Two years ago the Spring Cyclovia route was the same as this year’s one — Lost Barrio (shopping district) to Himmel Park, with community hub activities and booths at both ends.
NEW (and exciting) this year is the presence of Cyclovia Founder Gil Penalosa, speaking tomorrow April 5, at 7 p.m. the Rialto Theater, 318 E. Congress St.
https://www.cycloviatucson.org/
Go get out your bikes, trikes, scooters, wagons, strollers, skates, hiking shoes & sticks, wheelchairs, etc. and enjoy Spring Cyclovia in Tucson, once again.
As usual droves of bicyclists on this route today from Himmel Park to Lost Barrio — saw 6 Tugo bike shares, 4 minor accidents, one very tall tower bicycle, lots of tandems, recumbents, bicycles with carts, 3 skateboards, one Police officer on a segway, and one bright yellow velomobile. Featured artist at Lost Barrio is Mel Dominquez, ate bratwurst at Haus of Brats food truck, listened to mariachi music on the stage, then accordion music in Sam Hughes neighborhood. Busy day till 3 p.m. then an after-ride party from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Lost Barrio.
Maybe we should have Cyclovia every Sunday across town. It would be Cyclovia Sunday in Tucson.
Cyclovia founder Gil Penalosa gave an inspiring talk tonight to about 250 people at the Rialto Theatre. Here’s snippets of what he said — walking & biking are “rights” for more mobility in urban spaces, which need to be more occupied, that we need to “sleep at home but live outside”. His brother Enrique is Mayor of Bogota, Colombia which emphasizes physical activity over 75 miles, that 1.7 M people use public spaces on their car free Sundays, that attractive public transport is the key. Gil is with WorldUrbanPark.org, emphasizing 8 80 Cities/Rule of common sense that cities should be fantastic urban spaces for both 8 year old and 80 year old people, that parks should be 10 minutes away for all children, that because people living longer (over 65+ that they need more value, use & activity. He urged people to downsize their cars from 2 to 1, 1 to 0, that people walk mostly in life, need places to sit (benches) and be safe. Residential streets should be 20 mph. 41% of Copenhagen dwellers use bikes, hope to increase to 50%, using protected bikeways, improved public transit. There should be One Day Without Cars to get people to walk/bike/use transit more. More spaces should be converted to parks/parklets/pedestrian areas, for benefit for all/improve health & welfare and overcome obesity. He urged all to participate in Spring Cyclovia Tucson on Sunday, that we should have every 1st Sunday be care free Cyclovia-like. Stay tune for more such initiatives from Living Streets Alliance.