Filed under: Travel
I’ve been tossing around the idea of buying a scooter lately, and I actually found one that I really want to test ride. It’s selling for $1500 which is a great deal but I got to thinking today that there is so much I could buy with that amount of money that it may be worth it to abstain from Scooter-hood. For instance, there’s that video camera I’ve been wanting to buy and mount on the front of my bike, the tent I’m going to need this summer at my friend Devin’s wedding, and the backpack I’ll need for when I travel the country (and world). Also, a new bike pump, tire wrenches, and other stuff to fix my bike.
The next question is how to buy all of this stuff with the smallest possible impact. I’ll look into the environmental records of the companies, with a special focus on whether or not the camera companies do any sort of recycling/reclamation of their products. Overall I’d like to buy used stuff if possible.
Or I’ll just buy a scooter.
Yep, I just bought a scooter. Pictures to come soon. From the same digital camera I’ve had for four years. It still works and there’s no reason I can’t mount IT on my bike.
Filed under: RTD
RTD’s light rail ticket checkers have been wildly inconsistent lately. I always thought the system was a little strange, but that’s probably because I’m so used to Chicago’s system in which riders slide their transit cards into a machine and are permitted to go through the turnstile if the card is accepted. I’ve already had my ticket checked on the train, coming off of the train, and getting on the train. While getting off the train at DU’s campus last week, one officer was literally screaming at people exiting the train, “Hey, get over here so I can check your ticket!!” First he just said “Hey,” but nobody knew that they were supposed to get checked after exiting the train.
The official light rail webpage does state that You may also be asked to show your ticket, pass or transfer at light rail stations in areas identified by “Fare paid Zone” signs., but they need to find a less cumbersome way than trying to collect everyone getting off the train at a given stop. Like this (courtesy of Phil Cherner’s RTD Photo Essay).
Although I actually hit a limit to the number of routes on a page (you’ll need to scroll to page 2 to see all of then), I still found the “My Maps” feature of Google Maps to be pretty useful in plotting out most of the major points I’ve visited since I gave up my car. Since I hit the limit to display on one page, I’m debating whether to keep using the service.
Does anyone know of better mapping services? I guess it’s only a matter of time before Google Transit and PublicRoutes add Denver routes too.
Filed under: Film
The Denver Public Library is presenting the Earth, Glorious Earth – Environmental Docs film series this month. The film series is sponsored by DeProduction, which is also hosting the events at Denver Open Media (at the intersection of 7th Ave. and Kalamath – check this map for directions). Also check out the general green events schedule, and the greenprint denver website for information on other "greenprint denver" events.
Filed under: RTD
I was talking with my friend Deb this morning about the light rail shootings that took place last weekend at the 25th and Welton station north of downtown. I noticed yesterday that there was an RTD Security Officer sitting at the Alameda station in the middle of the afternoon and wondered if they actually posted guards at stations on any set schedule. So, I called the RTD Administrative Info line to ask, and the woman I talked to informed me that the security is provided by Wackenhut, which has a pretty unflattering Wikipedia article. They’ve done a lot of business in private prisons and have had the same problems that you hear about all of those private prisons. I called the number and immediately heard a click on the other end. Weird. So, I did some more Googling and came up with a RTD Security Measures document, which listed David Genova as the RTD Manager of Public Safety.
I talked to David on the phone and he cleared up some of the questions I had. First, RTD uses a combination of Wackenhut security officers and off-duty police officers to patrol the system. They aren’t actually assigned to one place at a given time, but they are always riding the system. Additionally, there are “mother patrols,” which are random, driving patrols of areas in service by RTD. There is also someone watching over the surveillance footage at all times. The shootings actually seem pretty random, with connected shootings around the neighborhood, away from RTD services, so I don’t feel like RTD is any less safe than Denver as a whole.
Filed under: Travel
No pictures for you today, but I’ve been walking A LOT. Until I fix my bike tire, that will probably be the norm. On Saturday, I went downtown to the Tattered Cover bookstore to pick up a little book called Worldchanging for my Sustainable Design Strategies class. I took the E-Line down to Union Station, which is a cool Denver landmark with a large future redevelopment effort attached to it. The Tattered Cover downtown is NICE, so I’m sure I’ll be back. As a bonus, it’s only two blocks from the light rail stop.
Sunday was another nice day, and I actually went back to the Tattered Cover to pick up a copy of the McSweeney’s Journal with the cool magnetic binding. After hanging out there for a while doing some reading for class, I was back on the light rail, then to the 3 (Alameda Crosstown) bus to see a couple of my professors perform at The Lab at Belmar. The performance was great, and we all got some food and drinks afterwards before I took the bus back home. Thank you Sara for waiting with me at the abandoned stop in the creepy silence and abandon of Belmar at night.
Filed under: Travel
Looks a little better today, doesn’t it?
I also saw this ad on the side of a RTD (that’s Regional Transportation District for you non-Denverites) bus. It made me smile and scratch my head, in that order.
Denver’s weather wrath is still on – today was one of the windiest days of the year, and I did a lot of walking. I took the light rail downtown to pick up a book at the Tattered Cover, then took it down to campus for a bbq. Overall, the travel wasn’t bad, but most of the light rail stations are out in the open with no real barriers to the weather so if it’s windy, cold, or precipitating, you get it all in the face.
Filed under: Travel
Today is the first day that I have not had a car in over a decade. Think about that for a second. I did, and I realized that in the three cars I owned, I probably drove around 100,000 miles, putting A LOT of stuff into the atmosphere. Sometimes driving was necessary and sometimes it wasn’t. This isn’t an anti-car blog, or even a pro-bicycle blog, but a “how my networks change as a result of not owning a car” blog. I plan to chronicle this change through writing, maps, links, and other information that I come across and that I find relevant to this change. Day One looks like this, and a flat tire on my bike.
I walked to the light rail (15 minutes – 0.7 miles) and took it to the University stop on campus, then walked to class. I’ve made this trip many times before on foot and bike, but the bike is far more convenient because it cuts 10-15 minutes off of the overall trip time.
