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While car tires are typically unscathed by grime and debris that accumulate on city roads, bike tires are more susceptible to damage from those items that sometimes include nails and bits of glass. Owen Sindler knows firsthand. He recalled riding along Columbus Boulevard four years ago when an object in the bike lane flattened his tire and ended his and his then-teenage son’s ride.
“I was unprepared and ended up walking back to Performance Bicycle, [1300 S. Columbus Blvd., to get it fixed,]” the Center City resident said.
Sindler hoped to lessen the chance of that happening to other bicyclists along a stretch of Columbus Boulevard south of Oregon Avenue, he said, as he and fellow members of the Bicycle Club of Philadelphia picked up debris in the bike lane Saturday as a part of the seventh annual Philly Spring Cleanup.
“A lot of people in our club are very active in the community, enjoy giving back [and are] very civic-minded,” Linda McGrane, the club’s president, said, adding the organization collaborates with Brandywine Bicycle Club four times a year for its Adopt a Highway cleanups on Yellow Springs Road near Valley Forge National Historical Park — with the latest instance having occurred Sunday.
The club’s cleanup effort Saturday was one of about 75 taking place in South Philly — and among hundreds happening throughout the city — but was months in the making as it was the first-ever dedicated bike lane cleanup in Philly.
The southern end of Columbus Boulevard is a rarity for bike riders. Sindler indicated it is one of the few spots where one can ride for an extended time without coming across a traffic light. And the road connects to Pattison Avenue, providing a direct route to FDR Park, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue. However, a flat could be extremely dangerous on a street that is busy with vehicles, including many tractor trailers, traveling at high rates of speed.
Cleaning alongside that road could also be hazardous, so Sindler pitched the idea late last year to Charles R. Carmalt, the Mayor’s Office of Transportation & Utilities’ pedestrian and bicycle coordinator. When traffic engineers were worried about safety, Carmalt suggested the Philly Spring Cleanup’s date and lined up a police officer to follow the cleaners in a patrol car with its lights on to alert drivers of their presence. Carmalt also coordinated the use of a street sweeper to pick up bits of glass and other small debris.
The task was daunting with various items tossed in the grassy areas on both sides of the road. Sindler estimated 100 volunteers would be needed to get them all. Carmalt, who lent a hand to the effort, agreed.
“I think it’s going to take a lot more work with all the debris that accumulated, but we can get started,” the latter said.
The team traveled southbound from Oregon for a bit before crossing and returning northbound with Roxborough’s Katie Eberhart, the vice president of the club’s board, pushing a shopping cart filled with the collected trash. Items they collected from along the side of the road included prophylactics, hubcaps, pieces of carpet, bottles, a bucket of roof tar and containers of fryer oil.
Sarah Clark Stuart, policy director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, who helped to coordinate and also participated in the event, noted there are about 230 miles of streets with bike lanes in Philly. She hopes to help the club organize more bike lane cleanups, naming a revisit to Columbus or the Grays Ferry Bridge, 34th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue, as future options.
“Because there’s so much high-speed traffic, it gets a lot of debris and broken glass,” she said of the latter.
But for now, Sindler hopes the club’s effort made a difference on Columbus Boulevard.
“I want to come out here and ride flat free,” he said.
Meanwhile SEPTA employees from the Southern Depot, 1940 Johnston St., tidied up the west side of Marconi Plaza, 2700 S. Broad St., while members of the Friends of Marconi Plaza cared for the east portion.
“It means pride in the area you not only work but also live,” Thomas Marcucci, senior director of transportation for SEPTA’s Southern Division, said, noting volunteers from Boy Scouts, City Year and Girl Scouts, as well as employees’ relatives, came out to support his employer’s Philly Spring Cleanup projects.
For the depot’s director of maintenance, Jason Griffin, it was his second year leading the endeavor at the park.
“Many people see SEPTA as a nameless, faceless organization,” the South Jersey resident said. “To see us in the neighborhood, it’s about a connection.”
The friends’ Philly Spring Cleanup coordinator Janet DeLuca was thankful for SEPTA’s assistance, which also included another team sprucing up matters at SEPTA’s Southern Depot and surrounding blocks.
“Every bit of help is appreciated and noticed,” DeLuca, of Juniper and Bigler streets, said after thanking Griffin. “You will see a difference in the park, and we know that. We’re trying to really get people to appreciate — we call it an urban treasure.”
After DeLuca informed Griffin of the upcoming activities at the park, including an Easter egg hunt and photos with the Easter bunny that occurred that afternoon, he thought of how important green spaces are in urban environments, reminiscing of the abundance of parks where he grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. However, today’s children sometimes take these spaces for granted, he said.
“You have to drag them out, and this is a great place to drag them to,” he noted of Marconi.
Steven King brought his daughters willingly to Marconi Saturday morning, and both Zanaeya, 6, and Zyonna Black, 4, were thoroughly enjoying themselves. The activity that was simultaneously going on at the playground gave King some peace of mind.
“It’s a good feeling,” the resident of 20th and McKean streets, said. “I don’t have to worry about them getting cut by glass or some of that other stuff [people] just throw [to the ground].”
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