To help promote Bike to Work Week and National Bike Month, the Trek Bicycle Store in Greensboro and The Sales Factory have issued a challenge to all Greensboro area businesses. Whose staff can log the most miles commuting to work by bicycle?
Teams will be competing throughout the week in multiple categories. The winning teams will be announced at the Bike Movie Night event at Geeksboro Coffeehouse Cinema on Thursday, May 22. Details forthcoming!
Bicycling in Greensboro Bike to Work Week
Add this event to your Google calendar.
Learn more at www.bikegso.com.
Need some pointers? Hit up at Matt Leighton, pictured in this photo by Alex Pegg Photography. (Check him out on Facebook, too.) Matt is Team Manager at UNCG Cycling and bartender at Mellow Mushroom on Elm Street.
Need to convince the boss? Infographic round-up of the bottom-line bennies of biking to work on HuffingtonPost.com.
Don't know what to wear? Ivajean.com blogs about bike style, and sells skirts and shirts so you can traverse from the Greenway to the boardroom.
David Phlegar
Stormwater Manager for the Divisions of Water Resources
City of Greensboro
No more gutters here! Tree boxes, also known as tree wells, installed on the Downtown Greenway sidewalk near the Greenway at Fisher Park Apartments contain a special soil treatment to treat the dirty rainwater running off of Smith Street and surrounding streets, says David Phlegar, Stormwater Manager for the Division of Water Resources in Greensboro, NC.
"It's one of the first places downtown that you'll see an example like this," Phelgar says. "It's a lot easier to come in up-front in the planning and construction stages to do this, as opposed to after the fact. We worked with the Downtown Greenway to comply with some of the future Jordan Lake Rules for nutrient management, as well as our regular storm water regulations to improve our water quality."
More tree wells and other projects, such as creating alternatives to impervious parking lots, will be appearing around town. To learn more, visit the city's Water Resource website at www.greensboro-nc.gov.
Q & A: Learn how changing rules at Jordan Lake are affecting Greensboro's storm water management program.
With April coming to a close, this weekend is a good time to sneak in some last minute plants and flowers. Greensboro’s permaculture expert and Downtown Greenway consultant Charlie Headington offers a few ideas to feed the "thieves" and other beneficial insects needed to maintain a healthy organic garden.
"Some for the thieves, some for the birds, and some for us," Charlie says. "Beneficial insects manage the not-so-beneficial insects, or insects that we don't want. In an organic garden, you let insects manage other insects."
Butterfly Garden
Butterfly Bush - attracts the yellow swallowtail butterfly
Butterfly Weed - a bright orange flower, which attracts monarch butterflies
Pawpaw Tree - produces edible fruit, which attracts the zebra swallowtail butterfly
Ground cover plants that attract beneficial insects
Ajuga
Stonecrop
Strawberry
Pennyroyal
White clover (attracts honeybees for clover honey)
Hide a fence or garden wall
Trumpet honeysuckle (for the hummingbirds)
[caption id="attachment_1816" align="alignright" width="300"] Charlie Headington's plans for the West Smith and Prescott Streets' cornerstone orchard.[/caption]
These plants and flowers will be included in the proposed orchard and garden design that Charlie created for the West Smith and Prescott Street area near the Greenway. Read the Greensboro News & Record article on the garden’s planned design and for more information about the planned sculptures and seating area designed by Boston, MA, architects Mags Harries and Lajos Héder.
Learn more about Permaculture Gardening with Charlie Headington. Charlie is hosting a Permaculture Gardening Workshop on Saturday, April 27. To register, email charlie.headington@gmail.com.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has released a DRAFT Statewide Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan (WalkBikeNC Plan), which is available for public review and input. Read about the plan and give your input online!
WalkBikeNC Summary Draft
Full Draft Plan
Draft Plan Appendix
Five Pillar Summaries
NCDOT is accepting public comments on the plan until April 30, 2013. Please use this online comment form to provide feedback.
For more information, visit this NCDOT page.
Phase 3B, the section along Smith Street between Spring and Eugene, is now complete. This section features Eco-Gardens, innovative stormwater treatment facilities that transform impervious street surfaces into landscaped green spaces that capture polluted stormwater runoff. The plants and soil filter the polluted runoff as it soaks back into the ground, replenishing the groundwater supply. The storm drains also create attractive streetscapes, urban green spaces, and provide a natural habitat.
With the Greenway at Fisher Park Apartments adjacent to the Greenway and Deep Roots Market opening in March, it is a great time to check out the new developments happening along the northern edge of Downtown Greensboro!
