Local blog round-up IV (holiday edition)

First of all, best wishes to all for a happy and safe Fourth of July.

**Some very good news: Via the Coasters Bicycle Club comes this Craigslist ad:

some fellow cyclists and I are working on a community bike shop, a non-profit co-op with the goal of promoting bikes as viable transportation by teaching bicycle maintenance and repair while recycling discarded or donated bicycles into affordable, sustainable transportation. We're calling it the Wichita Bicycle Collective. These types of organizations exist in many other cities and we feel Wichita is long overdue for a little progress in this area. To learn more, visit bikecollectives.org, If this is something you'd like to see happen, we need your help! Donate your time, money, or old bikes or parts and tools, the most important part of a community bike shop is the COMMUNITY, and it won't happen without YOU.

The ad goes on to list a few bikes ready to be picked up for suggested donations.

I'd heard about and posted on this initiative before, so it's good to know Mike has things up and running. This is indeed a worthy endeavor, entirely in keeping with the truth that good quality, inexpensive bicycles should be made available to as many people as possible. If you're interested in donating or volunteering, you can reach him at "mike AT wichitabicyclecollective DOT org". (Note to self: I gotta get hip and start checking Craigslist.)

**In Oz Bicycle Club's June newsletter, the Editor's Corner (pp.1-3) contains a fairly lengthy--and accurate--assessment of city and state (in)action concerning cycling in Wichita and Kansas more generally. While nothing there will be new to anyone who regularly rides a bike here in town, it's nevertheless good to know that other folks are noticing. I would simply add as well that all of us single voices crying in the wilderness need to do a better job of crying collectively in order to change things at City Hall and in Topeka (and I'm not excluding myself from that, either).

**Over at River City Cyclist, Robert has some excellent advice for summertime bike-commuting--especially for dealing with a regular problem I have: sweat in the eyes. He also promises instructional videos and the introduction of something every city's bike culture needs: "Wichita's very own 'Cyclist Secret Wave.'" (Thanks also for introducing me to "steelo."

**And finally: I am officially on the public agenda for the City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 7. I'll be asking the council to consider adopting a Complete Streets policy for the city. The meeting starts at 9:00; first will be some awards and recognitions, followed by the public agenda. I hope some of you can attend; it'd be a pleasure to meet you.