Meet Fellow Citizens

New Haven is a bike-friendly city with a condensed downtown.  Families can bike to work or to school, as in the case of Sara and Peter and their three kids.  They're part of several families who commute via bicycle to their school, Cold Spring.

Nhv.Org spoke to Sara and took the commute with her, Peter, and their kids.  This is what Sara had to say:

Compared to driving?
"From us to ride from Edgewood to Fair Haven, it's 20-25 minutes, so really there is very little differential if you drove regularly, partially because there are red lights and such."   Drivers pass you in a huff and then you end up riding right next to them at a red light, and you're stopped just as they are."


How do you feel about the safety of riding bicycles to commute during rush hour?
"Many people were supportive but people talked about it, and there was worry that it wasn't safe or something.  But three years later, we've seen a real growth.  A few weeks ago, we did our own little 'bike to school' day, and the truth is there are families at our school that can't because they live elsewhere, on the shoreline.  We had 12 families do it, and that's great, that's local."

What about the kids riding versus being passengers?
"When we started, the older boys were 6 and we could haul all 3 of them on one bike!  We knew that as the boys got older, the capacity to ride them changed.  They're actually really proficient on their own bikes, and that's the question of safety.  They can ride great themselves, and people think, 'why would you still be hauling your kids on a cargo bike?'  They can ride often for recreation, but not always for transportation.  We're just trying to make that move right now."

Hey #NHV?  Anyone want to collaborate on a citywide cycling map?  Let's share a Google Map and create one.  Email nhv.org@gmail.com subject: cycling map to collaborate.

Weekend in Review.

#NHV is a fun and interesting place.  Here are a few reasons why.  Take a journey on a great Saturday with us and check out what New Haven has to offer, in terms not just of activities but of communities.

New Haven isn't just a place on a map with a bunch of buildings.  It's a group of people all striving for the  same goal:  to make life interesting and better for each other.  This site documents how that's accomplished.

Here are some examples:

Inside Out Nhv Project This Saturday

(Video from this Afternoon)

Bet ya don't have Lego Spacemen reporters in your neck of the woods, do ya?  This is the 2nd of 3 most recent Space Cowboy videos on a series of instrumental documentary-style videos, each about 3 minutes long, designed to be enjoyed maximally over a minimal period of time.  It's designed that way intentionally because you probably have no time to watch this!  That's all been accounted for.

In this video, we talk to Peruvian Rick, as well as Ben Berkowitz from See Click Fix who tells us about his new super-cool project, called Inside Out NHV, which is a great thing, in my opinion, because it will bring together neighborhoods which have been "separated by the highways."  For more info on that topic, you should research the development of the highway system in the 1950's.  Did you know that the highway system really isn't even that old?  Heck it's already fallen apart 3 times!  Once, real bad in Minnesota.

We should sell Minnesota to the Canadians, and call it Canasoda.  Get it?  Can of Soda?  Pepsi and Coca Cola can fight over the rights to the state flag.  Hey, it's great advertisement opportunities everywhere.

In this great 21st century, we all got our faces on Facebook, glued to the latest thing.  I know it sounds corny but I'm trying to get you off your couch.  So, get on down here you know?  Saturday April 7th, I wonder what the heck is going to happen anyways?