Emerge Miami invites you to our December Boardgame Night! Maximize your Scrabble skills with witty and good-naturedly competitive friends! This month’s event will feature the always popular word games, some vibrant and obscure Apples to Apples arguments, and a special opportunity to beta-test a brand new game! Games start at 8 PM! RSVP on Facebook!

Graffiti by Bike. A tour of home-grown and world class graffiti in Wynwood, including Primary Flight’s diverse urban art and the Wynwood Walls, many of which are only dry since December’s Art Basel event. The tour will include information on the artists and crews, and the rules by which they respect tags, bombs, throw-ups and pieces. We will trace a route through Wynwood, following the artistic development of tags to commissioned public work.

BYOB_Bring Your Own Bike
FREE
street.art.cycles@gmail.com

RSVP on Meetup
RSVP on Facebook

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

Bike Miami Days - Sunday May 17th

Hello Friends!

Thanks to those of you who joined us for April’s Bike Miami Day! The event was spectacular and would not have been nearly as remarkable without your help! We had a ginormous turnout! Nothing could be more inspiring for bicycle advocates in Miami than to see a sea of orange-clad riders literally filling the streets of Coconut Grove!

The response was inspiring, with an increase in volunteer registry, evoked interest among bicycle enthusiasts, and major love from the Dutch Consulate- bonus love for those of you who nabbed tasty snacks from the Dutch Treats desert cart!

Now then, those of you who are interested in getting involved for the next Bike Miami Day, mark your calendar! We’re headed Downtown again, for Sunday, May 17! This will be the last BMD of the season involving street closures and sidewalk chalk and all of our standard excitements. I’ll keep you posted over the summer regarding organized rides and community service opportunities, but we won’t be closing the streets again until after the summer! So if you are a frequent participant, or if you have been meaning to join but haven’t had the chance, SAVE THE DATE!  See below for the details on the ride, and be certain to spread the word to everyone! 

Contact me if you are interested in participating, and I will be certain to send updates as they develop!

Thanks again for your help with BMD! You are all awesome!

-Adam Schachner

Here’s the information getting circulated:

Bike Miami Days

The Last Event of the Season

Sunday, May 17^th in Downtown Miami 

***Win A Bicycle**

From 9:00 to 2:00pm, explore your city in a new way – walking, cycling, skating the streets of Downtown from Flagler Street to Mary Brickell Village and everywhere in between.

Family-Friendly * No Bike Required

NO START or END,  JUST OPEN STREET

ALL FREE 

Live Music * International Village

Kid’s Corner * Bicycle Rentals

Yoga & Stretching Classes

Raffles, Prizes, Giveaways

and so much more! 

Visit www.Bike-Miami.com for all the details!

RSVP on FACEBOOK

Sunday, May 17th : Explore Your City in a New Way : Downtown

Sign Up for the Mayor’s Weekly Newsletter (click here)

Sign Up for Bike Miami Days Updates (click here)

Please forward widely

Friends,
The King Mango Strut is only two weeks away! We have so much to do, but it looks like we are going to have a great group of people helping out!

The vision: A float with a boat pulled by bikes. The cyclists are wearing t-shirts of positive causes, like Greenpeace and Critical Mass. The boat symbolizes America…in it are blow up dolls wearing Bush and Cheney masks. They will have bullseyes on them. One of us will be walking around with a cart full of shoes, to be thrown at Bush. The boat is going to have blue fabric surrounding it, making lovely waves. Trailing behind the boat will be negative stuff, like gas cans, money bags, a “banker anchor” and “broke brokers.” There will be some of us trailing behind, tugging at the boat, and acting like greedy capitalist crooks in suits. There will be a song leader with a bullhorn, singing our version of “Row Row Your Boat.” It will be something like this:

Rock, rock, rock the boat,
Renew the American dream
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily
Make the Republicans scream (or some other witty lyric…please help us think!!!)

We need your help! Please let us know if you want to help, or if you can be there! Please respond to me if you want to join in the ridiculous fun.

Roles – These are some of the things we’ll need people to do
-walk with the Emerge banner
-ride bikes to pull the float
-song leaders, to get the audience singing along
-bankers/brokers in suits, tugging at the boat, trailing behind, supporting Bush and Cheney, and being generally evil
-someone to hand out shoes for people to throw at Bush and Cheney, and collect the shoes after they have been thrown

Stuff We Need
-a trailer to put our canoe on
-shoes to throw
-gas cans
-a bullhorn
-blue fabric
-an anchor (can be made out of cardbord)
-a fake missile (can be made out of foam)

Please Join Us!!!

Mr. Clucky to be Grand Marshall!

Two years ago, activist Mark Buckley found Mr. Clucky wounded in the bushes in Miami Beach. Feeling bad about leaving him at home, Mark brought him along to the King Mango Strut Parade that year. Ever since that day, Mr. Clucky has insisted on riding on the handlebars of Mark’s bike, and has gained celebrity and is a champion for animal rights. This year, the popular little rooster has been designated to be the Grand Marshall of the 27th Annual King Mango Strut Parade. Come out and crow for him as he leads this festive event!

Critical Mass heads north! This will be a north ride from Government Center up Biscayne Blvd to the City of Miami limits. After that we’ll be heading back down south probably on NE 2nd Ave.
When: Saturday@ 10:00 am
Where: Government Center
111 NW 1st St Miami, FL 33130

Bike Miami 2.0

This is the second Bike Miami, after the great sucess of the last one, we are going to do it again. We are still working on the route, but it’s likely to be very similar to last months. There may be some more to do, more shops and restaurants open.
We won’t be meeting for a traditional Critical Mass ride on Sunday, but you are encouraged to just go to Flagler and start riding. Explore downtown and see what it’s all about. Meet new people, see new places. Hope to see you there.
When: Sunday@ 10:00 am
Where: Downtown Miami