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Walk 'n' Roll In-Depth is an editorial collection delivered to you featuring articles, profiles and stories about the people and programs that power Local Motion! Tell us what you think by emailing us or talking to us on Facebook!
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Celebrating the Bill & Carole Hauke II and All Who Made it Possible
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Bill and Carole Hauke II center stage at the celebration
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This past Sunday, over 120 people biked, walked or boated out to 'The Cut' in the Colchester Causeway to celebrate a long awaited moment - the official naming of the Bill and Carole Hauke II Bike Ferry.
Friends and family shared ice cream and stories before Local Motion's Executive Director, Emily Boedecker, stepped to the bow of the ferry and welcomed everyone, "Every single one of you here today, whether you are a supporter of the Big Fix campaign, a member of Local Motion, or a rider of the ferry, deserve recognition and a round of applause for your part in make the vision of daily bike ferry service a reality. From the new wave attenuating docks to the bike ferry itself."
More than 500 individuals and businesses contributed to 'The Big Fix' campaign and helped to bring the new 20-passenger boat into service across the 200-foot gap in the Causeway from Colchester to South Hero...
[Read the full story here]
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The Joys of Ciclovia - By Peggy O'Neill
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Ciclovia invites the people of Bogata onto their streets, photo credit Luis Vivanco
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My family of five recently returned from five months in Bogotá, Colombia where Ciclovía began in 1974. With support from several of the city's mayors it has grown to the point where over 75 miles of city streets are closed to traffic on Sundays and approximately 1.5 million people participate each week. Every few blocks there are food vendors, bike repair stands, aerobics classes in the park, graffiti artists, and pickup fútbol games.
While ciclovía may seem to be all about the bike (and the food), it's not. It's about community, well-being and enjoying the shared space of city streets. People ride bikes, but they also walk, rollerblade, and run. It is an event that crosses all age groups and abilities - babies to grannies and strollers to wheelchairs.
Ciclovia is also a space of encounter where people from all different walks of life and social classes can interact. In Bogotá, rich and poor live segregated lives but during ciclovía they can play on the streets as equals. For all of these reasons we were thrilled to hear that Burlington is hosting Open Streets BTV this September 21st...
[Read the full story here]
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Faces of Local Motion: Meet Martel!
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Martel Catalano, living the Copenhagen dream & part of the Local Motion team
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You may have noticed a new face to the Local Motion team in the past year. Martel Catalano joined us last year as our very own Membership and Communications Coordinator (think: Walk 'n' Roll news, social media and membership drives). A transplant from the suburbs of New York City, Martel moved to Burlington last fall to fill this role, so we sat down to discuss what brought her here...
LM: What attracted you to Local Motion?
MC: I first heard about Local Motion when I was finishing up at Skidmore College, and doing an internship with Jeff Olson of Alta Planning + Design. Jeff was excited about the strides Local Motion was making in Burlington, and he planted a seed that I carried with me through graduate school. On previous visits Burlington had always blown me away with its beauty and progressive social scene, so I knew it would be a place where I would love to live. When I started looking for a job where I could have an impact and use the knowledge I had acquired in all my studies, Local Motion came to mind. We began a conversation and look what it lead to...
[Read the full interview here]
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A Bikeable Burlington is in Sight...And We Want to See it Through
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Winooski Avenue, a vision to connect the heart of Burlington
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Everywhere you look, biking in Burlington (and across Vermont) is on the rise. It seems that people on bikes are everywhere: not just on the bike path, but all around town. And it isn't limited to the lycra crowd or the day-glo bike commuters or the folks who are biking because they don't have a car. Everyone from new parents to seasoned professionals are hitting the streets!
And the numbers prove it out. From 2007 to 2012, U.S. Census data show that the percentage of commute trips taken by bike in Burlington almost doubled, from 2.9% to 5.5%. That puts Burlington in the same league as Portland, Oregon, which had a 6.1% bike commute share in 2012.
In some parts of the city, the numbers were much higher. In the Old North End, for instance, commuting by bike almost tripled, from 3.1% to 8.4%. That's almost 1 in 10 commute trips taken by bike!
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