The Chainlink

Planning for a Friday Morning Memorial for Neill Townsend to Raise Awareness about Dooring and Sharing the Road

****************************************************************

IMPORTANT NOTE

The date for the memorial has been changed to FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19TH.
We will meet from 8-8:30 am at the northwest corner of Wells and Oak Streets.

Here is the link to the event page.

****************************************************************

This is a new discussion based off of one of the threads of conversations in the discussion "Bicyclist killed at Oak & Wells Friday AM". Some folks were on board with the idea of holding a memorial on the morning of Friday, October 19th around the time the accident occurred, which would create the opportunity for it to serve as a chance to raise awareness about dooring and sharing the road at a high traffic time. Several people made good suggestions there. They are copied and pasted in a reply below.

If you have any suggestions or you're willing to help out, please comment here.

Once details have been worked out, I'll post it as an event. 

Views: 5517

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies to This Discussion

+1

Richard said:

NO not to post on cars.

But to have it as design to use for any printed materials. Perhaps Chicago can join New York and get that logo recognized by more people. 

antidooring.org.

They let the domain expire, apparently.

Unfortunately it's typically very hard to sustain an effort that requires somewhat tedious and often lonely work like preparing and distributing literature without having a fair amount of structure to the organization and paid positions.

A hug to you, Kimberley. 

Kimberley Nishimoto said:

Clint died in that same area a few blocks away 4 years ago. He was 22 years old. This has got to stop. As his mother, I can't stop speaking about this. Mayor, it is time for us to meet. A relentless, passionate mother of a precious son that never, ever wants families to be so devastated by such a senseless act. A call to action beyond what is going on is in order.

Yes, but it would be good to hear from someone connected to the family that they'd be OK with it and also to find out how the sign should read.

Ash L. said:

Would it be possible to get a ghost bike ready in time for this memorial?

Yes, I remember it, and I still have a few of the stickers.  Now that the meters are gone, I suspect that putting stickers on the parking slip boxes wouldn't go over very well.  

Julie Hochstadter said:

Wasnt there a group doing a dooring campaign here a few years ago with stickers that said, a door killed my friend? Any of them around with their stickers as well? May be time for a sticker campaign for this, although most of the meters are gone which was where a lot of the stickers were first placed I think.

I'm so sorry, Kimberley. My heart goes out to you and your family. I stand behind you.

Kimberley Nishimoto said:

Clint died in that same area a few blocks away 4 years ago. He was 22 years old. This has got to stop. As his mother, I can't stop speaking about this. Mayor, it is time for us to meet. A relentless, passionate mother of a precious son that never, ever wants families to be so devastated by such a senseless act. A call to action beyond what is going on is in order.

The news of Clint's death horrified me 4 years ago, just as Neill Townsend's death horrifies me now.  I agree that this absolutely needs to stop, and it won't until a lot more drivers are educated about dooring.  I think that a grassroots campaign could be a good starting point.  It could take several forms - outreach events like what we're planning on Friday, flyers, stickers, a Facebook campaign, etc.

Several months ago, I made a suggestion that the city should launch an educational campaign in conjunction with the addition of the new protected and buffered bike lanes.  I think we should push to get a flyer created for inclusion with city sticker renewals, as well as newly issued stickers, with a summary of new bike lane configurations, a summary of laws such as those regarding dooring, driving and parking in bike lanes, the 3 foot passing law, and the law against driver harassment of cyclists (some are Chicago laws, others are state laws).  An online version of this information should be available from one page on the city web site.  A link from the information page for motorists seems like an appropriate location.  We need to push Active Trans and the city to make this happen.  

If we could enlist their help in getting the Illinois Secretary of State and AAA on board to share the same information, we could reach suburbanites and residents in other parts of the state as well.  I've heard that Gov. Pat Quinn is also a cyclist.  Perhaps an appeal to him could help on the state level.  We could reach out to the League of Illinois Bicyclists for help with this.  I believe that education has to reach the statewide level (including Rules of the Road, driver ed classes and driver's license testing) to have the maximum impact in reducing doorings.  We probably can't get all of that in one year, but we've got to start somewhere.


Kimberley Nishimoto said:

Clint died in that same area a few blocks away 4 years ago. He was 22 years old. This has got to stop. As his mother, I can't stop speaking about this. Mayor, it is time for us to meet. A relentless, passionate mother of a precious son that never, ever wants families to be so devastated by such a senseless act. A call to action beyond what is going on is in order.

This is a post from Trevor 3 hours ago over at the original post:

Neill's friends and coworkers are definitely OK with a ghost bike.  Is there someone they should contact?  I can pass any info along to someone at Minimal, where Neill worked.

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/bicyclist-killed-at-oak-we...


h' said:

Yes, but it would be good to hear from someone connected to the family that they'd be OK with it and also to find out how the sign should read.

Ash L. said:

Would it be possible to get a ghost bike ready in time for this memorial?

I like the idea of stickers on meters. There are still meter boxes, which could be a good canvas for driver education.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Wasnt there a group doing a dooring campaign here a few years ago with stickers that said, a door killed my friend? Any of them around with their stickers as well? May be time for a sticker campaign for this, although most of the meters are gone which was where a lot of the stickers were first placed I think.

Anne, 

GREAT THINKING.

Anne Alt said:

If we could enlist their help in getting the Illinois Secretary of State and AAA on board to share the same information, we could reach suburbanites and residents in other parts of the state as well.  I've heard that Gov. Pat Quinn is also a cyclist.  Perhaps an appeal to him could help on the state level.  We could reach out to the League of Illinois Bicyclists for help with this.  I believe that education has to reach the statewide level (including Rules of the Road, driver ed classes and driver's license testing) to have the maximum impact in reducing doorings.  We probably can't get all of that in one year, but we've got to start somewhere.


Kimberley Nishimoto said:

Clint died in that same area a few blocks away 4 years ago. He was 22 years old. This has got to stop. As his mother, I can't stop speaking about this. Mayor, it is time for us to meet. A relentless, passionate mother of a precious son that never, ever wants families to be so devastated by such a senseless act. A call to action beyond what is going on is in order.

Wondering if a separate thread is again needed for planning next Friday morning. Still no time set, correct?

OK, assuming most folks want to get to work by nine, this memorial should ideally wrap up by 8:30.  So, start at 8:00, dedicate a ghost bike, maybe add a prayer from Neill's pastor/priest/rabbi if they're willing to attend, say some nice words about the fellow and then disperse?  Continue in a ride of silence to the Loop?

(Also: maybe we should spell Neill's name correctly at the top of this thread in case his relatives come across it?)

RSS

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service