Portland Green Streets

Portland Green Streets will be the Featured Non-Profit at the two-year anniversary of Portland GreenDrinks on Tuesday, 3/9 from 5:30-8pm!

The venue is 645 Congress, the historic former “Portland Hall” dorm that has been renovated to house spacious apartments (with discounted rent for tenants who are living car-free) and retail spaces (new home of Local Sprouts). It is a big space with plenty of room to saunter about and network with environmentally-minded folks from Greater Portland.

Thanks to input from GreenDrinks participants, the group has revamped it’s monthly event model and as the Featured Non-Profit this month, Green Streets will not only host a table, but also be:

• offering an on-site Action Item for those attending the event (a quick on-line survey to boost Green Streets’ effectiveness to get more people going green – that will take 3-5 minutes)
• receiving part of the proceeds from the door ($2 if you bring a drinking vessel (BYOV) or $5 if you don’t)

So come on out and bring a friend!

And if you’ve been looking for simple ways to volunteer for Portland Green Streets and can help out with this event, please click on this Doodle (no registration required) and let us know your availability!

Sign in now (click here) – Please take a minute to sign in now (and every month!) if you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or telecommute this Green Streets Day – Friday, February 26th.

Signing in during the depths of winter helps us see how hearty we are – as we become a year-round green commuting region.

For special treats for Green Streets participants, visit our Green Streets Freebies & Discounts page for offers of free food and drink and various area discounts that day.

We’re excited to finally have added a Green Streets transportation-related events calendar to our website – so please check it throughout the month for timely notices on Greater Portland happenings (on the right sidebar of our home page – bookmark our home page for easy access anytime).

An added bonus: you can add any event to your calendar (scroll down to the bottom of the event description and click on “copy to my calendar”).

And feel free to submit transportation-related events info to us at portlandgreenstreets@yahoo.com

Order Now – Discounted Bike Racks for Your Location from GO MAINE

GO MAINE is proud to announce the Bike Racks for ME Program, providing bicycle parking for Maine.

The MaineDOT and GO MAINE Commuter Connections, in partnership with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, support and encourage bicycling as an important mode of transportation.   They have created Bike Racks for ME for communities, organizations, workplaces and private businesses across Maine to help expand bicycle parking opportunities.

The application packet can be found here.

Before you start, here are some things you should know:

1. This is a statewide program open to communities, organizations, workplaces and private businesses across Maine .
2. The application has a time limit on it because prices may change.  As such prices are good through March 2010.
3. For a current copy of the application go to: GO MAINE.org GO MAINE will update the application after March.
4. The program will remain in effect until the number of requests exceeds availability.
5. The racks are all black. GO MAINE has heard that some areas, including Portland , specify different colors for different areas of the city. Please do your research before you order.
6. GO MAINE needs a signed hard copy of the application along with a check to process the application. They cannot accept orders electronically.
7. Please respect the quantity limits GO MAINE has set on the racks. This is intended to allow for fair distribution from the program.

GO MAINE looks forward to hearing from you and thanks you for you interest in increasing and improving bicycling in Maine .

Please send any questions about the application or program to Erik West at ewest@gpcog.org.

Healthy Casco Bay is offering three mini-grants of up to $1,000 each for initiatives that will create more opportunities for physical activity in the Healthy Casco Bay Healthy Maine Partnership (HMP) service area (Cumberland, Chebeague Island, Falmouth, Freeport, Gray, Long Island, New Gloucester, North Yarmouth, Pownal, and Yarmouth)

i)      Increase the number of youth involved in after-school activities in community settings.

ii)     Develop local plans to safely connect youth to neighborhoods, schools, and recreation areas.

iii)    Increase the number of local community facilities and programs that offer opportunities or venues for families to be physically active together.

iv)   Increase aging adult local access to and participation in evidence-based physical activity promotion programs  [i.e., Matter of Balance].

v)     Increase the number of sidewalks, bike paths, trails, open facilities, and other places for physical activity and/or work to develop a comprehensive town plan that includes built environment design standards for physical activity.

Examples of fundable projects would include:

• Increasing capacity of existing organizations to create trails or trail construction education programs or trail building educational materials (e.g., International Mountain Bike Association Trail Building School training).
• Increasing capacity of existing organizations to facilitate initiatives which promote physical activity.
• Creating of maps, booklets, or guides for local recreation resources.
• Identifying of local bicycle routes for signage.
• Expanding Matter of Balance classes—this could include offering space and classes, as well as training staff to lead classes.
• Developing Safe Routes to School initiatives that result in more youth walking or biking to school.
• Developingcomprehensive municipal plans to incorporate alternative transportation.

Funds MAY NOT be used to purchase end-user equipment, e.g., snowshoes, bicycles, exercise equipment, etc.

Applications must be submitted by March 15, 2010 – application available at www.healthycascobay.org

Just in case you’ve missed the news, the MaineDOT has announced plans to upgrade 30 miles of track between Portland  and Brunswick, setting the stage for passenger rail service serving Freeport and Brunswick starting sometime in 2012.

The tentative schedule calls for three round-trips daily between Portland and Brunswick and two round-trips daily between Brunswick and Boston.

This could be a great resource for residents in the mid-coast region. What do you think? Will you use the Downester service out of Brunswick and Freeport? GO MAINE would like your feedback, let them know by answering a quick survey (with the added benefit of entering a $25 gift card drawing!)

Warm, well-lit bus on a cold winter night

Sign in now (click here) – Please take a minute to sign in now (and every month!) if you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or telecommute this Green Streets Day – Friday, January 29th.

Signing in during the depths of winter helps us see how hearty we are – as we become a year-round green commuting region.

For special treats for Green Streets participants, visit our Green Streets Freebies & Discounts page for offers of free food and drink and various area discounts that day.

Green Streeters and Portland Bike Commuter Meetup members John Brooking and Ian Riddell - pause in downtown Portland, all lit up for the holidays

It’s been a few months since we last posted news from some of our awesome Green Streeters out there.

(And thanks to the 21 hearty – and/or cozy! – souls who signed in for December’s Green Streets Day (aka Christmas Day!) As Ian Riddell of Portland put it when he signed in:

“I won’t be at work, but I won’t be a single occupancy motor vehicle either.”

Jaclyn  Jacobson writes:

“I commute every day from the Rosemont area of Portland to Mercy Hospital’s Westbrook location, then to the Mercy on State Street, and back.  I was happy to see U Car share come to Portland – I was a devoted ZipCar member and unofficial promoter when I lived in Boston – just waiting for there to be a U Car location in my neighborhood!”

By PPH Staff Photographer John Patriquin

Check out the latest on Green Streets sponsor U Car Share in this Portland Press Herald article

- and featuring Green Streeter Alex Landry – photograph at right with his U Car membership card!)

Lisa Fernandes of Resilient Homes in Portland writes:

“We’ve re-designed our lives to drive less (60% fewer miles per year than 4 years ago) for the whole household.  Since we both moved our businesses “in-house” we technically commute about 10 feet (both self-employed now).

Lisa Fernandes

The driving we still do (about 40% of the past amount) relates to personal use of the vehicles and visiting clients in various parts of Maine. My primary clients are in the Belfast area so I’ll be looking at using the bus for that all winter as I only go up once or twice a month and do the rest of the work from home.”

Meredith Collins of Portland writes:

Meredith Collins anticipates a warm bus!

I documented a recent bus trip with a photo and commentary on my Lazy Green Commuter blog.  It wasn’t technically Green Streets day, but it was close, and it was certainly GS-inspired.

A friend of Green Streeter Jim Tasse – Jim DiStefano – posted this excellent haiku to Tasse’s Facebook page:

Elliott May on Climate Ride - NYC to DC

Elliott May of GreenDrinks and Reverb fame shares these photos from the Climate Ride he did in September from New York City to Washington, DC – in support of strong climate legislation.

Climate Ride - NYC to DC

The last photo is of all the bikes he and his colleagues use – outside their offices in downtown Portland.

Bikes at the Office