Wow! Firstly, Emerge would like to thank everybody who came out to our Graffiti Bike Tour over the weekend, the feedback has been some of the best we’ve gotten from any of the rides that we’ve hosted. Dario Gonzalez & Olga Cano were very knowledgeable about the names and stories of our local street art talent, lending a high brow air to the spectacle. Don’t take my word for it, though, check out the pics for yourself:

Meetup Photos
Picassa Web Album

March is Bike Month after all, so it was a great way to kick off the rest of the festivities we have planned for this month. Head on over to the Critical Mass Meetup Page to RSVP!

And now, a message from Olga Cano of Miami Open Streets Team:

Dear All,

This is a heartfelt thank you from the Miami Open Streets Team, Olga Cano and Dario Gonzalez for your help and general support of efforts leading to Streets . Art . Cycles; Graffiti by Bike. You helped grow a simple idea to a very successful, free, public event.

This success reintroduced bicycling as a viable activity to a few people who normally wouldn’t dare cycle through city streets. When we were children, getting on a bike opened a new world to us; we could suddenly travel two or three blocks from home and we felt like Columbus riding the Santa Maria through the Atlantic to the ‘Indies’. Were we much braver then? With our want for comfort and convenience at nearly any cost, poorly designed streets / intersections and, crazed motorists, it does takes a certain amount of confidence to get on a bike in the city. However, by presenting cycling to the public as an activity for everyone we are showing people that bicycling is neither crazy nor impossible but rather, lots of fun and fantastically practical. Our group of 45-55 people ranged from 10 to 60 years of age and was compose of nearly equal parts males and females, all of which are now street-art lovers who prefer tours by bike. Robert Noval, Gary Mendenhall (Green Mobility Network), Colin Worth, Dieter and, others kept us all safe.

Our tour explored parts of the City ‘around the corner’. Rather than disappearing into our cars at the beginning of the tour and reappearing at stops, we rode through Wynwood at a slow pace. We were able to say hello to residents making their streets part of living room-life and wave at others who courteously allowed us to pass as they remained stopped in their cars. The tour attempted to bridge a social gap that is too easy to understand and too difficult to talk about. The slow cycling route through Allapattah and Wynwood helped cross some of the boundaries between richer and poorer. Wynwood is everyone’s neighborhood and we hope this introduction encourages further and even regular exploration. We’d like to thank Emerge Miami for making this City a little better every day. We’d also like to thank Ken Bercel of the Lost & Found Saloon, for investing in Wynwood and projects like ours, the Biscayne Times and the Miami Herald for interest and reporting on things local and, Karla and James Murray.

Streets . Art . Cycles explored connections between Street and Fine Art. From the bombers tagging without respect to international artists invited by Primary Flight and other artists displaying their work on the Wynwood Walls, the choice of media, selection of the subject and the speed of the process makes for a strong argument of similarities between the two types of public art. What makes for respect among artists? Why collaborate with a crew? What is the audience and how do artists strive for fame? All of these questions were informed due to the help of Typoe, Books, Claudio Picasso, Joe (of Goldman Properties) and, Susan (of Deitch Projects).

Again, we thank you for your support!

Thanks to everybody who came out to Critical mass last Saturday, as we celebrated Adam’s birthday in Peacock Park. Check out the pictures over at our Meetup page!

The piñata-bashing festivities

Next up’s a hyper, fast-forward montage of the first half of the ride, courtesy of Rydel High & the Miami Bike Scene blog:

Emerge Miami / Meetup Critical Mass from rydel high on Vimeo.

Finally, this video is a series of clips from September’s Bike Miami Ride, thanks to Debbie D for putting it together! The full story can be found over at the Youth Noise blog.

We look forward to seeing you all at the MASSIVE 1Sky, Repower America, & Emerge Miami hosted Day Of Action on October 24th. Join us at Vizcaya Metrorail station for our bike rally to urge senators to take action on the climate bill. More details soon!

Hi everyone,

I want to let you know that the city of Miami Bicycle Master Plan has  gone to commission and has passed. The plan which you can read is available at www.miamigov.com/bikes
I’m very proud that we were able to get this plan passed. It is an ambitious 20 year bike plan that provides over 285 miles of bike facilities. It also deals with parking, education, enforcement, and evaluation.

Thank you all for coming out to our summits and providing good input.

–Collin