Mixed emotions. I love the idea of gas prices going up. I feel like gas should cost more considering the negative impact it has on the atmosphere, the air pollution, and global impact of refining it from crude oil. In other parts of the world gas has been considerably more expensive for a long time. I think the higher prices have encouraged other countries to be more tuned in to the impacts of transportation and energy consumption. Expensive gas makes people think about how much they use.

Several years ago I had the idea that I wanted to get rid of all our gas powered things. We sold our only car, then our lawn mower. We had never owned a gas powered weed-trimmer or the multitude of other power tools people often feel they need. All the motorcycles and mopeds of my youth were long gone. I know we still buy things that have used gas in manufacturing and delivery almost everyday but not having to buy any makes me happy.

I remember when I was a 13 year old, I needed gas for my moped. I would siphon it from my dad’s truck often enough that I still know what gasoline tastes like. Now as a 44 year old, I check the gas prices at oregongasprices.com just to see them climbing – always hoping that more people will give bicycling a try.

High gas prices will have so many other effects. I can’t begin to imagine.

We did a little demonstration project today to look at the effects of having a bike corral on residential block of North Polk.

We now have an official proposal in with the City of Eugene to see if we can initiate a residential bike corral.

The neighborhood bike corral would create a wonderful community amenity and utilize public space for a different type of parking than traditionally provided and one that matches the neighborhood usage. We have more bicycle traffic than car traffic on this street, public bicycle parking should be thrown into the mix. It is amazing how much public space is provided for cars, what with on-street parking, highways, parking lots, and wide roads.

Our proposal is to install and maintain the parking space for the public to use. Since the street sweepers won’t be able to sweep the area with the rack, the proposal requires us, the residents in front of the corral, to clean and maintain the area, including dealing with any vandalism. This is similar to the responsibilities of residents and sidewalks, where the sidewalk in front of a person’s home is the home-owners responsibility.

Please take my poll.
[poll id=”1″]

This is a nice little slideshow that Noah Dewitt put together after a few rides with us to school and to the grocery store.