The Big Questions
QUESTION: What's going on in Flushing Meadows/Corona Park in Queens?
ANSWER: It's a bike and boat rental concession on 93-acre Meadow Lake. With luck it will become a grand destination like the two World's Fairs that took place there in 1939 and 1964, but bottom up this time. Lots of human-powered vehicles made by people from all over the world, instead of relying on displays by governments and large corporations. Some of these designers and builders will come from the diverse neighborhoods all around this beautiful 1255-acre park.
QUESTION: Is there a way to get the 90% of Americans who don't ride bikes to get up and do it?
ANSWER:YES. Give them bikes to ride where there are no cars to run them down and watch them ride and smile. After a while they will get the nerve to test themselves out there on the road. Another Fanatic Cyclist will have been born. We know 9 out of 10 people are too afraid of getting killed to even try to ride a bike on the road with cars, and research proves the “virtuous cycle”, the more people on the road, the safer it is out there. The only way to get to that part of the public is to develop car-free spaces and provide a multitude of free or virtually-free bikes for everybody to ride.
QUESTION: Can we change the “Cars Rule” paradigm simply by flooding the world with good quality bikes and keeping them well-maintained?
ANSWER: It's not the only way but it may be the best, meaning fastest and most economical way. We'll never find out if we don't try. If you have a better idea, please don't keep it a secret.
QUESTION: Who is going to finance this?
ANSWER: Us, through minimal fees, Governments, Foundations, Companies who can get a PR payback, small-scale entrepreneurs who respond to very-localized needs (electric-assist vehicles in hilly terrains, tour-operators, etc.) Advertising for small local businesses, which, as opposed to big national brands, is inoffensive to nearly everybody.
QUESTION: Can't we just let Clear Channel and JC DeCaux, the two giant billboard companies which dominate the newly-emerging bike-share industry, duke it out for who has the best system while we reap the benefits of their researches and investment in this deep green activity?
ANSWER: Expertise at renting eyeballs to large advertisers does not qualify you to design and operate a public transit system. Besides, visual pollution and oversized backlit ads for candy, cars and beer do not thrill health-and environment-conscious cyclists or responsible parents either. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-shape the uses of the spaces around us, by exploring the full diversity of design of human-scale and human-powered transport options. We can reject the anti-creative impact of purely profit-centered activity, which embraces boring uniformity, in the name of “economy of scale” and works against the more beautiful results and useful improvements which experimentation and art always brings. While the impact of designing a system to be operated by large private companies greatly limits its potential benefit, there is no question that the cooperation of some large-scale institutions, like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is essential in making this program a real success.
QUESTION: Can we radically downsize our appetites for maxed-out machines while we drastically upgrade our infrastructure for minimal bikes?
ANSWER: Only if we want to survive. This is an environmental, health and economic necessity. Come to the park and help make the future, while we still have one.
|
the SORT: the cycle conSORTium
A group of cycle businesses, retail and wholesale, designers, deliverers and advocates, working together with sympathetic businesses, institutions and individuals, to encourage the most rapid and widest increase in the amount of cycling in New York City..........and eventually everywhere.
No monetary cost to participating providers. Each agrees, to the extent that space and other scarce resources allows, to:
Share knowledge and cooperate, even with competitors, in developing a citywide system, to guarantee that everybody who wants one has access to a sturdy, safe cycle, either at a very low and affordable price or, for those with severely-stressed resources, for free.
Support the system largely through rental fees on higher-end bikes, too expensive or cumbersome to be owned by individuals anyway, and exotic cycles, which artists, craftspeople and engineers are already beginning to create all over the world.
Work to expand the role of human-scale and human-powered (and electric-assisted) vehicles, and the critical contributions made by community-based stores, and the people who manage and work in these enterprises, who use their experience, knowledge, skills and care to keep us safe on the road.
Be part of an ambitious program of cycle design evolution and the cultivation of small cycle design and building enterprises, especially within this city.
Help dramatically improve the spread and effectiveness of all shared-ride and shared-vehicle activities which include cycles as well as other modes of travel, through the creation of an automated system, which does the most possible, at the same time, to protect privacy and keep costs as low as practicable.
Include the greatest variety of types of vehicles already in circulation, or soon to be created, so that cycles may become more usable in inclement weather, be available for multi-passenger and utilitarian purposes and eventually be capable of replacing the majority of toxic, oversized, urban-unfriendly vehicles.
Provide a counter-weight to the monopolistic, narrowly profit-driven, programs being put forth presently. There will only be one chance to establish a truly egalitarian, maximally-expanding and constantly-evolving program, here in the most potentially bike-friendly place on earth, and this is it. Our largest parks can be the armature of a full city-wide system, anchored by a network of community-based businesses.
download the full document: THE CONSORTIUM.pdf
What is going on at Meadow Lake?
Due to the extensive renovation of the landmark boathouse with whom we share a dock, and which is our immediate neighbor, we are having to limit our days of operation this Spring and Summer. Starting May first, we are going to be open every weekend, weather permitting. We apologize for this situation and hope that you will consider coming by on one of our days and enjoying the healthy pleasures of boating and biking.
Are we open today? call: 718.271.3005
click on a page to view our recently published news paper!
or download the printable version: newspaper.pdf
 
|
A Bike Share Proposal to NYC
view the PDF for more info:
bikeshareproposal.pdf
The Queensboro Fair?
view the PDF for more info:
queensboro-fair.pdf
Our Neighbors in Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens Museum of Art
Queens WildLife Center
Shea Stadium/Citi Field
Queens Botanical Garden
New York Hall of Science
Queens Theatre
Aquatic Center/Ice Rink
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Pitch and Putt
World's Fair Marina
For press inquiries, information or contact, email us: inquiries@lightwheels.com
or call:
1.646.306.1976
Please return for more information on Meadow Lake projects, or sign up for updates by visiting
lightwheels.net
A fully evolved and maximally-useful shared-bicycle
(tricycle) system must include:
The ability of all of us, not just some of us, to have easy access to this system at all times.
The greatest variety of vehicle configurations, sizes, capabilities, artful decorations and other enjoyable features.
The means to collect these vehicles and move them to where they will be needed the most, from where they are not particularly needed, in a quiet, efficient, safe and colorful fashion.
Provision for smooth connections to all other forms of transport from buses, to trains to airplanes to automobiles.
A reasonable expectation of a much safer environment, in which automobilists are held to a far higher standard of good behavior and those unprotected by tons of steel can feel secure from harm as they make their way to their destinations.
Weather protection against rain, wind and cold, road service, onboard communications, radio and beyond electronics, GPS locators for convenience and security, locking devices, provisions for additional riders, legal electric-assist, room for gear, including towable, fold-out units.
A conspicuous connection for every vehicle to a different, local, child- or senior-serving, community-involved and deserving institution, that gets a percentage of the earning power of that vehicle. Anybody who steals this vehicle is also, conspicuously, robbing this group. Besides, its too much trouble to grind off the welded-on metal–stamped plate which announces to everybody that you are doing something wrong if you are in private possession of this virtually un-re-saleable object. If it happens to be fitted with a GPS locater, you may be pointing a finger at yourself as a thief. Ebay will be put on notice too.
The opportunity to give New York City a chance to shine, by employing its natural advantages, of density and terrain, to deploy the next generation of transportation options. Our artists, craftspeople, engineers, designers and others can create the future here, test it out and become the center of on-the-ground research into this vital activity, while making a more beautiful and livable city for both residents and visitors.
|
