Spring Break
Bike Blast promotes sustainability initiative
Issue date: 4/30/09
"It's very symbolic: It shows that bikes are part of the road too, and that they shouldn't have to be locked up way on the sidewalk. They deserve to be parked on the street, just like a car would," he said.
According to Bookhart, more graduate students bike around Homewood than undergraduates, due to their proximity to the Homewood campus. However, he said the promotion of biking on campus is something that is important to Baltimore, and the program is considering creating a free rent-a-bike program for Hopkins students in the future.
Bike Blast volunteer David Shapiro said that he thought that promoting biking in Baltimore was a very important step in making Baltimore a more environmentally friendly place.
"It's better for the environment, and it's also just a much more pleasant way to get somewhere besides a car," he said.
Beginning in June of this year, Baltimore will be putting in a free bike rental program that will set up in Druid Hill Park every Wednesday at 6 p.m. to further promote biking. People will be able to take out a bike for free and ride it around the reservoir.
About 350 people attended the Baltimore Bike Blast throughout the day, and Rosita Rennick, one of the public relations officials for the Department of Transportation, felt that it was a fairly successful first-time event.
Nate Evans, the bike pedestrian planner for Baltimore, agreed that it was fairly successful, but that the event might have suffered slightly because of its lack of publicity.
"Hopefully we can get some more advocate groups out to support the event for next year. Since we were limited in our budget this year, we weren't really able to make the outreach that we could have," he said.
Rennick felt that the promotion of biking was important in promoting sustainability in Baltimore.
"Not only will it help prevent traffic congestion and pollution, but it will also make the population healthier," she said.
Rennick also said that the city had been making large efforts to spread bicycle awareness through its many events. She mentioned the many people who attended the events initially said that they hadn't ridden a bike in many years, only to find that it was very easy to begin to ride again.
"People had mentioned to us, 'I thought I was too old to ride, but now I feel confident I can do this.' Changing the mindset of the citizens was a really daunting task, but now that the city is doing things, people are changing their minds and we're seeing a lot people saying, 'Hey I can do this,'" Rennick said.
Chief Spokesperson of Public Relations for the Department of Transportation, Adrienne Barnes, hopes that in the future, biking will become more widespread.
"I'd like to see families becoming more engaged in outdoor activities, and we really want people to get out of their cars," Barnes said.
Baltimore will be hosting its next biking event, Tour Dem Parks, on June 14. The event will be a tour through a few of Baltimore's parks that have newly established biking trails.
"I hope that in the future, people will take advantage of all the wonderful scenery around Baltimore through biking on our bike trails," Barnes said.
According to Bookhart, more graduate students bike around Homewood than undergraduates, due to their proximity to the Homewood campus. However, he said the promotion of biking on campus is something that is important to Baltimore, and the program is considering creating a free rent-a-bike program for Hopkins students in the future.
Bike Blast volunteer David Shapiro said that he thought that promoting biking in Baltimore was a very important step in making Baltimore a more environmentally friendly place.
"It's better for the environment, and it's also just a much more pleasant way to get somewhere besides a car," he said.
Beginning in June of this year, Baltimore will be putting in a free bike rental program that will set up in Druid Hill Park every Wednesday at 6 p.m. to further promote biking. People will be able to take out a bike for free and ride it around the reservoir.
About 350 people attended the Baltimore Bike Blast throughout the day, and Rosita Rennick, one of the public relations officials for the Department of Transportation, felt that it was a fairly successful first-time event.
Nate Evans, the bike pedestrian planner for Baltimore, agreed that it was fairly successful, but that the event might have suffered slightly because of its lack of publicity.
"Hopefully we can get some more advocate groups out to support the event for next year. Since we were limited in our budget this year, we weren't really able to make the outreach that we could have," he said.
Rennick felt that the promotion of biking was important in promoting sustainability in Baltimore.
"Not only will it help prevent traffic congestion and pollution, but it will also make the population healthier," she said.
Rennick also said that the city had been making large efforts to spread bicycle awareness through its many events. She mentioned the many people who attended the events initially said that they hadn't ridden a bike in many years, only to find that it was very easy to begin to ride again.
"People had mentioned to us, 'I thought I was too old to ride, but now I feel confident I can do this.' Changing the mindset of the citizens was a really daunting task, but now that the city is doing things, people are changing their minds and we're seeing a lot people saying, 'Hey I can do this,'" Rennick said.
Chief Spokesperson of Public Relations for the Department of Transportation, Adrienne Barnes, hopes that in the future, biking will become more widespread.
"I'd like to see families becoming more engaged in outdoor activities, and we really want people to get out of their cars," Barnes said.
Baltimore will be hosting its next biking event, Tour Dem Parks, on June 14. The event will be a tour through a few of Baltimore's parks that have newly established biking trails.
"I hope that in the future, people will take advantage of all the wonderful scenery around Baltimore through biking on our bike trails," Barnes said.
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