Instead of screaming into the void of Twitter, I bring you a weekly highlight reel of what it’s like going places in Greater Hartford when one is gloriously car-free. These posts are on a slight time delay because nobody needs to know exactly where I am when I am there.

The cover photo is from DominGO when it was on Park Street and I needed to pass through it to go from the CTfastrak station to my house. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

I want to talk about my bike, which has morphed into an event.
It’s an entire rave on two wheels.

My headlights and tail light seemed so insufficient, and by insufficient, I mean demure and tactful. I’m neither; why should my vehicle be?

The Goth shaming has been tiresome for all the reasons I’ve given before, including the knowledge that drivers still manage to hit people who are wearing hi-vis, using lights, in the bike lane, in the marked crosswalk, etc. etc. The thing is that if you aren’t looking at the road, then you won’t see what’s right in front of you.

My spinning light show is not an insurance policy.
This is more like a footnote for a crash report, for when someone hits me, witnesses can say that my bike was lit up like a damn disco. Perhaps the driver in this scenario, who is unlikely to see jail time or lose their license, will at least be forced to get an eye exam.

I don’t feel like my bike’s illumination situation is complete yet, but it’s around 80% and has been debuted.

It took some work:

Some people have trouble meeting deadlines or getting out the door on time. Looping lights around spokes is where I am unfairly challenged.
There were abrasions.
Tears.
Riot grrrl music blasted to talk me back into finishing what seemed like a dumber idea by the minute. Not as dumb as installing a fart can, but dumb.

The instructions said this would take minutes.
How many minutes? That was not specified.

After adding lights on both tires and the rack, I began adding reflectors. . . to everything. Was I aiming for a pattern? Maybe. Did I succeed? Random is a pattern.
There is also a glow-in-the-dark millipede.

I did my first night ride with this set up after Night Fall, and I have confirmed that I can personally wear all black clothing but be extremely visible nonetheless.

I know this by dozens of people who commented on my bike while I zipped by them; a tween declared it a “sick ride.” People driving gave me an extreme amount of space — more than when I’ve carried garden tools, and that says something. Someone pulled up alongside — with lots of space between — to comment on the bike.

This is possibly worth the extra weight that is added by all the battery packs.

See it in action

AS SEEN AROUND TOWN

This pic doesn’t show anything really extraordinary . . . just someone carrying groceries and what have you. Once in awhile I have to show proof of this for those who don’t believe such feats are possible without a car. Those doubters could also hop on a bus and watch the same thing constantly.

Here is a nice walking weapon someone left by a beg button. It’s rusty and has teeth. If you don’t have a million purple lights on yourself, perhaps this is a thing to carry to ensure you get the space you need.

(I did not tell you to do crimes)

Funny story: The City of Hartford keeps funding the police even though their presence does not make us safer.

I’ve seen them leaving their vehicles on park sidewalks when not responding to emergencies:

I’ve seen them parked on the grass in Pope Park North, idling for hours, observing a quiet cul-de-sac:

I do not see them so much on the sections of Park Street and Capitol Avenue where there have been recent shootings and obvious tensions. On Sunday, I walked through all kinds of nonsense on the section of Park Street between Pope Park Highway #4 and New Park Avenue. Anyone could’ve spotted what was going on. If you want to get looked up and down like you’re either looking to buy or get robbed, there’s a place for you to experience that. On Monday, someone was murdered on the stretch of Park Street in an attempted car robbery. Right now, it sounds like it was one of the thieves who was killed.

When you’re moving at a slower pace, you have more time to observe what is going on, or not, around you.

You also have time to notice other things that have been left undone.

Whenever there is construction, efforts are supposed to be taken to maintain pedestrian access. That’s policy.

This is the ongoing scene at Park and Bartholomew. If you want to go to 1429 Park Street (brewery, curiosity store, pole dancing, etc.) you get to either cross the street, walk down, and then cross again, or, walk in the road and hope drivers are attentive and respectful of the situation that you did not choose.

You notice how many detours have been or are happening, and how it’s not always clear.
Should I be walking here? Who can know?!

You notice how the flex posts meant for daylighting intersections are acting as grocery cart corrals . . .

and how flex posts did not stop someone from knocking over a massive planter recently.

The night before the pot was tipped over. The next day, I saw someone (or multiple people) got it back into place, but you could see the damage done.

You see how a sign and lots of bricks have been mangled at an intersection just outside of a construction zone.

And you see how pervasive car culture is . . .

. . . how indoctrination starts so young.

THINGS WEST HARTFORD WILL PROTECT THAT AREN’T PEDESTRIANS OR CYCLISTS

Do I want to have a whole account dedicated to shit-posting about the Town of West Hartford’s anti-people policies? I don’t have the time for it, but I’ll provide this one photo, which isn’t the invite to tell me about how this was a private business decision or whatever because that’s missing the point.

Here’s the point: Michael Walsh spent all summer working on a solid piece about pedestrian and cyclist non-safety in West Hartford, and it sparks a number of questions and conversations, including:

  1. How officials measure safety and success so differently from regular pedestrians and cyclists.
  2. How the town engineer is utterly disconnected from the reality of those who are not car dependent. He seems to think that pedestrians do not exist when it is raining or late in the evening, and how I wish I could say that I only ran errands or traveled to work when it was 70°F and sunny. Has it already been forgotten that in 2020 a Hartford resident skateboarding home from his job in West Hartford was killed late in the evening when hit by someone who left the young man on the side of the road?
  3. How that same town engineer has said that it’s acceptable for a pedestrian to stand around in a thunderstorm pressing a beg button and waiting because heaven forbid he force “all those cars to sit and wait for 20 to 25 seconds unnecessarily.” I said the quiet part out loud for him. Nevermind that cars are not people. Nevermind that people in cars are protected from the elements and will make up those 25 seconds easily. Read that again and again and think about how someone tasked with making decisions regards those who are outside of vehicles. “All those cars” is a problem created by poor engineering. This is like me complaining that my house is messy because I haven’t cleaned it.
  4. How the life of a cyclist is valued less than the flow of uninterrupted capitalism. What does it says about our society that nobody dare regulate deliveries or parking with commonsense?
  5. How West Hartford residents deserve leadership who actually exercise their imagination and make an effort to be informed on current day best practices.

Go read the article and then consider getting involved with Bike West Hartford, Bike Walk CT, or Transport Hartford.