The Bike Map has turned eyes again, this time with the Pittsburgh City Paper, the local alternative weekly. Their staff left us with this little ditty:
In the Staff Picks: Goods and Sevices
Best alternative map
Bike PGH’s Bike Pittsburgh Map
www.bikepgh.org
For those who frequently travel by bicycle, the member-driven (-pedaled?) advocacy group’s November 2007 release of the first new biking map since the first Clinton administration was cause for no-hands celebration. The map’s route suggestions (conveyed by color-coded streets), the steepness indicators, and the shout-outs to local landmarks and bike-repair shops were all a boon. The just-released 2.0 version is even better. It’s about 20 percent smaller, for easier handling; the route markings are even more detailed; and best of all, it’s got a handy guide to those conceptual flat tires in every ‘Burgh biker’s day: the bridges. Written by folks who know because they go, these brief paragraphs should prove useful to novices and veterans alike.

…and in the Staff Picks: people + places + propaganda, our initiative to get a bike/ped coordinator hired at the city didn’t go unnoticed. The print version gave Stephen Patchan a full page spread as well as this wittiness:

Best news for cyclists
Hiring Stephen Patchan as “bike czar”
Ever noticed that when people talk about hiring a government “czar,” it’s usually to fight a battle that seems unlikely to end? Whatever the challenges of their jobs, America’s drug czars and terrorism czars don’t have to worry about job security. And now comes Stephen Patchan to finally resolve the eternal tension between Pittsburgh’s drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Patchan, whose formal title is “bicycle/pedestrian coordinator,” was hired in August (thanks to a grant by the R.K. Mellon Foundation) to help make the city more friendly to alternate modes of transit. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has charged him with a number of duties: presiding over efforts to improve crosswalks, signage and facilities for cyclists; better tracking of bike- and pedestrian-related accidents; and helping to educate everyone about safely sharing the road. The goal is a city where bikers, drivers and walkers can peacefully exist side-by-side. And right after that’s done, Mr. Patchan, there’s a situation in the Middle East that could use your expertise.

Thanks CP!

Check out the rest of the Best of Pittsburgh 2008 at a newstand or by clicking here