biking | This Could Be Phoenix
-1
archive,tag,tag-biking,tag-102,bridge-core-2.9.6,qode-page-transition-enabled,ajax_leftright,page_not_loaded,,qode-theme-ver-28.0,qode-theme-bridge,disabled_footer_bottom,qode_header_in_grid,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.7.0,vc_responsive
 

biking Tag

30 Apr

Lately, everywhere you look is a rack full of bright green bikes sporting smiley-face emoticons. It's Grid Bikes, a bike-share program that launched in Phoenix late last year. The majority of the program’s nearly 40 stations and 500 bicycles are clustered in Downtown and Midtown, and there are four different payment options: $5 hourly, $30 monthly, or $79 annually, with a student rate of $59 annually. The paid memberships all offer 60 free minutes of riding time per day. We've put together some of our favorite Grid Bikes rides and destinations. If you’re looking for a fun ride, use these maps and routes to start your journey.
07:35 / Urban Lifestyle & Culture
07 Apr

The Beginning

My story starts in a small town in London, England, where I was born. My mother, also born in London, had met my father, originally from Nigeria, while he was passing through on his way to America. His dreams to reach the land of opportunity were quickly delayed. My early childhood was spent traveling back and forth from London and Nigeria, which gave me a good idea of what I liked and didn’t like about the two countries. When I was nine, we finally made it to America the beautiful, the great, the desert…

Where is America?

It wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized we were really in America. We had been living in the place my father spoke so highly of. I couldn’t believe that this was it. The weather was hot. It never rained. I couldn’t wear my rain coats that I adored in England. There was no canal like the Regent’s Canal by my grandmother’s. No Broadway Market. I didn’t feel the freedom like I felt in Nigeria. The food wasn’t nearly as good as the food I was used to. The only thing we did downtown was to go to Woolworth's, a general store...what fun.
05:00 / My Phoenix Story
02 Apr

Ten years ago, I left the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to Phoenix to live closer to my parents. They had retired to the Verde Valley from Michigan and I hadn’t lived near them in sixteen years. As beautiful as it is, San Francisco never felt like home. That place was reserved for New York City, where I spent most of my twenties and half of my thirties. It still feels like my hometown, even though I lived in Michigan until just after college graduation. I felt like I really grew as a person when I reached Manhattan and I fell in love with that city. But as friends got married, had children and moved out of NYC and to neighboring Boston, I found myself following them there, enjoying a wonderful two-year stint. Having lived in all of these great places, it was easy to compare Phoenix to them when I first arrived and wondered what on earth I had just done.

The Heart Grows Fonder

My first exposure to Phoenix had me seeing sprawl, freeways, huge arterial streets, little in the way of public transportation and no walkability. Having spent many years without a car, I wasn’t thrilled to have to drive everywhere. But I wanted to be closer to family and so I was committed.
05:00 / My Phoenix Story
31 Mar

On March 20 the city presented the design for the upcoming First Street Pedestrian Project to the neighborhood at the Irish Cultural Center. I was there with This Could Be PHX and other community advocates. What we saw was actually more disappointing than expected. All the feedback they were given over the past four years since the Fillmore-McKinley portion was completed was ignored. Our expectations that this “updated” McKinley-Moreland design would reflect at least SOME of that feedback were completely let down. Instead we saw the exact same design that they presented five years ago. I don’t know about you, but we've learned new and better ways of doing things over the past five years. So why hasn't the City and its consultants included them in the updated design?
08:00 / City Infrastructure
20 Mar

A few weeks ago, we asked for your opinions on our Facebook page: What's the worst thing about parking in Downtown Phoenix? You gave us various different responses, and were extremely helpful in understanding the community's perception of what it's like to park in Downtown Phoenix. Let's face it: Parking is a touchy subject that lies at the center of a clash of lifestyles. It's a complex issue, and we get that. As part of our exploration into the topic of parking, we'll attempt to understand and explain some of its many facets in future blog posts. We want to do this thoroughly and factually so that we (and hopefully you!) can fully understand the problems our city is facing.
08:00 / City Infrastructure