MOBILITY
From CFI
Welcome to the GULP Mobility Group
Return to the GULP Main Page.
If you are interested joining the Mobility working group please contact Ike Dullinger at heinz@pacific.net
The Mobility working group first met during the working group break out session at the GULP general meeting on February 21.
Several issues that have been identified as possible project areas include:
Alternative Transportation:
-Community owned bicycles
-Car/Truck shares
-Lite Rail or other Rail options
Encouraging and enabling non-motorized transportation:
-Creating a map of existing biking and walking trails in the area
-Working with landowners to create easements for additional biking/walking trails in the area
-Organizing "Bike to Work" and "Bike to the Concert" events
-Organizing Critical Masses (These could be done in a festive manner in conjunction with Concerts in the Park)
-Providing more bike parking
-Creating "Car-Free" zones in the city. Specifically creating a pedestrian walking mall by closing off School Street from Perkins to Church. This would follow in the foot steps of incredilby successful downtown pedestian areas in Boulder, CO and Burlington, VT.
Production and Distribution of Bio-Fuels:
-Creating small scale bio-diesel production
-Creating fuel from the City Owned Wastewater treatment facility.
If you are interested joining the Mobility working group please contact: Ike Dullinger at heinz@pacific.net
NEXT MEETING: March 30, Meet at the Ukiah Airport parking lot for aviewing of Ron Cole's Magne-gas machine
Mobility Group Documents and Information:
Links of interest to the Mobility Group: Mobility Group Links
Mobility Group meeting notes: GULP Mobility Notes
The notes this group produced at the February 21st GULP general meeting are available here: http://www.cloudforest.org/2-21-06_Meeting_Notes
[Add links to meeting notes, etc. above]
Individual Updates
Please use the space below to post any updates, news, ideas, individual action item reports, etc. to share with the GULP Mobility Group. Please include the date posted and your initials at the start of your post and add your new items at the top of the list (i.e., keep the most recent posts at the top).
2007-04-29 Positive Ride Share program for our county
Below I am enclosing a leetter from Rafael Borras about a carpooling/ridesharing program he is trying to develop. He is especially wanting to work with the various localization groups in our county. I have talked with him about his ideas. You can contact Rafael at the addresses he lists at the end of his letter. You can contact me at 485-1290 or peace@pacific.net
Sandy Turner
I am Rafael Borras from Anderson Valley , and I wish all of you a wonderful new year. Some of you may know me, as I have contributed to the development of Mendocino County as a sustainable, self-reliant, extended community. Those of you that have worked in various aspects of economic localization are in my opinion leading a way toward crafting a model to deal with the eventual disruption caused by the advent of âpeak oilâ.Â
 The purpose of this email is present to you a Community Rideshare Program to augment the Mendocino Transit system (MTA), in so far as I have conceptualized it and to provide my contact information so that I may work with others in making the program a safe and effective reality.
 I regret that I have not attended more of the economic localization link meetings, but have had some reoccurring health problems, and do not want to contribute to pollution by driving to meetings.
 I tentatively call this program âPositive Ride Shareâ, the mission of which is to on a county-wide basis safely connect drivers and passengers with each other that share common travel routes and destinations thereby minimizing the number miles driven in our County. Also to advocate for a public transportation system that more thoroughly meets the needs of the public.
 I propose that such a system be discretionary with an implied right of refusal, reliable, cost sharing, with built in safeguards. Foremost is to set up a network of interconnected community based clusters of those who would be interested in attending to the details of setting âPositive Rideshareâ in motion, such groups may distribute flyers, encourage local community networks, identify preferred safe pick-up areas (hopefully with available local parking), identify local routes, develop phone and e-mail lists, but most importantly, they would process the applications of those that choose to participate. Participants would be issued a reflective sticker, which would identify the person with a number-letter code, indicating their community and refer to the application, and the sticker having been designed by a local artist and featuring a thumbs-up logo, could be mounted on a windshield, or be placed on hand-held card to be displayed by ride seekers at pick-up points. Such pick-up points could be chosen for their proximity to frequently shopped markets, post office, libraries, etc., with thoughtful consideration of parking, safety, etc. Main routes may include Willits-Ukiah-Hopland, Ukiah-Anderson Valley-Navarro Bridge- Elk- Point Arena, Navarro Bridge- Albion-Little River-Mendocino-Caspar- Fort Bragg.
 As the name âPositive Ride Shareâ suggests, those that partake in this effort to share and conserve resources enter into an implied consensual agreement to treat each other and the environment in a positive respectful manner. Most respectful behavior should be self-evident, but I think that it might be best to adopt a code of ethics, which if violated could be brought to the attention of others. We might also consider arranging for workshops on crisis abatement, and womenâs self-defense. There may be many who would be reticent to pick-up or ride with a stranger, and the way to partially allay such concerns is for all of us to create a safe environment. Another aspect of Positive Ride Share is to develop cost-sharing, with the possible use of donation cans, and fund raisers to defer the cost of gas and car maintenance for frequent providers, etc.
 The application might contain along with the name, address, car license, insurance, phone, e-mail, a request for a photo, and information as to regularly used routes, rides needed and offered, on which days, special needs, i.e. whether elderly or disabled, children and pets, needs for bicycle transport, community visions and skills to share..
 I am currently in Mexico until after the Easter holiday. I remain available for further dialogue by e-mail. My contact information is <positiverideshare@yahoo.com> or POB 51, Philo , CA 95466 .
2006_03_24 by KP: I noticed that a "possible project area" (listed above) is "Production and Distribution of Bio-Fuels: Creating small scale bio-diesel production". I think it's important to note that such a thing exists in the valley (Yokayo is currently producing over 5000 gal/month, and climbing, using local recycled feedstock), and rather than try to duplicate our efforts, which are the product of nearly 5 years, it would be good to find ways that the community can support what Yokayo is doing.
2006_03_22 by SC: Ike thanks for your many great contributions at the 3/21 meeting. I have been pondering the magma-gas energy that you plan to demo for the group. As you mentioned, it is important to balance theory and practice. In the case of the gas, IMO, one part of practice is creating the gas and another is showing that it can also help Ukiah unplug from the corporate energy grid in a practical context. Perhaps a joint meeting of the mobility and business groups would make sense down the road. But, here is some thinking out loud about what we might do so that others can help work out the bugs. What if we âflesh outâ something like:
1) a plan to use the plasma gas for all heating and cooking needs in a small development, e.g., a dozen or less units, which would be supplied by tank to the new development (which could be switched over to a standard natural gas connection should trouble arise). 2) a plan to accept a fixed quantity of sewage or another appropriate local waste from one of the companies in the area, ideally with some compensation to us that is a percentage of what it would lave cost them to dispose of it; 3) an estimate of the cost to supply the new development with the gas (hopefully at a rate below that of natural gas so that we can work with a low income development). 4) a proposal to Ukiah or Mendocino County to do the work needed to make the connections and supply the gas to any developer willing to cooperate.
One obvious issue is that insurance for the new development would be huge (as business in America is so very scared of things without an existing bell curve (among other problems). But, we could very possibly generate enough excitement about a clean alternative fuel source in application in housing (especially one that reduces other wastes) so that an investor just might turn up to cover that cost. Alternatively, we could try to work out some deal to cover the insurance through the City or County in exchange for some return until it has been in place long enough without âgoing boomâ that the rates would drop. Again, just âtyping out loudâ here. But, I am very interested in trying to work though why we are not or cannot use this energy source to plug some of the economic leakage in the Ukiah area. IMO, some scheme like the above that benefits people without their necessarily having to make some individual sacrifice would go a long way toward showing everyone else what can be accomplished.
March 8, 2006 Cliff made contact with the Ukiah Valley Trails Group, a local group dedicated to creating and maintaining trails in the Ukiah Valley. Cliff will call the president of the group on the weekend of March 11-12 to discuss possible partnership opportunities.
March 7, 2006 Cliff went to the County Assessors office to learn the process for researching land ownership to enable the group to contact land owners when possible trail locations are identified.
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