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.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Interview with Mr. Randall
Meeting with the School Architect
- 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.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
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.
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