Oaxaca
In solidarity with the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, or APPO, I want to bring attention to their plight in Oaxaca. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, this Guardian article is a decent place to start.
I traveled to Oaxaca in the summer of 2005, and I can share some of my own pictures.
While I was there, it looked nothing like the scenes depicted in the above news photographs. It’s a beautiful colonial town in the southern Sierra Madres. If the APPO is right, then the current government of the state of Oaxaca is out of touch with the needs of its citizens. The governor, Ulises Ruiz, is another example of a democratically elected leader (well, ostensibly elected) who, once in office, distances himself from the average person whom he is supposed to represent and instead snuggles up to business interests.
The current conflict all started this summer when Ruiz did not respond favorably to an annual teacher strike. Teachers demonstrated for a pay increase, Ruiz sent in the police to break up the protest, and word got around that Ruiz thought he could brush the teachers aside so easily. The Zocalo and Alameda de Leon, two adjacent central plazas in Oaxaca, have since been the center of Mexico’s protest politics, where people are demanding a government accountable to the people.
Is that really so much to ask for in a democracy?
More from NYC Indymedia –
Brad Will was killed on October 27, 2006, in Oaxaca, Mexico, while working as a journalist for the global Indymedia network. He was shot in the torso while documenting an armed, paramilitary assault on the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, a fusion of striking local teachers and other community organizations demanding democracy in Mexico.
All we want in compensation for his death is the only thing Brad ever wanted to see in this world: justice.
* We, along with all of Brad’s friends, reject the use of further state-sponsored violence in Oaxaca.
* The New York City Independent Media Center supports the demand of Reporters Without Borders for a full and complete investigation by Mexican authorities into Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz’s continued use of plain-clothed municipal police as a political paramilitary force. The arrest of his assailants is not enough.
* The NYC IMC also supports the call of Zapatista Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos “to compañeros and compañeras in other countries to unite and to demand justice for this dead compañero.” Marcos issued this call “especially to all of the alternative media, and free media here in Mexico and in all the world.”
Do you want to do something?
Call the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh at (919) 754-0046
Demand:
(1) An end to the Federal Police invasion of Oaxaca. Express your support for the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO).
(2) A full and complete investigation by Mexican authorities into Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz’s continued use of plain-clothed municipal police as a political paramilitary force.
dangerous ideas
Give no credence to any thought that was not born outdoors,
while one moved about freely–
in which the muscles are not celebrating a feast too.
– Nietzche
Devil’s Courthouse
Pictures from a backpacking trip to Pisgah a few weekends back.
The hike in…
The view the second day…
The view the third day…
Note the Blue Ridge Parkway near the top of the closest ridge.
the bike path cat
A white and black fluffy-haired cat sits on the bike path most mornings, just south of the Apex Street bridge.
It doesn’t panic when I approach, like the mourning doves, rabbits, and squirrels do. It doesn’t dart in front of me in a poorly conceived plan to avoid my bike.
It just sits and lazily turns its head as I roll by. It makes no noise, no sudden movements, and watches the wheels spin in only a half-interested way.
It sits half on the paved path and half on the gravel screening to the side. Its head, the only thing that moves on an otherwise still body.
Durham bike maps
Even though I haven’t updated it since February, I still get a lot of email and web traffic because of a Durham cycling map I made last year. At the time, Google Maps had just released its API to allow developers to experiment with. I quickly learned I was out of my element, unable to make the map do everything I wanted it to do.
I’m not going to update it any longer, and I’ve thought about taking it down. But it looks like folks still use it.
Others in Durham have developed what I think are better maps and better collections of other maps.
Romney Biddulph, using Wayfaring, was able to do what I wasn’t, namely to show on the map all of the intersecting routes. Here’s his version of a Durham cycling map.
Jim Reingruber started a map that shows bike parking throughout Durham.
This morning, Daniel S. Schudel emailed me with his collection of Google Earth files and links to other cycling maps.
And the City recently developed these Google Earth files based on GIS data collected during the Bike Plan. You have to be a member of the Yahoo group durhambikeandped to get access to the files. If you don’t want to join, email me or post a comment below, and I’ll get them to you.
There are also some well-done interactive websites collecting bike routes. They’re developed by folks who make it easy for the average web-surfer to log in and input their own routes. My favorite is Bikely. For example, it looks like Adrian Hands recently added the route for this year’s Halloween Hundred.
Y’all have a good weekend, and ride safe.
What are the Hidden Costs of Free Parking?
November 2nd
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Fletcher Opera Theatre
Raleigh, NCThe Raleigh Urban Design Center, a division of the City Planning Department, with support from Kimley-Horn and Associates, the Triangle Transit Authority, and the Raleigh Convention Center, will present a lecture on parking management by Dr. Donald Shoup, Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, and author of The High Cost of Free Parking. An internationally renowned parking expert, Dr. Shoup has extensively studied the issue of parking as a key link between transportation and land use, with important consequences for cities, the economy, and the environment.
Professor Shoup’s research on employer-paid parking led to the passage of California’s parking cash-out law and to changes in the Internal Revenue Code to encourage parking cash out. For more information about Dr. Shoup, see http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu.
There will be a question-and-answer session following Dr. Shoup’s lecture. The lecture is free to the public. To register to attend, go to www.raleighnc.gov., click on “Departments” at the top of the page and then click on “Planning.” See the link, “Hidden Costs of Free Parking Lecture.”
If you have any questions, please contact Trisha Hasch.
Note that in addition to available parking, the Moore Square Bus Station is within walking distance of the Progress Energy Performing Arts Center. For a service schedule, click on http://www.ridetta.org/Bus_Shuttle/Maps_Schedules/routesSchedulesAndMaps.html.
See you on November 2.
__
Trisha Hasch, MUP
Downtown Revitalization Planner
Raleigh, NC
Enrique Peñalosa on making cities people-friendly
Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, now advises other major cities on transportation policy. Under Peñalosa’s tenure, Bogotá (a city of about 7 million people) established a very successful annual Car Free Day and reprioritized integrating bike- and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure into the city’s transportation policy. He’s now a senior fellow at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in New York City.
The Gotham Gazette recently published his article, “Putting Cars Behind,” where he says,
“Public space is fantastic, not only because of the obvious thing that we meet as equals in public space but also because upper income people and poor people at work in the Third World are more or less equally satisfied. The difference comes when they have their leisure time. The upper income person goes to a large house, to clubs, to country houses, to restaurants. The poor people and their children have no alternative to public pedestrian space for their leisure time.
Therefore a democratic society should have quality pedestrian space. People can go walk and at least see their city.”
See the Gotham Gazette for the rest of the article.
Wake County greenways ride
Joe Miller, outdoors columnist for the N&O, put together this nice map of a 14 mile route along Wake County’s Black Creek and Reedy Creek greenways using Umstead State Park as a connector.
Click the image to download a high quality pdf of the map.
This would make for a nice weekend ride. Now, any ideas how to get to one of the greenways from Durham, by bike…
Third-Annual Halloween 100 (100k/50k) & Family Fun Ride
From Roxanne Hall, at Durham Habitat for Humanity
The spooktacular Halloween 100 on Sat., Oct., 28 benefits Habitat for Humanity of Durham. Enjoy scenic views of Durham and Orange Counties on one of two fully supported routes. Thanks to 2005 suggestions, the routes have changed. Check out the cue sheet, http://www.durhamhabitat.org/files/2006_Route.pdf.Is a relaxed ride more of a treat for your family? Join Habitat for the Family Fun Ride on the American Tobacco Trail. No pre-registration, simple check-in at the American Tobacco Campus the morning of the ride. Suggested donation is $5 per rider.
Register Today
For additional information and to register to ride 100k/50k or volunteer, visit www.durhamhabitat.org. Questions? Contact Roxanne, rhall@durhamhabitat.org or 919-682-0516, Ext. 113.Ride with Team Habitat
Help Habitat build homes, hope and community in Durham! Pledge to “give or get” at least $50 in addition to your $25 entry fee and receive a long-sleeve event T-shirt when you check-in.Scream the Word
Please forward this e-mail to all your cycling friends! Last year we had almost 600 riders and hope for more in 2006. In addition to forwarding this email, please help us post the ride on event calendars and distribute the attached poster.Ghoulishly Good Times
Embrace the Halloween theme and compete for best costume! Though it is not required, consider decorating your helmet or coming out to the Halloween 100 in costume. Last year’s winner was Wonder Woman!After the ride, stick around the American Tobacco Campus (ATC) for lunch at one of their tasty restaurants. Showers will be available at the YMCA located on the Campus. For information about the ATC visit, http://www.americantobaccohistoricdistrict.com.
One evening before or after the ride, visit the Durham Jaycees 34th Annual Haunted House at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The majority of the proceeds will benefit Habitat of Durham. For dates and details check out, http://www.durhamhabitat.org/files/HauntedHousePoster.pdf.
Roxanne
Roxanne Hall
Special Events Manager
Habitat for Humanity of Durham
215 N. Church Street
Durham, NC 27701
919-682-0516, Ext. 113
www.durhamhabitat.org
Die-In, Montreal
Beautiful bike-protest politics. See more pics at Martino’s Bike Lane Diary, and if you read French you can read more about it at www.die-in-mtl.org.
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nicomachus.net is the virtual representation of Phillip Barron, who is responsible for all of the writing and photography, unless otherwise credited. Want to know more?
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