So...The City ordered a bunch more racks for the Mayor's bike rack request program. I think we've reached a bunch of the businesses through our networks, but it seems that there are a lot of businesses and neighborhoods that didn't get the memo.
So, I'm hoping to drum up some grassroots outreach to get even more racks out there, and I'm trying to make it easy and fun.
I made a little 3/4 sheet flyer. Please print it out and give the little flyers to businesses that you think still need racks.
It's located here: http://bike-pgh.org/blog/2011/10/21/be-an-advocate-make-sure-your-favorite-businesses-have-bike-racks/
Give these to your favorite businesses, or simply go up and down a business district and give them to the stores. Lots of neighborhoods still lack racks, i'm thinking Oakland, Downtown, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, etc...
I don't see a more holistic approach installing racks from the city at this point, so we gotta use what we got.
Since the folks on this board are pretty darn good at getting things done....
LET'S PLAY A GAME!
To make this fun, let's use the board to show off places that you got racks. The person that gets the most racks in by the end of say March, we'll give a free Planet Bike Light set to, and a free BikePGH Membership or Renewal (you earned it)
Rules:
1. Post the Google Street View link of the storefront that you solicited.
2. Once the rack is installed, post a pic of the building with the rack. You get 2 points if the business is in Oakland.
3. The person with the mostest racks wins the internet glory and prizes!
I'll go first.
I was at my dentist the other day, Friendship and Penn, and she said that there a ton of cyclists that go to her practice. She went on and said that she thinks the building needs a bike rack. I handily handed her a flyer and explained the program - she just needs to get the building owner to fill out the simple online form.
here's a shot of the building looking sad without any bike racks http://g.co/maps/93bmx
please humor me people
Ok, so I don't know if this counts, but I rode in to Yoga Hive to the early morning classes, and there's no racks there (that I remember seeing). There's lots of places to lock up (there's a stair case with pillars, nice and convenient), so it was never an issue. But racks would be nice. So I emailed her a link to the flyer and asked if she could ask her landlord.
Google street view doesn't even show the building, so I need to email them and ask them to update it, but here's a link to no racks infront of no building yet: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=yoga+hive&hl=en&ll=40.464189,-79.932575&spn=0.000261,0.209255&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=50.956929,107.138672&vpsrc=6&hq=yoga+hive&t=h&z=13&layer=c&cbll=40.464184,-79.932624&panoid=YWYF3kzBWet_TMFirqQlFw&cbp=12,353.46,,0,5.45
(how do you do the little link?)
And thank you for reminding me to ask my dentist (and make appointments for both of us).
emailing/facebooking the link totally counts.
the little link: when you hit the little "link" button in the upper right of google maps, just check "Short URL" and it will give you a tiny url
I emailed Riverset Credit Union on the Southside and plan on giving them a flyer next time I make it down there.
@ejwme make sure to click the link icon in the upper right hand corner to get your link, and click the "short Url" checkbox to shorten it.
ah, thank you. didn't see that. helps to open eyes.
The person with the mostest racks wins the internet glory and prizes!
Sounds like internet porn to me.
Yoga Hive totally has racks http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=288634907819234&set=a.253424001340325.84143.151114304904629&type=1&theater
scott needs to get one for his dentist too 
also, gooskis - come on, they need 2 or 3.
I sent a facebook message to the building manager for my church. Do churches qualify?
yeah, think so. they are a non profit. however, the racks need to be placed in the public right of way, like say a sidewalk, and not on private property. if they want to put them on their private property, they can just buy some.
One place that's been willing in the past is the Carnegie Library on Smithfield St. Problem was, they couldn't get a rack because it's not the sort of business that qualified under the previous rules. Would they now?
i think they've always qualified: non profit.
Is there an issue with having room on the sidewalk. I think all of the staff at Bikram Yoga Squirrel Hill bikes to work and the only place to lock up is on a meter (forbes and murray). I am sure they'd love a bike rack. But can they just put it on the sidewalk. It's fairly narrow, congested, and at a bus stop. The new Pamela's is right there too, they'd probably go for this. Again, same sidewalk area. 
How does any other city do this? Certainly we aren't the first place on the planet to add a bunch of bike racks to a congested area with sidewalks, parking meters, etc. I'm not a big fan of tying up to a parking meter, mainly because it does make it harder to get in and out of a legally parked car. Which also means I'm not a fan of having bike racks simply attached to parking meters.
I guess my question is, if I was to go into a business and talk up the idea of applying for a rack, and this question comes up, how best to handle?
SO if the percentage of your customers/staff that ride in is huge, are you able to get a few racks, despite being a small space?
At The Big Idea, all of us ride in, and many of our customers do as well. Since we have events fairly regularly, it'd be nice to have several.
also, there's not enough room on the application to list all of our legal owners 
Owner of the building, not the owner of the business.
To answer the questions about sidewalks: Just submit the form. It's the city's job to figure out if it complies with right-of-way and ADA standards. If it doesn't work on the narrow sidewalk, then at least there is a record of demand, which helps us make the case for installing a bike corral in place of a car space. But if no one submits these forms, there is no record of demand.
As far as number of racks: You can ask for as many as you like. They will only install based on the sidewalk clearances. Most storefronts can only fit 2 racks (4 bike parking spaces) anyway. But again, if you submit for more, there is at least a record of demand. long story short: Get your landlord (or someone that she/he designates) to submit the form.
Even the 2 racks in front of our office, we had to get our landlord to submit the form.
erok, do you or the city have a recommended distance between racks? Particularly when they are in a line paralleling a street. I have yet to see (and look forward to) lots of shops side by side having them installed, but I imagine it could start to crop up in popular spots.
For businesses where you are requesting them, let them know where you want them. When Mr. Patchan came out and talked to us about placement for ours, he was super flexible on where it could go, as long as ADA was met. For less cycling conscious places, they and the city may not realize where the cycling community would want them most.
Now, off to send out about 10 of these… I too often forget so many places I go don't actually have racks, and I have just gotten used to locking up wherever. Upon reviewing day-to-day schedule, I realized there were a surprising number of locations sans-rack.
That's the spirit. Patchan came up with the design guidelines for the rack placements. There is supposed to be 6' of clearance (with a bike attached) for ADA compliance. again, that's for the city to determine, and not really us. our job is to prove demand and get racks installed wherever we can.
erok is there any way to get more racks installed at every library and pool? most of the pools on the pool tour were rack free, and it would be nice to have more there... but that is a cityparks thing and I know you have to deal with city stuff to make it happen.
totally missed those racks outside the hive. note to self: open eyes, THEN ohm.
I always wondered why they only put the good inverted "U" style bike racks at gas stations / convenience stores by the pumps... it's not like I need to fill up.
I'd really love to see the parking garage in shadyside right off walnut get full sized bike rack like most of the the other port authority garages.
caitlin, that is where this particular program breaks down a bit, because it is specifically for businesses in business districts. theoretically, a library can apply tho, it's just a matter of getting the building owner to do so.
the libraries should probably just have a more holistic approach to installation. as for the pools, we worked with the city on installing bike racks in all of the parks. we haven't officially announced it yet as they are still installing them, but mr patchan worked with the parks foremen to determine the locations of the racks. hopefully all of the pools are covered. which ones specifically don't have racks?
So that also refers to the owner of the building?
Anyway, I'll have our landlord fill in his info and submit.
If I had access to a printer, I'd drop about 10 of these off at Shur-save...
ahhh.
You can easily find out the owner of any property by going to the county real estate website (link). All you need is the correct street address.
games n at has applied for a rack every way i could figure out how about a year ago... i don't know if they ever got one but I doubt they did.
is there any problem with just re-applying?
apply early apply often. no harm in sending it again...and again if need be
erok, anyone from Bike PGH ask Salem's to get a rack yet?
Funny I was just thinking the same thing as Ryan.
Salem's in the Strip AND Salim's on Center could both use racks!
Also, Klavons and all of the Pizza Sola's, especially East Liberty!!!
Dang, heard back from Salim already!!!
I sent an email to him and the owner of Pizza Sola.
Here's an excerpt of his reply:
"i can not thank you enough for bringing this to my attention, i wasn't aware of this program, i will surely get on it right away. it is a great idea, and i know many of our customers are going to agree with that."
I called Klavon's and they are super interested, too. They have been frustrated in the past with the process with the city & the owner says they've contacted PikePGH for help. The guy really wants a rack, so I encouraged him to fill out another application & sent him the link.
this thread makes me happy.
I've given the info to salem's. We originally met with them because they wanted to remove a parking space in their lot for bike racks, but then, realized they can get them for free from the city, so they wanted to try that first. I'm assuming that they filled out the form, because we gave them the info no less than thrice, but who knows.
Klavon's as well. I don't know why he was frustrated with the city, but there were some kinks early on. I suggested he just submit again, but i don't know what happened to that. The same thing happened with the french bakery in Lawrenceville. they were frustrated at first, i suggested re applying, then they got a rack in about a week.
Just to clarify, there's Salem's (Strip Dist w/ original outpost in Oakland near Iron City Bikes)
and Salim's (Center Ave near Pep Boys).
I emailed the guy on Center.
salem's >>>>> salim's
I eat at both!
salem's >>><<< salim's
Lou just gave one to Thai Gourmet - one of my fav lunch spots ever!
YES! Thai Gourmet is great.
How can a property owner who's applied get the status on their application? Our landlord still hasn't heard from anyone - does the city follow up via email? He never checks his email...
To be honest, probably the best way is to contact Steve Patchan, the City's Bike/Ped Coordinator. I don't know what it looks like on his end, but since they changed over to the new system, it seems really smooth. They may just show up one day to assess the sidewalk.
Cool, thanks!
crap, i forgot to take a flyer to gooski's but come on... 2 bikes locked to a garbage can (which I've had to do before), mine locked to the only signpost on the block, and another one locked to the scaffolding down the street. at least no one locked to a tree which is what i usually see.
I'll give 5 points to anyone that gets one at gooski's
Rock Room could use 'em, too.
wait... there's a french bakery in Lawrenceville? like a *real* french bakery? Or a bakery that sells baked goods with french names? name? location?
This is only for the city proper, not Allegheny county, right?
yeah, it's legit. the baker is from france even.
it's called la gourmandine
http://lagourmandinebakery.com/
yes, this is for the city of pittsburgh only
Oh and it is good...real good.
make sure to get the cream burger. they love it when you call it that.
#$*(%& #(%#(&%#&( time to find myself in larryville to break fast.
holy crap.
I *had* bought Julia Child's books and was hell bent on learning how to make a real croissant this winter. Thank god I don't have to. (Still want to, but the pressure is off).
So. Excited. Now I can ride to lawrenceville and earn the delectable num nums in the pictures.
We got ours over last night!
I am all kinds of excited about this.
is this program over yet? I'd like to recommend it to a bunch of businesses now that I'm not insanely busy. If it's done, I'll wait until next time, though.
!!!!!YES!!!! Congrats!
So glad to hear it. the program is not over. recommend it to as many as possible.
The more demand we can show, the more the program will continue.
I did get word that the city is now out of the 3 rivers racks, so they will be installing the inverted U racks from now on.
Wow, until you called them the 3 rivers racks, I had no idea what those bike racks were supposed to be shaped like. Incredibly obvious in retrospect, though.
Cool! Does anyone know if Salim's (Oakland), Saleems (Strip), or Klavon's got racks?
haven't checked oakland, but salem's in the strip and klavons have not, last i checked. will look today.
Trams needs one desperately. I'll bring a flyer to him next week.
