In the Community - April 28 - May 1st

I'm going on vacation starting tomorrow. We will be riding Amtrak, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington Subways, MARC Commuter Train, and Baltimore Light Rail in the next seven days.

I will be working on RIT Downtown material en route, but likely will not post until the 1st of May. In the meantime, there are three important events taking place in the community right after I get back that I would like to encourage participation in.

• April 28, 7PM - Strong Museum - Lawrence Frank Reshaping Rochester Lecture

Lawrence D. Frank, Ph.D., AICP, CIP, ASLA, is the Bombardier Chairholder in Sustainable Transportation at the University of British Columbia, Senior Non-resident Fellow of the Brookings Institution, and President of Urban Design 4 Health. He specializes in the interaction between land use, travel behavior, air quality; and health and the fuel consumption and climate change impacts of urban form policies. Frank has been studying the effects of neighborhood walkability on travel patterns and sustainability for 20 years. He works directly with local governments to help translate results from research into practice-based tools that provide direct feedback on the health and environmental impacts of alternative transportation and land development proposals.

• April 30, 6PM - Liberty Pole - Rochester Critical Mass

Critical Mass is a group bicycle ride which takes place at regular intervals (last Friday of each month) whose purpose is to "celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists' right to the road." They are free mass participatory events, with no leaders or fixed agendas. However, the broad aim is to celebrate cycling and sustainable transport, and to give cyclists safety in numbers. Come join us as we wish a 'Happy Friday' to those walking, working, or dining on the sidewalks and see parts of the city you haven't seen before at a more human speed.

• May 1st, 8:30AM - Genesee Valley Park - Rochester Clean Sweep

More than 15,000 volunteers have demonstrated their pride in Rochester by working alongside City crews to clean and beautify just about every street in the city. In addition to removing litter and debris, volunteers do such things as planting flowers, pruning trees and performing other neighborhood beautification projects.

Saturday Clean Sweeps begin at 8:30 a.m. where volunteers arrive to receive a team assignment and hit the streeets by 9 a.m. Tools are provided, but volunteers are encouraged to bring their own. They return to the staging ground at 1 p.m. for a picnic to build on the community spirit that is the most lasting benefit of Clean Sweep.

Please contact me if you are interested in joining us for any or all of these important events.