Ray Atkinson started this blog in 2014 when he moved from his childhood home in Kannapolis, NC (Walk Score of 0) to get his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University (Walk Score of 100). He has never owned a car despite living in Memphis, TN. His email is gismap1@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayplans
“Cancun at Eye Level” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”. I am in Cancun with my parents and twin sister (my brother rejected the invite) from Saturday, March 2nd through Sunday, March 10th. While I usually avoid tourist hotspots because I prefer to experience the local culture, my dad invited me to stay at his all-inclusive resort where his optometry conference is located. Hopefully, I will gain a few pounds from the unlimited food and alcohol. Yes, I am a weird American for writing that I am trying to gain weight.
Cancun Traffic Is Organized Chaos
I need to get some sleep before my next adventure tomorrow. The photo below summarizes my Cancun traffic viewpoint. I was riding the bus when taking the photo. Since my dad was overwhelmed by watching the bus driver in the traffic conditions, he was thankful that he decided not to rent a car. I was honestly surprised that my parents and twin sister were willing to ride the bus in Cancun because I do not believe they ever ride the bus in the United States. My mom has been experiencing dizziness, and the bus was standing room only, so it was a blessing in disguise that she decided three weather was too hot to join us for the trip to Downtown. Where is the traffic signal in this busy intersection?!
Photo: Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
I may take time to write more Cancun posts during my vacation. What do you want me to write about?
Greetings from Memphis! I wanted to publish a post when I moved to Memphis during Labor Day weekend. I felt the need to postpone blogging because I have been busy with moving, unpacking, organizing, meeting neighbors, and preparing for my new job, which starts on Monday, September 11th.
Podcasts About Ray’s New Job
In case you are curious to learn more about my job, I recommend listening to the below podcasts where my predecessors and other people were interviewed about their active transportation work and the future work that I will be managing. Due to the history that is shared in each podcast, I recommend listening to Episode 3 first before proceeding to the next podcast. I copied the episode descriptions, so the descriptions were not created by me. As you will hear in the podcasts, my predecessors and other passionate champions did impressive work to help Memphis become known as a national active transportation leader!
Making bikes affordable to more people by founding Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop led Anthony Siracusa to bike advocacy work on the local, state, and national levels. In time, he saw the bike as only one lever to affect change among many. Anthony’s doctoral studies at Vanderbilt deepened that knowledge by showing him the many Champions and their causes within the Civil Rights Movement. That led him to his current work at Colorado College, where he helps students better champion their own causes.
Kyle Wagenschutz was a critical figure in growing and sustaining Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop in Memphis, alongside founder Anthony Siracusa. Together, the two shared a love for bikes and punk rock, and they found that each subculture played a role in helping them build a community around bikes. Kyle advocated for bike lanes in Memphis, first from his perch at Revolutions, but then as the City of Memphis’ first bicycle/pedestrian coordinator. Anthony and Kyle’s effective “inside-outside” game showed what can happen when government and grassroots work together. The two friends’ partnership helped move Memphis from a “worst city for biking” to “most improved” and on to being a national leader in just six years. Now the Director of Local Innovation at PeopleForBikes in Boulder, CO, what Kyle learned through trial and error in Memphis is benefiting people in other cities.
Episode 30: Nick Oyler is not on the Champions of the Lost Causes’ website, so you will need to access it through this Google Podcasts link. The episode 30 description is below:
Nick Oyler is the Bikeway & Pedestrian Program Manager for the City of Memphis. When the push for bike lanes in Memphis resulted in early victories for the bike/ped movement and then gave way to the city’s initial buildout, Nick was away at college, grad school, and then working in Germany. Following all that news from afar, Nick thought that he might have missed his moment to get involved. But as many multifaceted causes require, there was plenty of work left to be done when he got back to his hometown. Nick’s experience of riding a bike when he was young helped pave the way for his interest in city planning and to his current role, and helped him see the many benefits to cities and people of having a well-designed system of bike lanes and walkways. Memphis has come a long way, but it still has a lot of work ahead of it.
Champions of the Lost Causes
John Paul Shaffer from PeopleForBikes and Nick Oyler from the City of Memphis join us to talk about how Memphis has gone from 2 to 300 miles of off- and on-road bicycle facilities over a decade; which projects have been truly transformative, such as Shelby Farms Greenway and the Harahan Bridge Crossing; and how an intentional focus on equity and neighborhood-based programming has helped more Memphians get on bikes for recreation and transportation.
Later in the program, regular commentator Charlie Santo reflects on moving from transportation mecca Portland, OR to Memphis and trying to navigate the local system. Charlie and Emily also talk about how bike infrastructure and related improvements like traffic calming can potentially help increase access to public spaces such as Tom Lee Park and Riverside Park.
Nick Oyler, bikeway and pedestrian program manager for the City of Memphis, makes a return visit to Memphis Metropolis to talk about pedestrian safety. This past week, Smart Growth America issued its Dangerous by Design 2021 study, which found that pedestrian deaths due to traffic accidents continue to increase nationally. Moreover, the study found that Memphis was the third most dangerous city for pedestrians, with pedestrian deaths up around 75 percent since 2019. In the show, Nick explains the connection between street design and pedestrian safety, why COVID and driver distraction have contributed to the rise in fatalities, and how dedicated funding for pedestrian infrastructure could help change the trajectory. And, why his team created a special map to help memorialize the lives of Memphis pedestrians that have been lost.
Pedestrian deaths in Memphis are at an all-time high and the city is one of the most dangerous in the U.S. for people who get around on foot. But while driver behavior and poor street design are the primary contributors to the problem, pedestrians themselves – the victims – are often blamed. Nick Oyler, Bikeway and Pedestrian Program Manager in the city’s engineering department, pays a return visit to Memphis Metropolis to discuss what the law actually says about where pedestrians can and cannot cross the street, why pedestrian behavior that seems illogical often is quite rational, and how “windshield bias” – seeing the problem exclusively from the driver perspective – is inhibiting the development of solutions.
Nick Oyler has spent the last several years working in and with the community to improve the city’s active transportation systems, first with the Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and most recently as bike and pedestrian program manager for the City of Memphis. Nick is leaving Memphis to pursue new professional opportunities in Denver, and we asked him to return to Memphis Metropolis one last time to reflect on the successes, frustrations, and opportunities he has experienced during his tenure here.
A city’s ParkScore is a measure of how it compares to other places, using criteria such as access, acreage, equity, and investments. The ParkScore Index is prepared annually by the Trust for Public Land, a people-focused parks and public land advocacy organization. In this show, Noel Durant of the TPL’s Tennessee office visits Memphis Metropolis to talk about why ParkScores are so important and how Memphis ranked in their recent study. Memphis park advocates JoAnn Street also joins the conversation to provide a local perspective. JoAnn is the founder of HUG Park Friends, a support organization for three North Memphis parks, Hollywood, University, and Gooch.
Jackson McNeil, a longtime friend of Memphis Metropolis, recently joined Innovate Memphis as Director of Transportation and Mobility, overseeing the Commute Options program. In this show, we discuss the hard work of (and many obstacles to) getting Memphians out of their cars and onto alternate modes of transportation. Jackson and Emily also discuss the recently published Safe Speed Index, which ranks cities on the average vehicle speeds on streets used by pedestrians.
Ray’s New E-Bike Made His Car-Free Life Easier
Since my blog is focused on my car-free lifestyle, I wanted to share the most significant improvement to making my car-free lifestyle easier. As I shared in this 2022 post, my first e-bike did not fit on the bus bike rack because it was too heavy (58.4 pounds) and long (47″) to fit on the standard bike rack. Thank you to Brandie Macdonald for making me aware of the Wing Freedom ST.2 e-bike, which is light (39 pounds) and short (42.9″) enough to fit on the standard bike rack. I frequently had to leave my old e-bike at home in California because I knew it would not fit on the bus bike rack. I was excited to put my new e-bike on the bus bike rack when I went shopping in East Memphis last week!
I had to rush to get on and off the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) bus, so I did not have time to take a photo of my e-bike on the bus bike rack. Taking selfies with my bike was possible on the Big River Crossing, which is an impressive and wide active transportation bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas. The views are fantastic! My new Memphis friends, who were also born and raised in the Charlotte region (all three of us went to high school in Cabarrus County!) and graduated from UNC Charlotte around the same time as me, invited me to join them on a walk across the Big River Crossing. I am not an early bird, especially when I prefer to sleep in during the weekend, so I felt accomplished with waking up in time for the 8am walk today!
Biking on the Big River Crossing. Photo: Ray Atkinson
View of downtown Memphis from the Big River Crossing. Photo: Ray Atkinson
My new church, The Church of the River (First Unitarian Church of Memphis), is near the trailhead to the Big River Crossing. I honestly had difficulty focusing on the sermon because the church has such an impressive natural view! I felt like I was forest bathing during church!
View from The Church of the River (First Unitarian Church of Memphis). Photo: Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
I am trying to keep this post short, so I will share more about Memphis in a future post. Since I have never seen a bike ride combined with cooking and feeding low-income people living on the street, I am excited to experience the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry’s weekly bike rides on Wednesday night and Saturday morning!
My roommate and I received a patio notice from our Petaluma, CA apartment complex yesterday (Friday) that requires me to park my two bikes in a bike cage or inside my bedroom. The patio notice also requires us to bring our small trash and recycle cans inside. While I was tempted to share the notice publicly, it has our address on it. Since our lease states that only furniture can be on our patio, I should have read our lease closer. Thankfully, we did not get fined and the property manager is helping us to be compliant. We learned that many residents have bikes on their patios, so we were not the only residents who receive the notice. While I may find similar restrictions in a homeowner association (HOA) if my first home ends up being in an HOA, I have enough savings to buy my first home after my one-year work probation period is over next July. Due to how many Californians cannot afford to buy a home, I am fortunate to be able to afford an expensive home in California.
Where Can Ray Park His Two Bikes?
I wish the answer was as simple as inside a bike cage. While the below photo is hard to see inside the bike cage, there is only space for one more bike. The property manager said more bike cages are planned. Unfortunately, they do not have a timeline for when the bike cages will be built. At least they recognize the need for more bike cages.
Source: Ray Atkinson
Due to the potential for bike theft, I would prefer my bikes to be parked in a secure bike cage. Since I do not want to hang my bikes on the wall in my bedroom because they are heavy, I am hoping the property manager will allow me to lock my bikes to the non-secure bike racks outside the bike cages. I wrote “allow” because my apartment complex has a bike registration system. This is separate from the City of Petaluma. The property manager will remove my bikes if they are not registered and parked in the correct location. I have never lived in an apartment complex that has a bike registration system!
Ray Purchased His First E-Bike
I try to include something positive in my posts. While I was not planning to buy an e-bike when I moved to Petaluma and I still prefer pedaling, my new boss felt comfortable enough with me to share that I had bad hygiene issues. He actually told me this on my birthday, which is likely the most helpful birthday gift I have ever received. Yes, it was an awkward meeting but I am thankful that my boss felt comfortable enough with me to share such an important issue. The below photo shows my Class 2 e-bike and pedal-only bike. As a full-time City of Petaluma employee, I receive a $500 (before taxes) annual wellness benefit. I used this benefit to help me pay for the e-bike. I have never had this benefit before. I love how it is an annual benefit!
I am keeping my pedal-only bike as a backup bike. I also have it posted on Spinlister, which is like Airbnb but for bikes. Since I purchased this bike when I still lived in Arlington, VA in 2017 and I rode it daily through rough western Oregon rainy seasons, I doubt it will be rideable much longer.
Source: Ray Atkinson
Due to my e-bike having a longer wheelbase than my pedal-only bike, I have been concerned about whether my e-bike will fit on the bike rack when riding the bus. As the below photo of a parked Petaluma Transit bus shows, the back wheel of my bike is in the wheel well. Since the front wheel is only partly in the wheel well, I am nervous about whether the wheel is far enough into the wheel well to keep my bike from moving. I plan to ask a bike shop for advice before doing a real-world test on a moving bus. While I am not asking for professional advice from my readers, do you think my bike is far enough into the wheel well to keep it from moving on a moving bus?
Source: Ray Atkinson
I wanted to end this blog post with an enjoyable Instagram post. You can read the description to understand what is happening in my Instagram post. Yes, I rode my e-bike through Petaluma River Park. While the severe drought has caused the park to be brown, I hope to see it lush and green someday soon. Since I did not enjoy the long rainy season in western Oregon, the lush and green park better happen without a long rainy season!
I may write a follow-up post about the above post. Another option is to continue writing about what I started in my last post. Do you have a preference?
One of the reasons why I accepted the City of Petaluma’s offer to be the Senior Transit Planner is because I feel strong commitment from the City staff to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. As a planner, I am used to goals gathering dust in a plan, leaders not being fully committed to achieving the goals, or the language of the goals being weakened. In case you notice, I have never published a post about climate change before. While I consider myself to be a lifelong learner, the main reason why I have not published on this topic before is I am not a climate change expert.
Thankfully, my knowledge of this topic is not as bad as my Spanish skills, which I am struggling to improve through Duolingo. Learning a language as an adult is tough! I wish I had focused more on learning Spanish and other languages when I was younger. I took French at Northwest Cabarrus High School, which is located in North Carolina, because all of the Spanish classes were full. I have forgotten most of what I learned because I have not used French recently. Selfishly, I wish most non-English speaking Petalumans would speak French because my French is still better than my Spanish.
Sorry for the tangent. I have been stressed about struggling to learn Spanish. Since most non-English speaking Petalumans speak Spanish, I guess this is not a tangent because being bilingual in Spanish would help me be able to do outreach to Spanish-speaking Petalumans.
Clackamas County (Oregon) Climate Action Plan Proposes 2050
I hate to embarrass Clackamas County, which is located in the Portland, OR region, but I feel the need to share what they are doing wrong in hopes that other government agencies will do better. While I represented Clackamas Community College (CCC) on the Community Advisory Task Force (CATF) for the Clackamas County Climate Action Plan, my personal perspective in this post does not represent CCC’s perspective. Since CCC never took a stance on the controversial I-205 Toll Project, which is a critical project when deciding how to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, I actually did not feel fully able to represent CCC on the CATF. The main reason why the I-205 Toll Project is a critical project is the transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. How can Clackamas County possibly achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 when it supports widening I-205 (whether or not to create a toll is another issue)?
While 2030 is not here yet, the energy (pun intended) I feel from my coworkers and City Council give me confidence that we will achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. The below photo and link are included in the City staff email signatures. Since the link informs the public about how they can help the City achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, I believe the “I’M READY” refers to every person in Petaluma being ready to work together towards achieving this goal.
Petaluma’s goal is ambitious because I believe cities usually just make sure their goal complies with the state’s goal. As the below background shows, California’s carbon neutrality goal is 2045. While the background states that the City of Petaluma committed the City to this same timeframe, the City Council adopted the more rigorous 2030 goal during its January 11, 2021, special meeting.
Source: Climate Emergency Framework
As the Senior Transit Planner, I am working with my coworkers to achieve the below Climate Emergency Framework goals. Due to how expensive converting Petaluma Transit’s fleet to non-combustion vehicles is, we have been applying for grants to purchase battery-electric buses. While this conversion process could take longer than 2030, we are hopeful that converting as much as possible of our fleet to battery-electric buses by 2030 will help us achieve the carbon neutrality goal.
Source: Climate Emergency Framework
In case you are wondering how the electricity is generated, Petaluma Transit’s hybrid electric buses are currently powered using Sonoma Clean Power’s EverGreen Program, which uses geothermal energy from geysers and solar energy from six local projects in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Surprisingly, Sonoma Clean Power is the only utility in California to provide the option of using 100% renewable, locally produced energy day AND night. While the power generation details are not final, EverGreen Program should be used for most or all of the power needed to operate the battery-electric buses.
As hopeful as I am about Petaluma achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, I believe converting to battery-electric buses will not be enough to achieve this goal. Many Petalumans will also need to shift from driving to walking, biking, and riding transit. One way the City of Petaluma is trying to encourage this shift is through projects like the Rainier Avenue Demonstration Project. Since this is a temporary project, I am curious to see whether the project becomes permanent. Due to many negative Nextdoor comments about this project from angry motorists, who do not like change in their neighborhood and believe no one bikes in Petaluma, I am concerned that the project may not become permanent when Rainier Avenue is repaved and restriped in 2023. While City staff and City Council feel energized to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, are car-dependent Petalumans open to making a shift from driving to walking, biking, and riding transit? If not, can Petaluma still achieve carbon neutrality by 2030?
While I could write more, I am getting tired. It is almost midnight, so I should publish this post and go to bed. As I think about future blog posts, I could also write about my car-free trips in Petaluma and throughout the Bay Area. Since I keep getting sick (not bad enough to be hospitalized) and California just had a record-breaking heat wave, I have not traveled beyond Petaluma for several weeks. My 32nd birthday is on September 19, so I want to do something special for my birthday. This may give me something to blog about. I am open to suggestions. What do you want to read?
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