missing. In the realm of LivableStreets, Dan is a hero.<br>
<br>
Once called the "Johnny Appleseed" of livable communities, Dan drives<br>
forward as confidently as if he were entering his own neighborhood, and<br>
talks about his work and his vision of the slowly emerging, post-sprawl<br>
America. People's optimism about improving their communities often<br>
wavers when they talk about the clutter, confusion, and congestion they<br>
see through their windshields. It falters again when they reach inside<br>
themselves to describe the absences sprawl imposes on their lives: It<br>
steals time, choice, and proximity to others--not just open space. We<br>
are not only farther away from schools and shops, from friends and<br>
neighbors, from fields and woods; more and more of each day is given<br>
over to a tense, effortful, unnourishing, and for now unavoidable<br>
in-between-ness. This townless, countryless, road-bound running around<br>
stretches us thin; our bodies are in motion-but what is there around us<br>
to anchor our hearts and minds?<br>
<br>
Burden is part of the suddenly arrived profession that promotes new<br>
kinds of communities. He is one of a (small but growing) group of<br>
itinerant designers and facilitators are now crisscrossing the country<br>
conducting workshops with local residents. They're exploring the<br>
possibilities of changing streets and buildings in ways that would add<br>
pleasure and reassurance to cities and towns. Does a city become more<br>
lovable as it becomes more livable? Can we find a balance between cars<br>
and people? What about the even trickier balance between land and cars<br>
and people? Can developers and local officials move from blueprints to<br>
"greenprints," so that a town's growth plans add green space to people's<br>
lives, instead of taking it away? These are a few of the many questions<br>
that Dan tackles. But it's not easy. "I tell my audiences that<br>
Schopenhauer long ago defined the three stages all new ideas go through:<br>
ridicule, violent opposition, and acceptance," says Burden. "I've never<br>
yet seen a single step skipped in any community."<br>
<br>
Beer and home-brewed soft drinks provided courtesy of Harpoon!<br>
<br>
For more information:<br>
<a href="http://livablestreets.info" target="_blank">http://livablestreets.info</a><br>
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