Stimulus Bike

Here's An Idea: Bike Corral or Oasis

With millions or billions of dollars going towards infrastructure improvements, bike parking could be one of the most economically stimulating of them all. There are two designs I will focus on here: a bike corral and a bike oasis.

Bike Corral
A bike corral changes on-street parking from cars to bikes, by just adding a bike rack to lock on to, and possibly signage and markers to lower the risk of cars bumping into the racks. What was once 2 parking spaces for cars can become space to park 25 bikes; even two minivans can't hold that many people! The pros are numerous: with more people able to park in a small area, the nearby stores will get more business from customers that were able to bike to the store instead of paying all the costs of a car and parking on-street. The only cons are that street cleaning equipment such as street sweepers and snow plows cannot manage that area. But a shovel and a broom can handle those issues without too much hassle. According to the users in the video from Streetfilms, it also empowers more people to ride when there is equality in parking. Pedestrians should also love this because it means fewer bikes locked to sidewalk items like streetlights, trashcans, and parking meters. What other option could be so easy and cheap, and bring in more business for local shops?

Bike Oasis
The bike oasis is a similar type of parking design, but has a slightly different use and purpose. A bike oasis would be put in an area of extended curb, so that cars would be diverted away, but street cleaning equipment can still do its job. The bike oasis also includes a small roof structure to protect bikes, and can include maps of the area as well. This would be a bit more costly than a bike corral, but compare that to trying to add a new highway to deal with congestion and this is a drastically cheaper solution. A bike only uses about one-tenth of the amount of space as a car on the road, so why spend billions to expand our roads when we can just spend a small amount to accommodate for the small vehicles on the road that don't use any gas or have toxic smog-forming emissions?

Congratulations to Seattle for their Department of Transportation that is going to be installing several bike corrals. They just released a statement saying that every neighborhood will get one or two spaces converted for bike use, coming as soon as the middle of February. Read about Seattle's new on-street parking here >>. Imagine if more U.S. cities was able to hire more workers to change our streets for the better, stores could hire more people from increased sales, and 95% of Americans were able to buy a bike from the Making Work Pay tax cuts coming from the stimulus bill. Sounds like a great idea to me!

Stimulus Bill Passes with Amendments in the House

The House amended and passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan but still without support from republicans. House democrats drafted the bill, as President Barack Obama urged for a bill that would receive support from both parties, but even with some parts catering more towards republican wants, there were no votes support from the party. The final vote was 244 to 188. Obama is still hoping for a few more changes to get support all around: "I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk... We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do." The bill as passed by the House includes $607 billion for infrastructure and other direct spending measures, and $212 billion in tax cuts. Earlier predictions for the tax cuts were much higher, and republicans wanted to see less spending and more tax cuts. While overall it appears that this bill will help American's keep and create jobs there is a lot of room for improvement still. Let's hope that the Senate can make that happen.

Making Work Pay Credit
Under the Ways and Means Committee, the details of the Making Work Pay Credit are still unchanged fromthe draft version. American's can expect to receive 6.2 percent of earned income or $500 ($1,000 in the case of a joint return) whichever is lower. The specifics on how this will work are still not clear, but it is apparent that this will come in the form of reduce tax withholdings over 4 months time. This amounts to around $60 per paycheck.

Stimulus Bike
So far Stimulus Bike has about 40 people make the pledge to use their tax credits towards supporting bikes either for themselves or others. This website has been featured on more than 15 other blogs now and issteadily receiving hits. Thanks for helping this resource grow! Even if you stumbled across this site just looking for stimulus details, click around and check out our resources, supported petitions, and the pledge.

Share Your Stories

Share Your Story!
Do you have a story about your bike, your commute, your advocacy, or what you plan to use your stimulus money for? We will feature stories from time to time, so please email them (with a picture if possible) to [email protected] or leave a comment below.

Let me share mine:
From Andy in Ithaca, NY
If the ground is mostly dry in winter, I take the road racing bike. I bought this used for $600 in NH on Craigslist, having never ridden on a road bike before. I knew that I would be moving soon, and was looking for small cities that were relaively bike-friendly and easier to be car-free. I landed in Ithaca, NY, sold my car, and commute to work each day on this bike or an old mounain bike if the roads are bad. I like commuting by bike, but I feel like I need to just get out and ride occassionally so that I don't associate bikes with just commuting - since I find riding on weekends and a few weekdays very fun and rewarding.

I added aerobars so I can keep up with the cycling club I joined, waterbottle cages (who knows why it didn't come with these), and the rear light. I mount a headlight on the end of the looped aerobars, and strap the battery to the base of the aerobars for the occassional ride at night, and when even leaving work at 4:00pm was getting dark. My Garmin GPS can also mount on the end of the aerobars, which is great for mapping where I have been. The gearing is 52/40 by 11-23 which has made my legs much stronger from 800ft of climbing on my everyday! I could have gotten a bike with 3 chainrings, but this really keeps me fit, and I don't get much exercise other than cycling.

I plan on using my extra $500 of tax cuts towards upgrading parts on my bike. I've got a small list of "defferred maintenance" and a few extra parts I want to buy, such as new handlebar tape, a few new cables, and more cleaning products like soft brushes that can clean around brakes and gears better. This bike is 5 years old and still looking good (other than many small dings to the frame from locking it around town) and I hope to make it last many more years!

Details on the "Making Work Pay" Tax Credit

American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009
Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) of the House Committee on Ways and Means has released details of the tax breaks and other benefits. This will be formally introduced within the next few days. Read what Chairman Rangel said about the benefits involved:

"The critical state of our economy calls for swift, comprehensive action and this package will provide relief to all communities and all sectors of the American economy. This recovery package will provide tremendous tax relief, health care and job training benefits for families struggling to make ends meet, while also giving businesses the boost they need to create new jobs. We have also designed specific provisions to help State and local governments fund critical infrastructure projects to improve our roads, schools, bridges and airports, while also maintaining and creating good-paying jobs for working families. This package was developed with strong coordination between the House and Senate leaders, President-elect Obama and his economic team. I look forward to working with all parties involved toward a swift passage."

The Specifics
You can download the 6 page Summary [PDF] or read the full text 328 page version if you are fluent in legalese. Download the full version here [PDF]. A portion of the tax relief summary is below:

TAX RELIEF INCLUDED IN "THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN"
Summary: The tax provisions included in "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan" will provide approximately $275 billion in tax relief for individuals, businesses, and State and local governments.
Making Work Pay" tax credit. The bill would cut taxes for more than 95% of working families in the United States. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide a refundable tax credit of up to $500 for working individuals and $1,000 for working families. This tax credit would be calculated at a rate of 6.2% of earned income, and would phase out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly). Taxpayers can receive this benefit through a reduction in the amount of income tax that is withheld from their paychecks, or through claiming the credit on their tax returns. This proposal is estimated to cost $145.309 billion over 10 years.