The Ann Arbor City Council is on a bike-friendly roll lately, having decided to build a protected bike path along Miller Avenue and keep existing paths clear of trash bins. These improvements are thanks in part to the efforts of freshman councilor Dharma Akmon, who has been a big advocate of cycling since the days when she couldn’t afford a car.

Dharma is also a Managing Director at the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science (part of U-M's Institute for Social Research), which makes her a big data geek. So she’s learned that The Numbers are often the best way to confront opposition to road diets, etc., most of which is based on anecdotal evidence and/or a basic aversion to change.

The best aspect of encouraging people to use their bikes year-round, she says, is seeing how quickly such visible behavior can be normalized. And anyone concerned about cold weather can find winter-care resources all over town. Besides: If the Finns can do it, why can’t we?

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We also talk about other major roads that might get bike paths soon, why her contact information was posted at Pizza Bob’s, and why there are people who actually thought her name was “Derwin.”

Other links:

* Subscribe to Dharma’s newsletter

* Avoid riding a bike in a big flowy dress

* The Ann Arbor Politics Facebook group

* How to use a2fixit.org

* Seattle Vision Zero projects do not harm local businesses

* MIT: false news travels faster than true stories on social media

* Ontario calls for major Toronto bike lanes to be ripped out

* Is “No Mow May” a good thing?

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