APRIL 21, 2023 TRANSPORTATION Trikes for seniors When I was battling foreclosure in Detroit, I let the car go and got a used Trailmate DeSoto tricycle. It was one of my essential tools for the final victory so that I could sell my house for the market value of $10,000. That is real estate 101 in America. That helped build two houses in Cuba and put me home-free in America. I had much advice to choose Ann Arbor as my home. Recently, I test rode a TerraTrike recumbent tricycle and decided it was worthy of follow up. Many seniors have arthritis issues, including pain while walking. I found the recumbent to be a good exercise and made cycling more fun. I went to the Common Cycle shop Sunday, March 12 and 19 to pursue the idea of getting free trikes to senior citizens. I have donated several bicycles over the years and was always number of Judy at Charity Bikes. Judy and I agreed to pursue Trikes KEN PARKS Groundcover vendor No. 490 for Seniors, in part by meditating on a good relationship among ourselves as activists for the commons. We hope to set up a pipeline for donations of money and trikes. I have called Terra Trikes in Grand Rapids once and will follow through to see if they can do discounts for seniors — they make recumbent trikes. It seems like everyone wants to impressed by the love and cooperation shared among the volunteers and felt by anyone who came in. (The shared life is a good life as we experience when we are on the dance floor.) I’ve had several wonderful conversations at Common Cycle, two with Clark McCall, and the follow through is on the table now. He gave me the build a cooperative ecovillage. So let’s start with something simple such as transportation and start with Trikes for Seniors. This way, we can simplify our lives and have more time for the broader commons that includes land sovereignty in an indigenous centered way. I wrote "Standing Rock" in the December 2021 Groundcover if you want more on that theme. Ann Arbor is a center for many who are committed to the commons and the vision of sharing resources. We have the annarborcommunitycommons.org and commoncycle.com as two examples of this living aspiration in Ann Arbor. As we learn more about who we are as human beings and the struggle for the freedom to use our power in creative and beneficial ways, if we think globally and act locally we will do many good things. I will work with Ann Arbor Community Commons to set up a donation pipeline, to coordinate with Common Cycle and Charity Bikes as we move to put our feet on the pedals. I will shift between writing and organizing as interrelated activities necessary to bring anything to fruition. Let’s breathe for good transportation and start with getting trikes to senior citizens. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 7 "Housing and Transportation: what's the climate connection?" presentation recap On Wednesday February 22 at 6 p.m., what was supposed to be a hybrid City Council meeting turned virtual due to the weather. Volunteers from the Citizens Climate Lobby of Ann Arbor assembled a panel that introduced solutions for the City of Ann Arbor to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and discussed considerations for designing low carbon, highly livable cities. The “Housing and Transportation: What’s the Climate Connection?” panel members included Jan Culburtson, Jonathan Levine, Christopher Laurent and Reid Ewing — all extremely knowledgeable experts from the fields of urban planning and development and sustainability. The program began with guest speaker Johnathan Levine, a professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. His presentation focused on transport and land use planning. Cities are useful in mitigating carbon emissions due to density and proximity. A study by the CoolClimate Network at UC Berkeley found that households in cities emit roughly half of the carbon emissions compared to households in remote suburbs. Levine supported this by citing Chicago, San Francisco, New York City and Ann Arbor as examples. However, these cities are still problematic. SIMONE FLETCHER U-M student contributor According to Levine, while cities are “low-(er) carbon zones” due to the increased use of public transit and non-automotive forms of transportation, it is not deserving of self-congratulation. “When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, what municipalities control directly is a drop in the bucket compared to the emissions associated with those who live, work and play in the cities.” Luckily, transportation and the heating and cooling of houses — two factors the city largely impacts — make up a large portion of carbon emissions, sitting at 42%. The next speaker was Reid Ewing, Harvard graduate in urban planning and transportation systems, and current professor at the University of Utah. His primary focus was on vehicles and their impact on the environment. He cited his book, “Growing Cooler: the Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change”, and described transportation carbon dioxide as a three-legged stool composed of vehicles and their efficiency, fuels and carbon content, and VMT (vehicle miles traveled). Ewing emphasizes that “You can’t sit on a stool without three legs, so all legs are important.” The most impactful of these three legs is VMT. The equation for reaching goal CO₂ levels (80% reduction by 2050) is: compact development, doubling transit services, double price of using an automobile with a carbon tax, and halving the amount of highway expansion. Jan Culbertson, Senior Principal Emeritus, A3C and Leadership Council Chair at Ann Arbor 2030 District, focused on buildings. She emphasized the need for a “15-minute city” — an area where necessities are within a 15-minute walking or biking distance. So, she stated, “... it’s not just about density, it’s about when and where we build.” Cities that are lower carbon zones, such as Ann Arbor, tend to push people into higher carbon zones with zoning and other regulatory rules, limiting the number of people who can benefit from the “healthier” environment. Organizations such as Cinnare Solutions find means to combat this. Christopher Laurent, President of Cinnaire Solutions, an organization with the mission of “We believe that all people deserve the opportunities provided by living in healthy communities,” added to the conversation the opportunities of using abandoned buildings as community centers and affordable housing through renovation. Levine had asserted that “there is no affordable housing problem in the U.S.,” but the affordable housing is far from what is needed to survive given the costs of obtaining necessities, including getting to work. So, transportation is a component of “affordable living.” Laurent and Cinnaire Solutions address this issue by creating affordable spaces in prime locations in cities. In creating affordable housing in non-food-desert locations, we can promote healthier living while making housing accessible. By accepting that the suburban-oriented template is not what is best for well-being or the environment, we can begin to make necessary changes to reach our goals of carbon reduction. And, maybe, we as a community, can soon take the necessary steps to change our goals from reduction to restoration. To watch the meeting in full, feel free to visit youtu.be/cvVsL6sdsMM or look up “Housing and Transportation: What’s the Climate Connection? Guest Host Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL)” on YouTube.
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