April Economides Has an Exciting New Role - Interview with Melissa Balmer

You're assuming an exciting new role in bike advocacy here in Long Beach. Will you give us an overview of your position as Bike Nation’s Long Beach General Manager, and what your responsibilities will be?

Rolling out a bike share system is a big job, and my role will be to steer that ship within the city. I’ll serve as the point-person to the City of Long Beach, business associations, and the diversity of community organizations with whom we’ll work while also overseeing day-to-day operations and fielding media inquiries. I’m looking forward to assembling a diverse team and also working with our staff in our corporate office on this team effort.

What do you hope your background in community advocacy will help make possible in this role?

I want the bike share program to bring more residents, work commuters, and tourists into our local business districts on bike – thereby increasing customers and sales and decreasing car traffic and parking congestion. This is what I help do through my bicycle-friendly business district work around the U.S. and Canada. I’m passionate about supporting small businesses – the backbone of our economy and what gives each city and business district its unique flavor. I’m happy to say a few big property owners and small business merchants have already asked us for stations in front of their property, because they understand it will help them as well as their neighborhood.

When does Bike Nation expect the system to launch?

We’re rolling out in phases, starting in downtown, where most of the employment and tourist activity is located. We hope to launch the first phase in spring.

How did you personally come to the decision to give up your car? What were the pros and cons that you weighed and overall how do you feel about the decision? What were some unexpected perks?

I had to sell my car at age nineteen for financial reasons but quickly found I enjoyed taking the bus more than driving. It was less stressful and made me feel more happy and relaxed. I remember quite clearly my first day on my bus commute from home to campus in Santa Cruz and the peaceful feeling I had. It was an epiphany for me. My internal monologue switched from “that driver’s so slow!” to “wow – look at that beautiful tree” and “gee, this is a beautiful day.” That day laid the foundation for my new relationship with U.S. transportation. I’ve lived mostly without a car ever since, choosing to live in cities with good public transit and good walking and bicycling infrastructure. This goes hand-in-hand with my environmental ethics, which are part of my spiritual foundation.

Communal responsibility aside, not owning a car has also brought me a plethora of personal benefits. I save about $8,000 a year from not owning a car, which I instead invest into living in a nice neighborhood where I walk my daughter to school and not stressing out if the organic produce I buy costs a few dollars extra a week. While I bike for most errands, I occasionally rent a car to pack in a ton of errands in far away places or take a day trip. When I do drive, it feels like an extravagant treat, not a stressor. Not owning a car also keeps me fit. If I stop bicycling and walking for a week, I gain a few pounds and feel sluggish. But the biggest perk is that bicycling makes me really happy. You can’t beat sunshine, fresh air and fun.

Your daughter, Audrey, age seven, very much enjoys riding her bike around Long Beach with you. What advice do you have for other moms who would like to get their children interested in riding a bike on a regular basis?

I love how Audrey often sings while we ride – a welcome difference from the “are we there yet?” whine from the back of a car. If I give her a choice between a taxi ride, bike ride, or walk, she always chooses active, not lazy, transportation.

To start riding with children, parents must first feel confident on a bike themselves. Some people have an irrational fear of bicycling – irrational because statistically, car driving is much more dangerous. But fear is real, and it must be acknowledged, then overcome. This is usually easily done by asking a friend to take them out for a few fun, no stress rides.

Next, they should purchase a child bike extension, seat, or trailer. The latter two are great for kids under four. For kids four to seven, a tag-along or co-pilot extension is ideal. This is what Audrey and I ride and call our “bike limo.” I like that she’s connected to me and gets to pedal, too. Ours cost only $80 and quickly attaches to the back of my bike. After age seven, most kids will want their own bike to get around.

I’d advise families to start riding on weekends to rediscover the joy of bicycling. Instead of driving to lunch or to run that errand, bike there. Then start bicycling to school. Focus on the short trips. Notice how parking is free and right in front of your destination. Notice your waistline shrinking. And most of all, notice how more joyful your family’s life has become.

Q & A with Toronto Bicycle Maven Yvonne Bambrick

On a recent trip to Toronto, I had the pleasure of spending time with bicycling advocate Yvonne Bambrick. Yvonne is a bicycling celebrity around town, largely because of her role as the former (and founding) executive director of the Toronto Cyclists Union, the city’s primary bicycling advocacy organization.

In that role, she increased awareness of bicycling and the responsibilities of all to safely share the road, successfully engaged the provincial Ministry of Transportation to update the Ontario Driver’s Handbook to include bicycle and pedestrian safety, grew the union’s membership to 1,200, won a hard-fought bike lane battle on a major downtown arterial road, launched Toronto’s first mobile bicycle service station, and fielded more than 500 media interviews, among other accomplishments.

As a car-free bicycle commuter, she sees first-hand the economic benefits bicycling brings local business districts, and now is the director of two Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) where she brings her urban commuter and placemaking sensibilities to a traditionally parking-centric role.

It’s always exciting to meet fellow bicycling advocates who have also/currently work for business associations, so I sat down with her to ask her some questions:

AE: Anyone visiting your website quickly learns you are a multi-talented woman, involved in many aspects of Toronto’s bicycling and business scene. Please give us the skinny on what you’re up to these days.

YB: Well thanks, I really enjoy the various types of work that I do – they are all connected in some way. For the past year now, I’ve been working as the part-time coordinator for both the Kensington Market and Forest Hill Village BIAs. I also continue to speak and occasionally teach about the benefits and politics of cycling transportation, and work as a documentary and portrait photographer. Working so closely with this enormous variety of business owners is allowing me to gain unique insights into the needs, interests, misconceptions and concerns of multiple generations of independent merchants and entrepreneurs on a variety of subjects.

AE: It’s impressive you’re the only staff person for both BIAs – that must be a lot on your plate. What kind of work do you do for the two organizations, and is any of it bicycling related?

YB: I work on a number of different projects simultaneously – from the development of marketing materials and grant applications, to infrastructure repair to the production of events. In Kensington Market I’ve just wrapped up several months of community consultation around the frequency and type of neighborhood street closure events, and in Forest Hill Village we’re planning to begin the underground utility repairs required prior to a full streetscape redesign that will make the neighborhood more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

I’m also connecting with city transportation staff about the addition of five much needed on-street bike corrals in Kensington Market. With so many customers and visitors arriving by bike, and limited sidewalk space to add more of Toronto’s signature post and ring bike racks, the market has struggled for years with inadequate bike parking. When combined with the sculptural bike parking at the top of the market that I project managed in 2009, we’ll have added about 60 spots once the corrals are in. I think both neighborhoods, and in particular the next generation of business owners, are beginning to better understand that bikes mean business.

AE: What additional bicycle initiatives do you want to see Toronto business districts and businesses adopt?

YB: I’d love to see a Bike Friendly Business campaign take root. The City has been holding the Bike Friendly Business Awards for the past 20 years, but we don’t yet have any type of citywide ‘bike friendly’ designation that businesses of all sizes can strive for. I’d also like to see a greater uptake on the creation of secure indoor bike parking, in particular in larger office buildings and shopping centers. I hear stories fairly often about there still being rules against bringing bicycles inside certain buildings for no apparent reason. That’s quite a deterrent from riding, in particular in areas where on-street parking is limited or non-existent. Outreach to property managers and owners could probably help resolve this issue.

AE: Toronto’s 2009 study of the popular Bloor Street business district showed pedestrians and bicyclists spend more money in the district than drivers, especially those walkers and bicyclists who live nearby. What lessons can other cities learn from Bloor Street?

YB: The results of the Bloor St. study were hugely significant, primarily because this was the first study to be undertaken in Toronto that showed very clearly that bicyclists and pedestrians are good for business. It completely refuted the widely held belief that most customers (money) arrive by car, and that car parking trumps all.

This past century has seen the automobile become so culturally ingrained as a symbol of status, wealth, freedom and sex appeal, and our cities so completely transformed in order to accommodate the swift throughput and easy movement of motor vehicles, that it is no wonder most people believe the hype. Thankfully, this is starting to change. What we saw on Bloor St., and I believe similar statistics would emerge in other comparably dense, street-level commercial districts, is that many customers arrive by various means other than the automobile.

I believe that ‘consumers’ (citizens) are also increasingly interested in supporting local small businesses – the shops down the road that you can walk or bike to, where you get to know the owner or employees, and can see that you’re supporting the local economy and contributing to the vibrancy of your community.

AE: What parting words of wisdom can you share on why bikes are good for business?

YB: The less money people spend on the purchase, maintenance, storage, fines, insurance, gas, repairs, etcetera of a motor vehicle, the more money they have to invest in the local economy!

Fun Facts About Yvonne Bambrick:

One of her favorite…

…Places in Toronto: Kensington Market & Toronto Islands

…Foods: Picnic

…Musicians: Jennifer Castle/Castlemusic

…Famous people: Strombo

…Words: Balance

…Bikes: My Batavus workhorse

…Artists: BGL

…Writers: Momentum & Dandyhorse magazine contributors