Thursday To-Do: BACA Monthly Meeting

Join Bicycle Advocacy for Central Arkansas (BACA) for its monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, October 1st at the Oyster Bar in Little Rock. For more information, visit BACA’s website, www.bacar.org.

Tuesday To-Do: Conway Association of Pedestrians Monthly Meeting

Conway Association of Pedestrians envisions Conway as a city where cars, bikes, and pedestrians are all able to access the needs of life (shopping, dining, entertainment) on an equal footing. This involves primarily the completion of sidewalks throughout Conway, as well as a usable public transport system within Conway and to Little Rock.

The Conway Association of Pedestrians is dedicated to promoting pedestrianism for a variety of reasons:

• For the community, shopping locally promotes local growth, and a vibrant downtown builds on itself. Also, as Conway has grown traffic has become more and more of a problem. Every car taken out of the equation helps everyone.
• For the individual, walking is part of a healthy lifestyle. For those that walk, regardless of the reason (dogs, children, whatever), the places you want to walk should be safe and accessible.
• And for the planet, walking can help reduce energy consumption.

Conway Association of Pedestrians holds its monthly meeting every 3rd Tuesday of the month. This month, the group meets at Doe’s Eat Place in Conway. Check it out!

For more information, visit the group’s website at www.walkingconway.com.

Thursday To-Do: Conway Advocates for Bicycling Monthly Meeting

Join Conway Advocates for Bicycling for its monthly meeting, tonight at 7 p.m. at Mickie’s Bluefish Grill in Conway. For more information, visit the group’s website at www.cycleconway.com.

Thursday To-Do: Bicycle Advocacy for Central AR Monthly Meeting

Join Bicycle Advocacy for Central Arkansas (BACA) for its monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, October 1st at the Oyster Bar in Little Rock. For more information, visit BACA’s website, www.bacar.org.

Weekend To-Do: Little Rock Sustainability Summit

The first annual Little Rock Sustainability Summit, a free and open to the public event on Friday, September 25th and Saturday, September 26th, 2009, will take place at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock. Friday’s sessions are scheduled from 1-5 p.m, with the Exhibitor Hall open from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday’s sessions starts at 9 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m., with the Little Rock Green Drinks Happy Hour capping off the Summit from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The purpose of the Summit is to encourage and educate city leaders and citizens from both big and small cities across Arkansas to take action to sustain our communities, our economy and our environment.

This Summit hopes to provide a variety of informative sessions about how to initiate and encourage sustainability actions. These include: recycling, land use/planning, green building, energy efficiency, water quality, green economy, transportation, faith, food, etc. These sessions will offer a variety of local and national speakers and provide concurrent sessions for any level of understanding, and some will be interactive, like a LEED certified building tour on Friday.

For more information, please contact John McClure at LRSustainabilitySummit@gmail.com or (501)993-7502.

Saturday To-Do: Conway Fall Classic Bike Tour

Conway Advocates for Bicycling has teamed up with Conway Interfaith Clinic to put on the Inaugural Conway Fall Classic Bike Tour, tomorrow at 8 a.m. in Conway. Come downtown to Toad Suck Square to enjoy a day of cycling. Riders have a choice of the following:

• 7.8 mile Community Ride (10 a.m. Start Time)
• 28.8 mile loop
• 51.7 mile loop

RIDE PACKETS

The first 200 registered participants will receive a Conway Fall Classic T-shirt along with their packet. There will be aid stations on all rides with snacks, SAG wagon will be available for long rides and a lunch will be provided after the ride.

Entry Fees: All checks made out to Conway Interfaith Clinic.

• 28.8 and 51.7 mile route – $35
• Community Ride – 7.8 miles
  • $35 Individual (16 and over)
  • $50 for a Family (Includes two T-shirts)
  • $10 for Children 10 – 15 (Includes one T-shirt)

All entry fees will benefit Conway Advocates for Bicycling and Conway Interfaith Clinic.

To register or for more information, visit http://www.conwayfallclassic.com/registration/.

Tuesday To-Do: Conway Association of Pedestrians Monthly Meeting

I attended Conway EcoFest this past weekend and met a representative from Conway Association of Pedestrians. The group envisions Conway as a city where cars, bikes, and pedestrians are all able to access the needs of life (shopping, dining, entertainment) on an equal footing. This involves primarily the completion of sidewalks throughout Conway, as well as a usable public transport system within Conway and to Little Rock.

The Conway Association of Pedestrians is dedicated to promoting pedestrianism for a variety of reasons:

• For the community, shopping locally promotes local growth, and a vibrant downtown builds on itself. Also, as Conway has grown traffic has become more and more of a problem. Every car taken out of the equation helps everyone.
• For the individual, walking is part of a healthy lifestyle. For those that walk, regardless of the reason (dogs, children, whatever), the places you want to walk should be safe and accessible.
• And for the planet, walking can help reduce energy consumption.

Conway Association of Pedestrians holds its monthly meeting every 3rd Tuesday of the month. This month, the group meets at Doe’s Eat Place in Conway. Check it out!

For more information, visit the group’s website at www.walkingconway.com.

Saturday To-Do: Conway EcoFest

Most choices we make impact our environment in some way and use energy. Conway EcoFest is a fun, highly interactive event to demonstrate and help participants of all ages gain a better understanding of these connections. It will showcase the strides people have made in Conway and the surrounding areas. The EcoFest will also provide very practical environmental ideas and actions that people can begin immediately within their own communities.

WHAT: Conway EcoFest

WHEN: Saturday September 12 – 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

WHERE: Laurel Park in Conway

COST: FREE

For more information, visit www.conwayecofest.com or call Debbie Plopper at (501)327-2105.

Thursday To-Do: BACA Monthly Meeting

Join Bicycle Advocacy for Central Arkansas (BACA) for its monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, September 3rd at the Oyster Bar in Little Rock. For more information, visit BACA’s website, www.bacar.org.

Tell NLR to Support Cyclists! Attend City Council Meeting Tonight!

North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays proposed an ordinance that would prohibit taunting, threatening or otherwise harassing anyone traveling on city rights-of-way, whether someone is in a motor vehicle, on a bicycle or is a pedestrian. If approved, Hays’ ordinance would carry a minimum possible fine of $250.

On Monday, August 10, several residents told the City Council that bicyclists cause problems, and that rules need to be more strict on them. Some of the rules they suggested include:

• Bicyclists should not take up the roads.
• Bicyclists should be required to have license tags on their bikes.
• Bicyclists should be required to carry liability insurance just as drivers of motor vehicles must do.

A public hearing will be held tonight at 7 p.m. at the North Little Rock City Council. Please attend and tell the City of North Little Rock to support bicyclists!

The Arkansas law gives bicyclists the right to the road. The law states:

“27-49-111. Use of bicycles or animals.

Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability.

History. Acts 1937, No. 300, § 24; Pope’s Dig., § 6682; Acts 1981, No. 699, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-424″

“27-51-311. Overtaking a bicycle.

(a) The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on a roadway shall exercise due care and pass to the left at a safe distance of not less than three feet (3′) and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken bicycle.

(b) (1) A person who violates this section shall be subject to a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100).

(2) A person who violates this section with the violation resulting in a collision causing death or serious physical injury to the person operating the overtaken bicycle shall be subject to a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) in addition to any other penalties prescribed by law.

History. Acts 2007, No. 681, § 1.”

Tell North Little Rock that bicyclists are protected by the state law. Attend the City Council meeting tonight!

Sunday To-Do: Critical Mass Double Feature @ Heifer International

Heifer International will host a free screening of We Are Traffic! and Return of the Scorcher, Sunday, August 23th at 3 p.m. at Heifer International headquarter (1 World Avenue) in downtown Little Rock.

We Are Traffic! chronicles the history and development of the “Critical Mass” bicycle movement, one of the most spirited and dynamic social/political movements of the apathetic 90’s. In over 200 cities in 14 different countries, Critical Mass has now become a monthly ritual of reclaiming the streets by bicycle activists riding en masse. The half-hour documentary Return of the Scorcher looks at bike culture and bike lifestyles around the world with beautiful and inspiring scenes of bike use filmed in China, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the U.S.

The screening will be followed by a Q & A session. For more information, contact (501)907-2680 or tina.hall@heifer.org.

Thursday To-Do: BACA Monthly Meeting

Join Bicycle Advocacy for Central Arkansas (BACA) for its monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, August 6th at the Oyster Bar in Little Rock. For more information, visit BACA’s website, www.bacar.org.