Hello all,

I’ll be out of town for a bit so posting for the next week might be a little light.
Have a great Holiday season and Happy New Year!

From Ed Vielmetti, a blogger, techie, and bus rider (Check out his blog for even more info on snow removal)

1. Wait in the cleared driveway near the bus stop
2. Get off in the cleared driveway near the bus stop
3. Stomp the snow off your feet on the way into the bus
4. Don’t forget your mittens on the bus
5. Call Donna at Victory Construction 734-657-7447 to do one-time or seasonal clearing of a stop.
6. Talk to owners of properties near the stop to ask them to clear the stop
7. Buy a snow scoop

While walking to work today, I  listening to a mellow mix I created on my MP3 player.

The song “The Tourist” by Radiohead came on as I was huffing my way past Seventh on my way downtown.  I couldn’t help but appreciate the lyrics, especially during this busy time of year:

“Hey man, slow down, slow down,
idiot, slow down, slow down.”

Apparently, Radiohead wrote this song after seeing American Tourists in France who were running around frantically trying to see all the sights in 10 minutes.

In a society of instant messaging and speedy cars, where do you go to just slow down?

That’s where Slow Society comes in.  Thanks to the WBWC, I now know about this group.

On their website, Slow Society tells us what it’s all about:

“The purpose of Slow Society is to inspire and to provide guidance in slowness and sustainability related issues, in cooperation with creative partners facilitate long-term decision making and action. There is a need for strategies and practices for slowness and sustainability in all types of organizations, on all levels of society. ”

I especially like their page on Walking to Work and how it contributes to a Slow Society.

It all gives you pause to think  . . . at least for a second or two.

We’re #25! We’re #25!

That is, according to the Carfree Census Database, which compiles Census Data of the commuting habits of employees in various cities.

When you search by Small Cities (population 50,000-250,000) with the most number of non-car commuters, Ann Arbor Michigan shows up as #25 on the list. This is out of a total of 597 cities.

The numbers are as follows (according to the 2000 Census):

Ann Arbor City
Population: 114110
% of Bike Commuters: 2.39%
% of Pedestrian Commuters: 16.52%
% of Transit Commuters: 6.89%
% Total = 25.8%
% of Households without a car: 9.55%

Yeah to us! And that’s just for the City of Ann Arbor. When you look at the numbers of people commuting to the downtown, the figures are also positive:

Downtown Ann Arbor (2005)

% of Bike Commuters: 4.2%
% of Pedestrian Commuters: 15.1%
% of Transit Commuters: 14.7%
% Total = 34%

This info is from the 2005 Evaluation of the getDowntown go!pass program by the Urban and Regional Research Collaborative, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at The University of Michigan. They plan t do another survey this coming year.

All of this is very heartening and make Ann Arbor a nice place to live that will be getting even better in the next couple of years.

I know for a fact that:

• the City is working to create more bike lanes and pedestrian friendy streets
• the AATA is working on more commuter buses to outlining areas
• The AATA and getDowntown are working together to create an online carpooling system that is easy to use
• getDowntown and the DDA are working on getting Zipcar into the downtown

That’s just a bit of what I know right now. So let’s keep up the good work.