(originally sent December 13, 2012)
PEDAL PEOPLE NEWS DECEMBER 2012 Contents: * Special winter considerations * New section of the rail trail cleared this winter * Pedal Doc: Doctor home visits by bicycle in Northampton * pedalpeople.coop ** SPECIAL WINTER CONSIDERATIONS ** For our recycling, trash and compost customers, please keep these things in mind this winter - it will make our job much easier. Thanks! * Access: Please provide clear access from the street to the location where you place your waste containers (this is standard Pedal People policy - whether or not it's snowy). If your containers are in a garage, on a back porch, or down a long driveway, please make sure that you've cleared the snow from the street to your containers. If snow and ice are covering your driveway, we may not be able to maneuver our trailers to and from your pickup location. If that is the case, we recommend bringing your containers as close to the curb as possible. If we have difficulty completing your pickup due to snow and ice on your property, you can expect an extra charge of $2 to $4 per pickup to compensate your carrier for the extra time spent accessing your containers. * Compost: Frozen compost sticks to compost buckets! When it's really cold, we spend a lot of time trying to loosen the compost that's stuck to its bucket. Sometimes, the compost is so stuck, we end up leaving some of it behind. You can lessen this problem if you line your bucket with a paper or biodegradable plastic bag. * Icy/Snowy bins: If you store your trash and recycling containers outside, please make sure they are tightly covered to prevent snow and ice build-up inside the bins. Otherwise, snow and ice get inside your containers and make them difficult to lift ... and we end up hauling that extra weight with us to the transfer station. Need a new recycling bin and/or a lid? Just let us know and we'll drop one off at no charge. ** NEW SECTION OF THE RAIL TRAIL CLEARED THIS WINTER ** We are pleased to report that the City of Northampton, Northampton Business Improvement District, and Smith College have agreed to collaborate to clear snow off the Main Street to King Street section of the Manhan Rail Trail this winter. Pedal People is happy to know it will be kept clear, making winter biking in Northampton a little easier! ** PEDAL DOC: DOCTOR HOME VISITS BY BICYCLE IN NORTHAMPTON ** Jill Griffin, MD, is starting a home doctor visit service by bicycle called PedalDoc. She was an ER doctor in Northampton who will now be practicing lifestyle medicine. The focus is on getting people healthy, not on treating illness. Check out her website at: http://pedalmed.com ** PEDALPEOPLE.COOP ** We've switched our website to a .coop domain to promote our cooperative identity. Pedal People is a worker cooperative, which means it is owned entirely by its workers, and each worker has one vote in the decision-making process. Some of the other worker coops in the Northampton area are Collective Copies, Valley Green Feast, Simple Diaper and Linen, Co-op 108 and TESA, makers of Co-opoly. Learn more about these worker cooperatives: http://www.valleyworker.org More about worker co-ops in general: http://www.usworker.coop/aboutworkercoops