Tuesday, February 17, 2009
haircut
Jasmin Leveille gets his hair cut by barber Rino DeStefano at the University Barber Shop on Commonwealth Avenue.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Car-free in Beantown? Not soon enough
Enrique Peñalosa knows happiness. And he knows it doesn't come in traffic jams, parallel parking or pedestrians sprinting across streets to avoid being hit by cars.
Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, at his talk at Bikes Not Bombs Saturday brought up ways our happiness is tied to where we live: the city. Peñalosa says parks, bigger sidewalks, recognized bike lanes (ahem, Mass. Ave. drivers) and convenient public transit contribute to urban happiness.
His solutions in Bogotá correspond to issues that our City Hall could easily remedy if Bostonians banded together. The car-free day implemented in Bogotá and later in New York City would only take a decree from Mayor Menino. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of a mayor doing it for us, so we have to do it ourselves. If grassroots groups like Bikes Not Bombs, MassBike and Livable Streets could get city's Boston Bikes on board, a car-free day could happen this summer.
NYC's car-free days were only in the morning, 7a-1p, and on only one street, a six-mile stretch of Park Avenue. Boston could easily incorporate this into a summer ritual, like NYC and Seattle did last year, or a yearly event, like Bogotá every February.
Storrow Drive free of traffic on a warm Sunday afternoon? Now that's happiness.
Photo courtesy: Boston Globe
Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, at his talk at Bikes Not Bombs Saturday brought up ways our happiness is tied to where we live: the city. Peñalosa says parks, bigger sidewalks, recognized bike lanes (ahem, Mass. Ave. drivers) and convenient public transit contribute to urban happiness.
His solutions in Bogotá correspond to issues that our City Hall could easily remedy if Bostonians banded together. The car-free day implemented in Bogotá and later in New York City would only take a decree from Mayor Menino. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of a mayor doing it for us, so we have to do it ourselves. If grassroots groups like Bikes Not Bombs, MassBike and Livable Streets could get city's Boston Bikes on board, a car-free day could happen this summer.
NYC's car-free days were only in the morning, 7a-1p, and on only one street, a six-mile stretch of Park Avenue. Boston could easily incorporate this into a summer ritual, like NYC and Seattle did last year, or a yearly event, like Bogotá every February.
Storrow Drive free of traffic on a warm Sunday afternoon? Now that's happiness.
Photo courtesy: Boston Globe
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