Spoke Shops Signal Smart Growth

The Return of Neighborhood Bicycle Shops: A Sustainable Community Indicator

“The communities that embrace the bicycle and all that goes with it NOW will be the successful communities of the next generation.”

–Alex Obriecht, President Bike Maryland & Race Pace Bicycles

Did you buy that bicycle at the hardware store?

Baltimore Bicycle Works baltimorebicycleworks.com
Credit: David Whitaker

This was quite likely several decades ago. From the 1950’s through the 1970’s, you could often find a bicycle shop combined with a local hardware store in communities throughout the U.S. This was a unique 20th century retail combination that was often located on or near a main street or at a nearby neighborhood commercial center.

Retail operated differently decades ago and both bicycle shops and hardware stores often were located in the neighborhood. Sometimes that first paper-route bike or later the Schwinn Stingray, Varsity or Paramount 10-speed was purchased at one of these long gone local hardware & bicycle shops.

Several years thereafter there was a commercial transition

Another way to live

So I am one of “those” people.

Who am I you may ask. I am a completely car-free urban planner. No, I am not crazy and I am not a “tree hugger.” I do, however, believe in smart growth, walkable communities and mixed uses. In my line of work I am not alone in these beliefs but often when you dig a little deeper you find urban planners with these beliefs living the car dominated suburban “dream.” I like to practice what I preach so for the last three years I have been totally car-free living in northwest Washington, DC while working in Baltimore – approximately 40 miles from my home.

An Accolade for a Frederick County Sidewalk

New sidewalk would protect Monocacy Middle, Frederick News-Post (March 19, 2013)

The article above describes a project near a Frederick County public school that exemplifies quality planning. In this instance, a local school facility planing director decided to make a difference in order to help middle school students safely travel to and from school.

 

Monocacy Middle School

Over the past several years MDP has urged public school construction officials across Maryland take a more active role in Safe Routes to Schools projects. Ray Barnes, Executive Director for Facility Services with Frederick County Public Schools took it upon himself to apply for a grant to complete a sidewalk located along a road off of the school property. A sidewalk was clearly need on this segment of Opossumtown Pike

WalkUPs: A Real Estate Model for the 21st Century

“The market is flashing very large and very loud signals: ‘Build more walkable urban places,’” says Christopher B. Leinberger

For many decades urban and regional planners have chased the elusive “walkable community” much like the Holy Grail. From Radburn to Columbia to your local mixed use center, walkability has often been a planning goal, although rarely achieved. This is now changing. An emerging land use in the second decade of the 21st century are walkable urban places.

Where gold medals begin …

In the winters of 2000 and 2001, after I had begun working at the Maryland Department of Planning in Baltimore, I would take a night Spinerval Training class each Wednesday at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club in Mount Washington. On winter nights, about 30 cyclists and triathletes would arrive and haul their bicycles and metal trainers up to the second floor of the old aquatic club building. We would set up our trainers, attach the rear wheel of our road bikes and then begin a 50-minute training session with the famed triathlon coach Troy Jacobsen. Most nights as we set our bikes onto our trainers, a teen-ager was swimming laps in the lanes of the pool below us. People spoke of him as ”the Kid.”