Review: Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes looks at how to make streets safer

The Architecture & Design Film Festival was on this week and I caught two documentaries back to back. Most of the audience at the VIFF were architects, low key but cool dressing, talking shop with their colleagues in the waiting area.

The first film was Changing Lanes directed by Ben Wolf and while it's about an area in Brooklyn, New York, it applies to any neighbourhood that is fighting to make things better. Wolf notes at the beginning of the film that he made the entire documentary by hauling equipment with his bicycle.

It opens with the death of a beloved elementary school teacher who was killed in a hit-and-run accident at Greenpoint and the residents in the area as well as grassroots activists mourn his death, and also call for the street to be designed safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Activists rally for safer streets for pedestrians

When cities first sprang into life, there were no street lights because there were horse-drawn carriages and people walked or ran. But with the advent of cars, people were getting killed trying to cross the street. 

One activist explains it's the carmakers who blamed the accidents on the pedestrians, creating the word "jaywalking" and making it a crime for people to cross the street willy nilly, when it was something they did before cars existed.

Mayor Ed Koch tried to make New York more bike friendly and turned 6th and 7th avenues into bike lanes, but car drivers hated it and then the bike lanes were soon gone.

It wasn't until Michael Bloomberg in 2012 hired Janette Sadik-Khan as transportation commissioner did they begin bringing in bike lanes and started the Citi Bike sharing program. It also made political sense -- mayors who bring in bike lanes get re-elected again and again.

Hmmm maybe not Gregor Robertson, who got voted out of City Hall in Vancouver...

But we digress.

Numerous activists and pro-cycling people appear in Changing Lanes, most notably musician David Byrne, who is filmed riding his bike and explaining how it helps him get around the city and meet people, something he continues to do while on tour.

Byrne admits it can be dangerous cycling in NYC

There's someone who used to work at the city's transportation department, and Sadik-Khan, while activists hold rallies to get people to support their cause, but they get pushback from a businessman in the area who thinks redesigning the street will affect his business.

At first current Mayor Eric Adams is for changing the street design at Greenpoint, but then backs off; it turns out the businessman gave Adams a lot of money and was eventually indicted along with Adams.

So Changing Lanes shows that grassroots activism is important to voice your opinion, but also money can sway politicians to not necessarily do what's best for the community.

Redesigning streets, activists argue, will give people options of how they want to get around the city. Building more lanes doesn't necessarily relieve traffic james; in many cases it makes the situation worse. It was found that with more bike lanes, local businesses saw increases in customer sales because it was more accessible in terms of pedestrian and cyclists.

This is something all mayors should think about when considering how to make their cities better.

Changing Lanes

Directed by Ben Wolf

73 minutes

 

Review: Atomic Habits Can Lead to Real Change

This book has clear, incremental ways to change your habits

If you've got some goals and wondering how to achieve them, James Clear has the answer for you -- Atomic Habits, incremental changes to your daily habits that must might help you succeed.

Clear grabs your attention right away by describing a horrific freak accident in high school that almost left him for dead. He had had dreams of becoming a baseball player, but this accident was a massive setback not only physically but academically too.

However, with good habits, from cleaning his room everyday to studying not only got him back on track to be named a top athlete in college, but also win academic honours too.

Clear gives examples of changing his life

He's living proof that small habits can lead to big changes, hence he calls them "atomic habits".

Clear tells another great story about the British cycling team and how they were not very good. But a new coach tried to make incremental improvements of 1 percent here and there, from the bikes to the uniforms to how they were training and strategy that led to British cyclists winning the Tour de France.

Basically Clear explains we have good habits and bad habits, so try to change your bad habits into good ones.

That means trying to make good habits easier to do, and bad ones harder. He gives the example of watching television. If you want to watch less, you can only turn it on if you can name the show you want to watch. Or unplug it so you have to plug it in. Or lock it in a cabinet, or place out of sight so you have to move it to be able to watch it. 

Another interesting point he makes is we make goals such as wanting to lose weight. How do you do that? Clear says we should try to be the person we want to be. If we want to lose weight we should start to think about how a healthy person thinks. Does a healthy person eat chocolate? Maybe you should put in extra steps instead, or eat an apple.

To build more good habits, stack them with ones you already have. For example, once you wake up in the morning, make your bed and then take a shower. Other possible good habits to add on are, if you see a set of stairs, climb them instead of taking the elevator, or if you want to buy something over $100, wait 24 hours before buying it.

In order to increase the chances of changing or improving your habits is to change your environment so that you will have a higher chance of doing them. He says if you want to draw more, put pencils, pens and paper on your desk, or to exercise more, have your workout clothes set out to change into, and to eat healthier, chop up vegetables and fruits and put them in containers so you won't turn to junk food.

Starting something may seem daunting to people, and Clear suggests the two-minute rule or at least opening a book and reading a page or working out for five minutes; in this way you have shown up which is a big part of starting good habits.

He also writes about a young man who became very successful in sales very quickly. How did he do that? He had two jars on his desk, one filled with 120 paper clips. Each time he finished a sales call, he would put one paper clip in the empty jar and so on until all 120 paper clips were in the second jar. It was a physical reminder of how much he had accomplished in one day. That's why things like journals can help people keep track of what they have eaten or done.

Atomic Habits is very easy to read with clear relatable examples that make you think there are some small ways you can improve yourself in all aspects of your life.

I borrowed the book from the library, but had to wait a while as there were over 90 people ahead of me wanting to read Atomic Habits too!

Cyclists Angry Stanley Park Bike Lane Will be Removed

Temporary bike lane in Stanley Park was voted to be removed

Back in chilly Vancouver, where the snow from a few days ago still has frozen into ice and still hasn't melted, though rain may come late tomorrow.

The big story today was tonight's Vancouver Parks Board vote on whether to remove the temporary bike lane in Stanley Park and it's a contentious issue for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. 

Described as the city's "jewel", the urban park has a bike and pedestrian path that is 13km long in circumference. This is great for leisurely bike users and pedestrians to avoid getting into crosshairs with cars.

The bike lane created headaches for drivers

About two years ago during the pandemic, one of the two car lanes was turned into a temporary bike lane which made it easier for cyclists to commute through the park. 

The action resulted in joy for cyclists, and frustration from drivers, as it immediately led to a massive traffic jam in the park, and it led to many not visiting Stanley Park anymore.

However now with the recent municipal election last month which voted in a new Park Board stacked with ABC Vancouver commissioners, tonight they voted 6-1 to return to the two-car lane in Stanley Park. 

City park board commissioners have asked city staff to come up with a permanent cycling plan for the park by the spring.

The lone vote against was Green Party commissioner Peter Digby, who criticised ABC for not putting this divisive issue in its election platform, and only brought forward the motion after being elected into office.

The city will come up with a permanent bike lane

"It's been such a victory to have this bike lane," he said. "Driveability is not the hallmark of a world-class park."

While the motion asks city staff to "immediately restore the pre-Covid traffic and parking configuration in Stanley Park in time for the upcoming December 2022 peak holiday season".

Reaction from cyclists has been swift. Jeff Leigh is the president of the non-profit group Hub Cycling, said the vote result was "very unfortunate".

"There are many things that could be done to improve the bike lane, but to pull it out on a faint hope of reinstalling it, we think is a poor decision," he said.

We will have to wait and see what the city staff come up with in terms of a permanent plan for cyclists. In the meantime those who voted for ABC Vancouver hoping for the change they wanted may now be frustrated this was not the change they wanted. They are stuck with this super majority in city hall and the park board for the next four years...