GreenDorchester (Dorchester Environmental Health Coalition)

Bicycling Magazine’s BikeTown gives away bicycles to people all over the U.S. and they are coming to Boston August 27 to give away 30 more. Write up a 50-word essay about how a bicycle could change someone’s life here.

Bike lanes and sharrows on Dorchester Avenue are expected to be installed by the end of July (you can see some of them on the road right now!). The lanes start at Broadway in South Boston and end at Hoyt St., which is part of the Glover’s Corner intersection that includes Freeport Street.

Click here to see a Google map of where the bike lanes and sharrows will be on Dorchester Ave.

There will be sharrows (markers that indicate bikes share the road with cars – see the photo at the right) instead of bike lanes around Andrew Square,  and continuing from Hoyt St. south to where Dorchester Ave. ends  in Lower Mills.

Plans for intersection redesigns, including bike boxes in Fields Corner at Centre, Park and Gibson streets, at Glover’s Corner and Savin Hill Ave. and in Andrew Square are in the works.  On Talbot Avenue, bike lanes are going to be installed within 2 months.

The MBTA is using $4.8 million in federal funds to construct up to eight new bike cages (now called Pedal & Park), with one at Ashmont T station to open in Spring 2011.

The P&Ps can hold 300 bikes, are monitored by video cameras and require a special-coded Charlie Card to get inside.  Bike CharlieCards are free of charge and obtainable from station staff where P&Ps are located.

It’s riding weather, but not all of the Dot Bike regulars ride on Dorchester Ave. daily. So if you see bike lanes painted, please let them know at dotbike@bostonbiker.org.

Over 100 residents of Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Milton attended a public meeting in May to hear about alternatives for linking the Neponset Greenway where it now ends at Central Avenue in Milton to Mattapan Square and upriver trails in Hyde Park and beyond.  The planned extension to Blue Hill Avenue will open about 7 miles of trail along the Neponset River, connecting Pope John Paul II Park in Dorchester to the Neponset Valley Parkway in Hyde Park, providing a regionally linked recreational amenity and bike commuting option. Joe Orfant, Chief of the Bureau of Planning and Resource Protection at the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), presented an update on the Neponset River Trail Extension Project, including several different route options. 

Two site walks have been scheduled by DCR on July 22 and 26, 6:30-8:30 PM, and the public comment period has been extended to August 14, 2010.  In early fall, DCR will hold a second public meeting to present the recommended alternative.

DotBike, DEHC’s spin-off community bicycle advocacy group, is co-sponsoring R.O.C.K., Roll and Ride in Franklin Park, a fun day of cycle activities this Saturday.

There will be bikes to borrow for free, escorted family friendly rides of various distances so everyone can find the right ride for them, a bike maintenance station, helmet giveaways while they last and other fun bike activities.

The registration area will be located across from the Giraffe entrance of the Zoo accessible via Pierpont Rd. off of Circuit Drive.

Saturday July 17th 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Co-sponsored by Boston Bikes, BCYF, DotBike, Franklin Park Coalition, JP Bikes and RozzieBikes.

MyDotTour Fields Corner Walking Tour kicks off on Saturday, June 5 at 10 AM.  The 1-hour tours are youth-led walking tours—the first of their kind in Dorchester.  Come to the lobby of the Fields Corner T station, where there will be a registration table.
MyDotTour youth have created the informational content of the tour by selecting local sites to highlight, researching their history, and writing scripts to deliver at each tour stop.  The tours begin promptly at 10:00am and again at 1:00pm. The suggested ticket price – $10 for adults, $5 for children under 12 - supports the MyDotTour program.
And then on Sunday, June 6, join DotBike and ride in the Dorchester Day Parade, even if you don’t have your own bike!

Cities and towns across Greater Boston can install bicycle parking racks in their communities at almost no cost this year, as part of a special reimbursement program administered by the MAPC.

MAPC, the regional planning agency for 101 cities and towns in Greater Boston, has more than $475,000 in funding still available for local governments to bring bike parking into town centers, schools and other areas this year.

With summer on the way, bike racks offer cyclists enhanced opportunities to enjoy warmer weather, to get fit, and to enjoy a low-cost form of transportation that provides an environmentally-friendly alternative to driving.

Bicycle parking can be nearly 100 times less expensive than vehicle parking per space, and employers who offer bike racks alleviate the demand for car parking. Continue Reading »

It is inspirational to see so many out and about biking!

On Friday May 21st, DEHC will join DotBikers at 7 AM to form a convoy to ride downtown to Mayor Menino’s Bike Festival at City Hall Plaza, where there will be free breakfast and a bike festival.  The Dorchester bike convoy departs from Peabody Square (near the Ashmont T station) at 7 AM then collects another group in Fields Corner around 7:10 a.m. Please sign up to ride with DotBike and help make Dorchester’s convoy the largest!   Other events happening during bike week include:

• Bike Week Kickoff, May 17 City Hall Plaza, Boston, 11:45 AM
• Thursday May 20, 11 AM: Bike Friendly Business Award recognizing Codman Square Health Center among companies creating a bike-friendly atmosphere for their employees and customers. City Hall Plaza.
• Also Thursday May 20, 5-9 PM: Cities for Cycling – America’s Best Cycling Cities, 20 Boston University’s Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, 871 Commonwealth Ave, Boston.
  Learn what what Roger Geller from Portland OR, Jon Orcutt from New York City and Timothy Papandreou from San Francisco are doing to make their cities world-class bicycling cities.
• And don’t forget to sign up for Friday’s Dorchester bike convoy!

Be sure to check our calendar regularly for more bike activities.

On Thursday, May, 20, 2010, Mayor Menino will recognize Codman Square Health Center as a bronze-level Bike Friendly Business.  The Mayor’s Bike Friendly Business award program recognizes Boston companies that encourage bicycling among their employees by engaging in bicycle friendly practices – this has the added benefit of making them more bike friendly for customers as well.   By adopting a few basic, inexpensive practices, companies can significantly “improve the climate” for cycling in Boston. 

Codman Square Health Center already supported bike commuting with a bike rack close to the front entrance and free shower facilities for employees.  A few other simple steps (providing a link on their website to information for employees who would like to commute by bike, for example) garnered the award. The Codman Square Health Center is also exploring setting up a bike share program for employee work trips, using bike messengers for local deliveries, signing up a team for Hub on Wheels event in September, and guaranteeing a ride home for bike commuters in the event of a family emergency.
The Bike Friendly Business Awards are part of Mayor Menino’s vision to make Boston a greener, more sustainable, and livable city.  Thursday’s honorees will receive a “Mayor Menino Bike Friendly Business” window sticker.  We hope you will join us at the 2010 Bike Friendly Business Awards Ceremony, Thursday May 20, 2010, 11 AM at City Hall Plaza.

The Fairmount Line opened in 1855 and was one of Boston’s first commuter railroads, running approximately 9 miles between South Station and Hyde Park.   After long years of declining ridership, the line was closed down in 1944 – it was reopened by the Mass. Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1979, but without any Dorchester or Mattapan stations.  In 1987, two new stations opened in Mattapan (Morton Street) and Uphams Corner due to community pressure.  Carrying about 2,000 riders daily, it is the smallest commuter line in the MBTA system and the only one entirely contained in Boston, MA.  Currently there are four stations – Uphams Corner, Morton Street, Fairmount and Readville – and the line runs through communities (Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park) that constitute more than 30% of Boston’s population.

Over the years, the Fairmount Corridor Collaborative (FCC), a group of local housing and economic development agencies, realized the commuter line was travelling through rather than serving the transit needs of the neighborhoods. Dorchester and Mattapan communities are served mostly by bus Continue Reading »

The Shiny Green Dot Ride — Saturday April 24th 1 p.m. — Meet at Pope John Paul II park in the Hallet St. parking area. After you’re done with cleaning up your neighborhood for Boston Shines come on down!

*BORROW A BIKE* – this year DotBike has the opportunity for you to borrow a bike courtesy of Boston Bikes! The fleet has adult, youth and child bikes. Reservations for bikes are required and must be made by *noon on Thursday* – to reserve bikes go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HDZBV22 or call Andy at 781-367-9200. For more about the ride, click here.