There was recently an interesting discussion on Locally Grown Northfield about bike-sharing programs. It coincided with some recent news on such programs: the roll-out of Washington, D.C.’s SmartBike DC program and the announcement that bicycles would be made available to the public at the Democratic and Republican political conventions, with the latter being nearby in St. Paul later this summer.

The discussion and the news prompted me to e-mail Paul DeMaio of MetroBike in Washington, DC. Paul provides consulting services related to bike sharing. I asked him whether a town such as Northfield, Minnesota (population 18,000) could attract one of the providers of the high-tech bicycle-sharing programs, such as Clear Channel Outdoor’s SmartBike program or JCDecaux’s Cyclocity program.

He said that a town the size of Northfield probably wouldn’t be able to attract those larger firms, given the costs of setting up such a service. But he did mention the possibility of a private service called Nextbike, which operates in Germany and New Zealand. He also thought that a non-profit model, with the cooperation of the colleges, city, and local businesses might work. He gave Toronto Bikeshare as an example, though after doing some research I found that program has been canceled. Perhaps another model is the Humana Freewheelin’ program that is being used at the political conventions. Some of those bikes will remain in the Twin Cities, so we can monitor how things proceed there.

Perhaps someone here might explore the option of the Nextbike model as a business opportunity. Their web site and a video describe how it works: users find a Nextbike, call a number and receive a code that they can use to unlock a bike, then they pay a fee for rental.

One advantage of a bike-sharing program is that people who drive in from surrounding areas could use these bikes while they’re in town. Others may like the fact that they don’t have to worry about maintaining and storing a bike.

In any case, the possibilities are intriguing, and I look forward to seeing what the future brings.

We’re in the process of doing some updating and overhauling of Northern Letter. Most of the work is being done by web designer Michael Blaha of Organic Arts, who now hails from Taos, New Mexico.

This is still an ongoing process, but it will most likely include the following:

• transferring the web hosting to Dreamhost
• updating WordPress and its plug-ins
• adding the capability to subscribe to comments via email
• improving the backup functions
• incorporating Google Analytics for site stats
• adding “Now Reading” to the sidebar, which links to Amazon.com
• adding a Paypal “donate” button

The latter two options, along with the existing Google ads, may provide some revenue for this site, though I expect any proceeds will remain small. As an “Amazon Associate,” I would receive a small percentage of the sale of books bought through the links to Amazon.

It occurs to me that selling books through Amazon is not exactly a way to support my local economy (unless the author lives here). I wonder if there is a way I could advertise the books for sale at a local bookstore?

In any case, I appreciate the skill of Michael Blaha in making all this happen. With his help, this site is improving. If you have other ideas, just let me know.

My wife’s grandfather, Ralph Adams, died at the end of last month. On May 3rd we attended his funeral in Sun City West, Arizona.

I never knew Ralph when he was in good health and at the height, or near the height, of his powers. I’ve been told that he had Shy-Drager syndrome, more recently known as multiple system atrophy - a degenerative neurological disorder similar to Parkinson’s Disease. Formerly the life of the party, his illness made him quiet. I could only imagine his former self.

I learned of one touching moment from Ralph’s last year of life. Greatly debilitated by his disease, one of his daughters was attending to him one day when he said to her, “Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?” It was a sign of his attention to others, even when he was suffering greatly himself.

Ralph was one of eight children from a remarkable Kansas farm family. From humble beginnings in the small town of Clay Center, Kansas, Ralph and his seven brothers and sisters went on to success in all corners of this country as doctors, business people, homemakers, and engineers. Ralph became a chemical engineer and an expert on asphalt, eventually rising to a high position at the Mobil Oil Corporation in its New York City headquarters.

Ralph and his wife Neva eventually retired to Sun City West, where he had more time to pursue his passion for playing bridge. Ralph was highly involved in community work his entire life, serving for a time as a city council member in Missouri and devoting time to Kiwanis and other organizations. He was instrumental in establishing Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church in Sun City West. See also Ralph’s obituary from the Daily News-Sun.

We are saddened by Ralph’s passing. Another member of a remarkable generation is gone, and we seek to build on what Ralph and others have given us.

My friend Chris Schons asked me to post a poem I published in Minnesota Monthly back in the mid-nineties. It was kind of him to remember it, and I include it below.

Reading it again is bittersweet - sweet because I enjoyed reading it again, bitter because I have not been a good husband of the poetry muse. That is, I haven’t been writing poetry lately.

The poem is one of only a handful that I managed to publish. It was written when I was living on Grand Avenue in St. Paul and teaching as an adjunct in the English Department at the University of Minnesota. It wrote it after a frosty night caused a tree outside my apartment window to lose its leaves, which were still green, in a single day. The ground around the tree was littered with these strangely green leaves. I could not resist the image and its metaphors.

Green and Falling

Night’s frost sank deep into the tree,
Plunged headlong with the mercury.
In morning each leaf fell, spiraling
Down - one, two, four, one - raining
Down green on a black, cold ground.
By afternoon it was through. I found
The bare branches stark, surprising.
Strange to be still green and falling.