Site Updates

Winter 2008/2009 Endorsed Chris Riley for City Council. Overhauled the site design, putting the menus at the top, and adding the most important resources and external sites to a sidebar on every page. City to consider allowing cars to park in bike lanes on Exposition. Added forum topics and events to the front page. Fall 2008 Belatedly added Lance Armstrong's shop, Mellow Johnny's, to the Bike Shops page. Added a note about MN cops confiscating bikes of kids without helmets, to the justice page. Will they confiscate cars when drivers aren't buckled up? Spring/Summer 2008 Updated "Who's usually at fault in car-bike collisions" on the No Justice page Added the 8/08 KEYE story which effectively blames cyclists for the increase in car-bike collisions, with zero supporting evidence Cyclist solves her own hit and run. Added a new cycling injury lawyer to What to do if you're hit or harassed. Started the Bicycle Austin web forum. Started the Bicycle Austin blog. Added a link to the 311 online form to the front page. Winter 2007/2008 Lubbock driver gets only probation for hit-and-run killing of cyclist Started the Bicycle Austin Blog Updated the Austin bike laws page Fall 2006 Added a PDF of "tickets" to put on cars parked in bike lanes. Added Quick Links to the front page, updated govt. & city govt. pages Added historical info about the City's failure to spend bike project money properly Linked to the "No justice" article in the Austin Chronicle, from our No Justice section Our Open Letter to Dr. Crocker, who supports the helmet law Added The Peddler to the bike shops page Added a route from Austin to Elgin Spring/Summer 2006 The Yellow Bike Project launches an Austin bike culture wiki Another drunk driver kills another cyclist Adult helmet law probably dead Law professor faces no penalty for intentionally hitting cyclist with her car Updated the City Council page Hit-and-run case in Garland, TX New helmet law being considered Added our endorsements for the May 2006 city council race Added details about cyclists being cheated out of bond money to the front page Driver who ran red light and hit two cyclists not ticketed. Created a new page about the ACA's advocacy on the Shoal Creek bike lanes issue Two April car-bike crashes, one fatal Teenagers throwing stuff at cyclists near Shoal Creek Blvd. Winter 2005/2006 Linked to a new route for IBM to downtown. Updated the list of bike shops Looks like the Lamar Bridge might actually get finished. Eric Anderson reports on cyclists' success in mitigating the redesign fiasco on the Riverside Drive project Info about how bike facilities weren't included in the Riverside Drive project Added a listing for the resurrected Bicycle Advocacy Council Fall 2005 Added a bunch of updates about the Shoal Creek Blvd. mess Summer 2005 Added the law about administrative suspension of driver's license for DWI offenses to the laws covering motorists page Linked to a route to Bastrop. Added a route to Pflugerville Added Georgetown Cyclopaths to the organizations page Spring 2005 Added more to the never-ending Shoal Creek bike lanes debacle Added another North Austin route City Council election endorsements Winter 2005 Exemplary police response to harassment of a motorist North Austin bike routes now has its own page. Plus added a couple of routes. Redesigned the site (got rid of frames, improved navigation, prettied up the header, made room for text ads). Nobody noticed. Added Patrick Goetz's encouragement for cyclists to be effective advocates by joining the Urban Transportation Commission. Fall 2004 Added more to the never-ending Shoal Creek bike lanes debacle Added information about a failed statewide helmet bill in 2003. Redesigned the site, nobody noticed. Added locks our readers recommend Linked to an article about the safety of bike lanes and bike paths Linked to an article about possible improvements to the Shoal Creek trail below 5th St. Added a link to the City's page about finishing the Lamar Bike/Ped Bridge Added yet another hit & run Summer 2004 Added the No Justice case of Kevin Snedden Added info on the possible extension to the Lamar Bike/Ped Bridge Added a route to Ben White and I-30 Winter/Spring 2004 Added account of hit & run on Michael Passman Added info about bike rides requiring a street event permit Fall 2003 Added the case of Matthew Rodieck (sp?) to the cars-bikes collisions section Costs of car ownership updated Fall newsletters posted Added a map to San Marcos and an alternative to Adventure Cycling's spur into Austin on their cross-country route. Added another bicycle collision attorney to What to Do if You're Hit or Harassed. Added an article on How to Rewire Christmas Lights to Run on Batteries, on a related site. Added a Guide to Touring. Summer 2003 Linked to Mike Dahmus' study on bike lanes vs. wide outside curb lanes Linked to the BicyclingLife cycling survey Added a new documentary, Red Light Go, to the movies section Added a route for getting down the big mountain on 2222 Added fuel economy stats to the Almanac. Summer newsletters posted Added more of Roger Baker's editorials on roadway planning politics May 2003 Added a section about trying to resolve the idea about bike lanes on Guadalupe & Lavaca. Added the May newsletter. Added a page explaining why natural gas buses may be no better than diesel buses Added an online store that sells electric scooters. Put our section on bike lanes on its own page.. April 2003 Added excerpt of the federal law requiring consideration of bicyclists' needs when doing roadway projects, to the Planning page. Added a national used bike classifieds website to the used bikes page. Added an update about planning of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway. Noted a possible origin for the song "Cycling is Fun". Added the agenda for the April UTC-Bike Subcommittee meeting. Added the April newsletter January & February 2003 Added the minutes of the January UTC-Bike Subcommittee meeting. [I'll add minutes & agendas regularly as I get them, and won't continue to note that in this Updates section.] Added a link to chopper bikes on our bikes page. More on how we failed to get car-free bike lanes on Shoal Creek Blvd. December 2002 Consolidated and updated information about ideal bicycle facilities. Posted the December 24 newsletter. A reader contributes an article about triggering traffic signals. Added some posts about why we can't get sidewalks or bike lanes. Added updates about the Town Lake Master Plan/Town Lake Park. Added updates about the failure to ban cars from bike lanes on Shoal Creek Blvd. Posted the December 14 newsletter. Added a lengthy article detailing the roots of the lack of justice for cyclists in car-bike collisions Sadly, we report about Keith Vick's fatal collision. November 2002 Added details about TXDoT's 25-year transportation plan. Allan contributes a North Austin route from Avery Island to Duval/Mopac. Added Eric Anderson's status report of roadway projects. Tommy Eden explains what part of federal funds MUST be spent on bike & ped facilities Added another manufacturer of electric bikes Added an attorney who handles car-bike collision cases Bike lanes gone on Bull Creek. Linked to America Bikes on the elections page, so you can see how your elected officials voted on bicycling-related issues Added more news about the Shoal Creek bike lane mess Started adding used bike inventory at Waterloo Cycles Added a manufacturer of trikes and one of row-bikes to the bikes page Added some info about downtown transportation planning October 2002 Added more about the Shoal Creek bike lanes saga Added the minutes of the September meeting of the UTC Bike Subcommittee. Added link to AmericaBikes, which surveys candidates for federal office about whether they think the federal govt. should support cycling. May 2002 Added a guide to How to Buy a Used Bike. Added a route to Bastrop. Updated the Monorail vs. Light Rail page. Added Roger Baker's latest expose about CAMPO's road-building craze. April 2002 Added yet another hit-and-run fatality. Started posting agendas for the UTC Bike Subcommittee. Revised phone numbers for calling in traffic & roadway problems. Added the case about a Houston motorist who intentionally hit a 10-year-old cyclist. Added a tandem recumbent. Added info about the council's action to require bike & pedestrian facilities in road reconstruction projects. Added stats to the Almanac page showing that most NYC residents don't own cars. March 2002 Gave a major facelift to the whole damn site. Added the Spring calendar for Bike-In Theatre. February 2002 Added a downloadable flier about cyclists' rights to the road. Added a listing for the new documentary Bike Like U Mean It. Linked to some more unusual tall/high bike photos on the Bikes page. November 2001 Added the new Courteous Mass ride. Added the November newsletter. October 2001 Added a page and video about the 9-28-01 Critical Mass controversy. Added the October newsletter, about the 9-28-01 Critical Mass controversy. Added the Brykerwoods Neighborhood Associations' scathing indictment of Mopac. Added a link to FunkyBikes.com. Added the Travis County Commissioners to the Government page. Added more stats to the Bike Safety Almanac. Added more voter resources to the Elections section. September 2001 Added the ebike electric bike and a miniature bike to the Bikes page. Added Roger Baker's article: How CAMPO stacks the deck Added Houston's Moonlight Ramble ride. Added a new anti-car band, The Depavers, to the Music page. Added Austin Bike-In Theatre. Linked to some comfy cruiser-style handlebars. Overhauled the Contact Your Elected Officials page. Overhauled the Get Involved page. Added a review of Montague folding bikes. Added new products to the Recalls page. Added the new police non-emergency number: 311. Added the Annual Moonlight Cruise to the Rides page. Updated the bike laws page to include the new bike safety provisions. Added tips for riding in cold weather. Added the September newsletters. Added the average speed of cars within the city (25mph) to the Almanac page. Linked to an article about triggering traffic lights to change. Added an article, "Why adding [traffic] lanes makes traffic worse". Noted that Waterloo Cycles offers a 5% discount on parts, labor, and accessories to subscribers to the email discussion list. Added a new page on monorails. Linked to a new site, AustinBikeRoutes.com, from the Routes section. August 2001 Added some stats about bicycle crashes to the bike safety almanac. Added an expert witness to the What to Do If You're Hit page. Cycling is 117% more efficient than walking. (calculation) Added an Austin to San Antonio route. Added Lance Armstrong's quote about how cycling in Austin has been ruined by growth. Added a front-page story about how citizens killed a proposed parking garage at MLK & West. Added two more harassment stories, including one about motorists throwing things at cyclists. Added an editorial by Patrick Goetz about sprawl-induced road rage. Added a quote by Patrick Goetz: "It seems that the best way to avoid getting a ticket when running a red light in your car is to kill a cyclist while you're doing it." July 2001 Linked to the site that has tickets to put on SUV's. Added a New York Times article showing that helmets have not helped prevent head injuries, and that in fact head injuries are going UP with increased helmet use. Added a new page about how bicycling wastes gas, if the cyclist gets his/her calories from beef. Added Roger Baker's editorial about how road-building is unsustainable. Added two bands to the Music page: Hate Traffic and Hit By A Car. Added a guide to Preventing and Fixing Flat Tires. Added Eric Anderson's latest opus about the Lance Armstrong Bikeway and the state of local facilities improvements Linked to the advocacy video, Bike Routes: The Path to a Better Tomorrow. Added info about Huffy and Schwinn. Overhauled the Bike & Equipment Recalls page. Added an article about how Driving With Cell Phone is just as dangerous as DWI! June 2001 Linked to Mike Librik's excellent Bike Map of Austin. Updated the Planning section. Updated the Trailers section. Added a bunch of stats to the Almanac page. Added a link to Homeright's folding bike. Added a link to GasPriceWatch.com, and references to fuel economy for specific model cars. Added links to Austin Neighborhood Associations. Added info on the Upper Boggy Creek Bikeway, and updated lots of other stuff in the Roadway Improvements section. Updated the Lamar Bridge section. Added the case of Debra Prokop being killed and Judy Monarch being hit & run'd to the No Justice section. Added discussion about the planning of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway. Linked to the article 50 Reasons Cars Are Bad. Added reader opinions about blasting down 2222. Added a link to a calculator that tells you how much pollution is caused by your specific household electricity use. Linked to a new mountain biking club, Church of the Knobby Tire. May 2001 Linked to Austin Metro Trails & Greenways Linked to Austin Bike Cabs. Updated the Repairs/Bike Shops section. Added links to sites which will help you fix your own bike. March 2001 Updated the links to other sites. Added a new bike movie. Added info on the email list for planning Bike to Work Day. Added River City Cycles, a shop with a focus on women's cycling. February 2001 Added a search engine. Whoo-hoo! (see the top of every page) Added another UTC Bike Subcommittee website. Added the case of the motorist who hit & run'd Ed Anderson. Overhauled the No Justice for Cyclists section (again). Added a more user-friendly list of Back Issues of the newsletter. Added some more quotes. Added some links to sites covering helmet laws. Added Roger Baker's outline of the Feb. 2001 CAMPO meeting. January 2001 Added the Texas Association for Public Transportation to the Organizations page. Added more stats to the almanac. December 2000 Made lots of small miscellaneous updates all over the site. Added the fatality of cyclist Edward Day. Added a cartoon of a car flattening the planet. Overhauled the No Justice for Cyclists page. Also added details about the police declining to charge the motorist who hit & run'd me. Moved all the statistics about bicycle safety/crashes to a new page, and added a whole bunch more stats. Noted that the motorist who killed cyclist Conrad Anderson in Tomball, TX pled guilty to intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault and got five years in prison. November 2000 Added some more cases of local injuries/fatalities. Dr. Gardiner's death is covered elsewhere, here. Added several stats to our Almanac. Added our election endorsements. October 2000 Added a link to a site about a guy who puts bumper stickers on SUV's that say "I'm changing the climate!". (In our Bad Cars section.) Added a new book, Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning. Added route help to get to Manchaca & 1626 Added a spam advertisement that puports to allow bad motorists to drive again by obtaining an International Drivers License. Added a link to the TNRCC website where you can report smoky vehicles by typing in their license plate numbers. Added an article about stores that won't let cylists bring their backpacks inside Added a listing and link for Austin Choices for Transportation, a new advocacy group September 2000 Added "Why you should vote for light rail" Added a link to a site that lets you check whether you're registered to vote Added What to do if you're hit or harassed. Added an item about UT banning bikes on Speedway. Added the bicycle winners from the Chronicle's "Best of Austin" edition, in the 9-30-00 newsletter. Added a recall notices for Trek handlebar stems and Minoura wind trainers Added a link to BikeLane.com. Updated the link to the Alliance for a Paving Moratorium. Added a link to a site with a map of hike & bike trails. Added taxicab rates. Added another story about harassment by motorists. August 2000 Added links about Driver Distraction (e.g., cell phone use) and Driving While Drowsy. July 2000 Updated the No Justice for Cyclists section. Linked to PBS' website on New Urbanism. Added stats for the fuel efficiency of large airplanes. (It's about 50 mpg per passenger.) Added an article about cars running red lights. Added a section on electric-assist bikes. Moved the entire site to BicycleAustin.info. Added an update about the Shoal Creek bike lane parking ban. Added a critique about the Statesman's handling of the Shoal Creek bike lane parknig ban. Overhauled the links page. June 2000 Added Divorce Your Car! to the Books page. Added a search engine for back issues of the newsletter. Added the proposed trail to connect the Town Lake Bridge with the Ullrich Bridge Added notable actions by individual city councilmembers Added a page about pro-car and anti-bike groups. Added an update to the Justice section on the case against the driver who killed Conrad Anderson. Linked to Bill Canfield's Shoal Creek parking ban site from the Roadways page. Added a link to the Mean Streets 2000 report on pedestrian issues. Started an Almanac section for various statistics Added a section for fan mail about the newsletter Added a bunch of articles to our Light Rail section. Mayor Watson proposes a new funding plan for transportation projects Added a link to the EPA's fuel economy website (for cars) Added a page about bicycle movies Updated our contact info for the City Council to reflect the new members Added a report about the proposed State Highway 130. Added a page on bicycle posters. Added a page on light rail. Added an article about air pollution causing sudden death. Added No Justice cases outside of Austin to the No Justice section. Added the rules for the discussion list to the front page and to the News sections. Added routes from Dripping Springs to Austin Added today's newsletter, with an interview with the candidates in the City Council Place 2 runoff. Added a modification to a North->South route which allows cyclists to avoid the intersection at Anderson & Shoal Creek. May 2000 Added a lengthy report about current and planned roadway improvements which the City of Austin's Bicycle Program is working on Added Trans Texas Alliance to the Organizations page Updated our links to other sites Added an airport route tip and a Table of Contents to the Routes page Created a new page on Pollution & Global Warming Added a page with criticism about cars Added two new books to the Books page Added suggested improvement to the Far West/Mopac bridge and to sidewalks, on the Roadways page, and to the Sidewalks page Added info on proposed legislation in California which would require planners to consider bicycle access in the planning process (New Legislation page) Added the band "bicycle" to the Music page Linked to the City's Smart Growth section on the Planning page Created a new, massive page about the Austin City Council Updated the Elections page Added problems with reckless-driving cops to the police page Added the Bike to Work Day events to the Rides page Added a report about cyclists assaulted in Grand Prairie April 2000 Added the Austin Coalition of Cyclists to the Organizations page Added a page about lead in gasoline Added a page about Bicycle Theft (prevention & recovery) March 2000 Added the Why Cycle? page, comparing cycling to driving Added a paper about pollution and energy use caused by cars Added a page about transportation activist Roger Baker Started a page devoted to books about transportation planning. Added the death of Michael Z. Smith to the No Justice for Cyclists section. Added a wish-list for how we'd like the media to report on car/bike collisions, to the Media Criticism page. Reflected that Michael Zakes has left the UTC and that Mike Dahmus has joined it, on these pages: City Government, Organizations, and Who's Who. Added Eric Anderson to the Who's Who page. February 2000 Added a route to the Westgate Cinema/Central Market to the Routes page. Added information on the 2/22 University Area Partners meeting. Added a link to the website for the annual Bike Summer event. Added an update about Jay Williams' hit-and-run case. Updated the Bike Month page to reflect that the City of Austin will no longer be organizing the event. January 2000 Added the 1-30 newsletter, as well as old 3-3-99 I had lost but just found. Added a new page on Problems with the Police. Added the naughty bike ad. Added the Netherlands bike commuting tube/tunnel to the World News section Put a link on the Helmet Laws page to the article about the 9-year-old Florida boy who was handcuffed for not wearing a helmet. Added information about Austin's ranking as a Top 10 Bicycle City in Bicycling magazine. Added a page about Fuel Cells. (Later removed, but you can check out our page on Bicycle Quotes. Added a list of links appearing in the bicycle newsletter. Added two new ways to How to Not Get Hit By Cars. Added new section on Roadway Improvements. Started a new section for links to governmental bike programs in other cities & states. Indicated that funding has been approved for the Crosstown Bicycle Highway. Updated the Calendar and Rides/Events pages. (Update: We no longer maintain a calendar.) Added an update to Jay Williams' hit-and-run case. Removed an old ad for a used bike and added a new ad. Added some of Dave Sullivan's accomplishments to the Who's Who page. Corrected the date for the Ruta Maya rides. Added the 1-23 newsletter. Added more content to the Media Mess page. Linked the clothing-optional rides on the Calendar and Rides pages to the Nudity & the Law page. Linked to problems with rumble strips, and referenced it from the Ideas for Making Cycling Safer and Contact Your Elected Officials pages. Added Getting Around the Arboretum to the Routes page. Added the UTC Bicycle Subcommittee to the Current Projects page (later removed). Added a note about the Statesman's coverage of S.H. 130 to the Media Mess page. Changed email links to the webmaster in several places to provide compatability for AOL users. Fixed a bunch of little things all over the site (anchors, links, spelling). Created this Site Updates page. Overhauled the Alphabetical Index. Added Jay Williams to the No Justice and No Justice/Details pages. Added Ruta Maya rides to the Calendar and Rides pages. Added the Valentine's Bike Parade to the Calendar and Rides pages. Updated meeting schedule for the Bicycle Advisory Council. Reflected that the location of the City Council chambers is moving, on the City Government and Calendar pages. Created new page covering Elections. Added the 1-16 newsletter to the newsletter archives. Set up the newsletter archives to list in reverse-chronological order. Overhauled the Political/Technical Info page. Added Car Busters to the Links to Other Sites page. Removed Cycle Messengers for World Domination from the Links page. (They moved or died with no forwarding address.) Prior to 1-00 This website started in 1995, but we didn't keep track of updates before then.