Ithaca, footloose and car-free
Local celebration of national effort promotes biking, walking

By ANNE JU
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Bicycle safety instructor Lois Chaplin said she was “thrilled” to know there's a core group of urban dwellers dedicated to promoting biking and walking in the City of Ithaca.

“I think the key is to make it easier to do the right thing,” Chaplin said.

To that end, a 14-member group — mostly city officials and staff — took a long lunchtime break Friday, just as the clouds broke, for a whirlwind walking tour of downtown Ithaca. Organized through Ithaca's Curb Your Car Coalition, the event was one of several planned in celebration of World Car-Free Day, which was observed Thursday.

Ithaca is among about 1,500 communities holding events with the goal of encouraging less car-dependent lifestyles. Event organizer Jennifer Dotson, who also serves on the city's Board of Public Works, added that the message isn't necessarily anti-car.

“Curb your car doesn't mean chuck your car,” Dotson said. A relatively simple change might be to choose to walk to work one day a week, she said.

“That's 20 percent reduction already,” Dotson said.

The walking tour, which included Mayor Carolyn Peterson, several city staff members, and Curb Your Car Coalition members, was meant to highlight both the desirability of walking or biking in Ithaca as well as to point out needed improvements.

More bike racks in more prime locations was one heralded example when the tour group paused at The Commons.

Biking enthusiast BobWolfe Jung II explained the hazard of the steel grate bridge deck that crosses over Six Mile Creek on Clinton Street. Later, Public Works Superintendent Bill Gray stood over a newly installed Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramp at Tioga and Court streets, designed to increase safety for visually impaired pedestrians and create easier access for wheelchair users.

After starting at Clinton and Cayuga streets and weaving through The Commons, the tour ended near the corner of University Avenue and Linn streets. Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee Chairman David Kay called University Avenue an effective route up from “the flats” to Cornell University, but said crumbling pavements and overgrown shrubs should be controlled, particularly for the sake of uphill bikers.

According to U.S. Census data from 2000, about 41 percent of City of Ithaca residents choose walking as their transportation to work.

“I want to get people excited about not using their cars,” Dotson said.

To cap the World Car-Free Day events this weekend, Curb Your car members and the Cayuga Waterfront Trail Initiative will provide bike valet parking from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. today at the Ithaca Farmers' Market.

Contact: aju@ithacajournal.com


Originally published September 24, 2005