Bike Path Committee 2009-2010

Introduction

A comparative government class from ASW is working on a project with the goal of building a bike path along the Ul. Warszawska road. Currently there is only a dirt path that is extremely close to the road. It is clearly dangerous while riding on that path, especially in the winter when it's very slipery. Thus, we decided to initiate a project that will hopefully end with the building of the bike path. However, we cannot obviously accomplish this task on our own, and that's why we need your help.

Bike Path Photos

Trying to be a green school, many people students and teachers ride their bikes to school on these bike paths:

Surveys

Last week, the survey group (consisting of Agne, Jina, Pamela, Paula) went to the Elementary School to ask the students bike path questions on the survey (see the survey below). Originally, there were more people involved but there was a problem with students getting out of class to ask ES. They went to Pre-K to 4^th grade classes to ask the students whether they ride their bike or not. The group surveyed most of the Pre-K and 4^th grade classes, but they still have one or two left. Next week, the group will have to pass out surveys to Middle School and High School students and the team will have to get back all of the surveys they passed out.

Letter to the Gmina

Szanowny Panie, Marku Skowroński

Jesteśmy uczniami 1 klasy liceum w American School of Warsaw, znajdującej się w Konstancinie. Nasz nauczyciel WOS-u dał nam projekt na ten rok- sprawdzenie, czy - dla dobra nas wszystkich - możemy pomóc wybudować ścieżkę rowerową.

Jako społeczność miedzynarodowa chcielibyśmy zaprezentować projekt, który byłby pożyteczny zarówno dla naszej szkoły, jak i gminy Konstancin.Jako odpowiedzialni obywatele świata wierzymy, że częścią naszej edukacji jest promocja bezpieczeństwa i alternatywnych śródków transportu, co korzystnie wpłynie ma nasze środowisko przez redukcję spalin oraz zmniejszenie korków na ulicach. Zatem chcieliśmy Państwu przestawić nasz projekt stworzenia ścieżki rowerowej.

Mając to na uwadze prosimy Państwa o pomoc we wprowadzeniu naszego projektu w życie. Będziemy potrzebowali Państwa pomocy w uzyskania pozwolenia na budowę ścieżki i odniesieniu sukcesu na tym pierwszym etapie projektu. Czy byłoby możliwe zaaranżowanie spotkania tutaj, w American School of Warsaw albo w Biurze Gminy w celu przeprowadzenia rozmowy o naszych planach?

Prosimy o kontakt z nami przez e-mail buildbikepath@gmail.com albo o kontakt z naszym nauczycielem, panem Scottem Schaffnerem pod numerem telefonu naszej szkoły (0- 22-702 85 00).

Dziękujemy za poświęcony nam czas i uwagę. Czekamy z niecierpliwością na Państwa odpowiedź!

Z poważaniem,

Uczniowie American School of Warsaw

English version of the letter:

Dear Urzad Konstancin Jeziorna,

On behalf of The American School of Warsaw student body I am forwarding you the letter, that has been sent to you via registered mail. We are looking forward to your response. Sincerely, Anna Jedrzejczyk.

We are the students from the American School of Warsaw located in Konstancin Jeziorna. As an international community we would like to present Konstancin with a project that could benefit both the American School of Warsaw and the Gmina Konstancin. As responsible world citizens we believe that part of our education is to promote safety and alternative transportation that can benefit our environment by reducing the amount of pollution and traffic at once. Therefore we would like to introduce to you our project of creating a bike path. With that in mind we ask for your assistance in bringing this project into life. We will need guidance in the process of obtaining the permission to have a successful start on our project. Would it be possible to schedule a meeting here, in the American School of Warsaw, or at the Gmina offices in order to further discuss our plans? For further information feel free to look at our website buildbikepath.blogspot.com or contact our teacher Scott Schaffner under the school number (0-22-702-85-00), thank you for your time.

Sincerely, The American School of Warsaw.

Few weeks later:

We are very happy to announce that we have recieved a reply from the Gmina. They are enthusiastic about helping us, which is a good sign. We will also send letters to the Biuro Drogownictwa i Komunikacji, the Biuro Funduszy Europejskich, the Biuro Dzialalnosci Gospodarczej i Zezwolen and the Biuro Koordynacji Inwestycji i Remontow w Pasia Drogowym.

Letter to ASW community

Dear ASW Community,

Recently Mr. Schaffner’s 10^th grade comparative government class is working on a project with a goal of building a bike path along Ul. Warszawska. The starting point of the bike path is planned to be from Hotel Mrowka to the intersection of Ul.Warszawska and Ul. Prawdziwka. Currently students willing to bike from in this area have to ride on a narrow dirt path, which is located close to the road. This is hazardous for bikers, and sadly causes people not to choose to ride their bikes. Therefore this bike path project would benefit both the Konstancin Gmina and ASW students by reducing pollution and traffic of this area.

Students involved in this project are separated into groups which allow individuals to learn how to work in different departments. These groups include: public relations, technology, architecture and secretary. Each group is responsible for different tasks but they all share one goal, a new build bike path.

The public relations group is formed by Polish speaking students. Their job is to interact with people outside of school and talk to the local governments. The technology group is formed by tech-savvy students who responsible for the project’s blog. On this blog they post information about this project and include several pictures to help visualize the area of the bike path. The architectural group is responsible for all visual aspects of this project and they determine the materials needed to create the bike path. Lastly, the secretaries are responsible for writing daily reports on what are accomplished and other future plans. Hopefully these students will be successful in getting this bike built.

If you are interested on this project please visit our blog, http://buildbikepath.bolgspot.com/ and for feedback, comments and ideas please contact us at buildbikepath@gmail.com. All help and ideas will be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mr. Schaffner’s 10^th grade Comparative Government class

Interview with Mr. Randall

Dominique, Janette and Emma went to Mr. Randall, the High School Health and P.E. teacher, to interview him about the bike path.

How often do you ride your bike to school?

Three to five times a week, even in the winters, as long as it’s not too slippery.

Do you ride with your kids?

Sometimes, not so often because the road is dangerous. Instead I go behind the school to avoid the dirt path and road.

We heard you had a biking accident last year. What happened?

It happened on the bike path. It was foggy and the street lights weren’t on yet. My glasses were fogged up. My colleagues and I were biking home. An elderly woman dressed in black was walking on the path and I didn’t see her. I brushed her shoulder and we were going 30 km per hour, which was enough to throw me off. I shattered my wrist. Two days later the street lights were turned on, which helped a lot.
The gmina turned the lights on, and by just doing that simple task, it helped the all the drivers and bikers to see better. An improved bike path would perform a similar service; overall riding and driving would improve.

How safe do you feel biking here? Do you worry about your kids?

I don’t worry about the paved part, but I do worry about the dirt path. It’s sloppy, muddy and slippery. You have to go slowly.

Do you think that building a better bike path is important and why?

Yes. It’s safer and it’s good for the environment. It’s also good for people’s physical health.


Last year, Mr. Randall and a colleague were riding together on the road. A truck drove by, and for some reason tried to knock them off the road. The driver rammed his side mirror into Mr. Randall’s colleague’s handlebars and then sped up to Mr. Randall. The driver then did the same to Mr. Randall. If the driver had missed the handlebars by even a couple of inches, Mr. Randall and his colleague could have easily been killed. A new bike path would promote safer riding, and help keep bikers off the road.

Meeting with the School Architect

Two of our members, Azra and Natalia have met with our school architect. We got a lot of information out of this meeting concerning all the steps that we have to do in order to be successful, including:
- visit the Konstancin gmina with a proper presentation, like a letter or a visual model
- find out if the Konstancin gmina already has plans for the bike path
- check which gmina owns the lands where the bike path is planned to be built
- while writting letters to the government and people in charge of that land, include names of famous or important people that support the project
- have at least two plans, because the gmina likes to have multiple choices
- be flexible and accept changes if they ask for it
- determing which side of the road would be the best to build the bike path on
- visit the Wilanow gmina to see if they haven't already any plans concerning the building of the bike path
- have at least 5000 PLN (an estimated of 10-15% of the investment), as the government or the E.U. will not pay for the whole bike path.

The Tech Group

September 21, 2009

B Period Government

Bike Path Project: Tech Group

Team Roles:

Mike - Blog editor, in charge of email, email contacts, Google Docs

Max - Google Earth, Google Maps

Dominique - Photographer (provides photos for blog), in charge of email, email contacts, Google Docs

Pamela - Blog Editor

Bernadette - Reporter, Blog Posts Editor

This past couple of weeks, the work on the Build the Bike Path project began. The tech group has already decided who will be in charge of what. We want to let you, the readers, know this information so you know who you need to talk to, if you choose to contact us. *The blog editors will be in charge of the blog layout and will post entries (written by themselves or by other students in the class). The people in charge of the email will manage the contacts (their email addresses) as well. By using Google Earth or Google Maps, the location of the bike path can be illustrated (Max has already found a way to do this). The photographer provides pictures and video for the blog. Google Docs will be shared among the people in the tech group for the blog entries.

Our Ideas:

The tech team plans to run the blog in both Polish and English; however help from the Polish speakers will be needed to translate entries. By doing this, the local community can also understand the information about our bike path plans.

Mr. Kwan suggested the idea of having video on our blog. Podcasts (with a choice of just audio, still images, full video) can be posted on the blog. Dominique was thinking about taking a video of someone riding their bike to school. The video can include the traffic in the highways that is a big problem, since the small dirt path is so close to the school. The other groups in the Comparative Government class can provide video (interviews or audio files) to the tech team so they can be uploaded to the blog.

Pamela thought that a virtual, 3D image of the bike path location can also be made by taking panoramic photographs and using software for “photo knitting.” The tech team still needs to do research on this idea and assign the role to a person. We will hopefully have this image or images up soon.

Statistics such as data from online surveys that we have made (like surveymonkey.com) may be included in our blog. The survey may ask questions to teachers, students, or staff who attend/work at the school, and may be open to the general public. The survey will be spread around by email to parents, PTO, or posting an inquiry on the ASW school website if possible. By taking the survey, you help the project greatly by contributing to our contact list if you choose to.

Max suggested that pictures from other bike paths (like the ones in Wilanow or Powsin)should be taken so the better looking bike paths can be compared to the bike path we are planning on improving.

Lastly, the tech team was hoping to have the blog advertised on the school website to attract more people. Once a survey is set up, it may also be on the school website so students and parents can access the survey. Parents who visit the ASW school website even outside Poland can also look into our project and help us.

Next week, the blog will hopefully have an entry about the bike path plans.