So here is your chance to pitch us a story. There are just a few guidelines for this contest. 1) Since about half of our stories are bike-centric, we are looking for transportation/livable streets ideas that bicycles are not the main focus, but still can be in the story mix. 2) The story has to be one we can get to in the tri-state region by bike, walk or transit. 3) Remember we do not have mega budgets for these things, so if your story involves someone filming while dangling from a helicopter and an exploding car, well it won't get much serious thought.

As loyal Streetfilms viewers know, our stories really run the gamut. From PSA-like to profiles. From covering rallies to complex concepts like Leading Pedestrian Intervals. And we are not above wearing funny Sasquatch outfits to getting the point across. So let your mind race, sometimes the more wacky, the better.

Please enter as many times as you wish by leaving a comment below and use a valid email address so we can contact you. A winner will be chosen by our staff after great deliberation, and then we will do our best to make a Streetfilm out of it. If we super enjoy more than one entry, we may even award more than one t-shirt. So good luck. We will take entries up until Wednesday, Nov 19th.

So fresh from the oven we cooked up this dish of a Streetfilm from our West Coast swing. We were able to drop by Los Angeles' famed Bicycle Kitchen to see the secret recipe for how it works, along with other inspired-by shops, Bikerowave and Bike Oven. We found the atmosphere at all three to be highly fun and informative, with the spirit of community to be the true draw. When you need to fix your bike why not make friends at the same time?

Oh and if you like the great tune, there are more at Williamsonsound.

But as it turns out, this new idea is something old. Thanks to some nifty sleuthing, Eric Richardson of blogdowntown uncovered the fact that the downtown LA area was once littered with two dozen diagonal crosswalks in the late 1950s. Removed in 1958 because a city engineer's report found they impeded car traffic flow, the lesson is obvious: let's not wait another fifty years to deploy a tool to keep pedestrians safe.

And if you want to watch something that now seems extra silly now, we did something fun on Barnes Dances early in the year. You have been warned.

And now visuals from our jaunt and advocating goodness...

After Congressman Earl Blumenauer delivered his keynote speech, he parted the crowd and elbowed his way over to meet Streetsblog's Aaron Naparstek. Okay, it didn't exactly happen that way....

Livable Streets Coordinator Lily Bernheimer does her best to promote our Streetfilms event at the Main Library.

NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan is swarmed on by admirers like sharks in a feeding frenzy!

Our fresh and exciting "The Railvolution Will Not Be Televised" panel with moi, Aaron, and ReConnecting America's Jeff Wood. At least we thought so. Aaron got our forty or so audience members in the mood by playing "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".

Aaron introduces me to the crowd at San Francisco's Main Library by using some really flattering bon mots like "enfants terribles" and "transportation geek".

We had a really nice crowd of about 140. Afterwards I moderated a discussion with Aaron, local advocates and government officials.

Estimates for the San Francisco Halloween Critical Mass were at least 5,000, but many people said it was easily the biggest mass they ever took part in. Be sure to check out the Streetfilm.

On the right is Brooke DuBose, a former Transportation Alternatives staffer now working in the Bay Area. She was kind enough to clear out my beeswax!

After landing in Los Angles, Streetsblog's Damien Newton took me over to do a story on a newly installed Diagonal Crosswalk by U.S.C. Crazy right? Yes, that's nearly 100 bikes in the intersection!

Finally, I conclude by putting up this photo. I like it. It is me on one of the bridges overlooking the L.A. skyline that they filmed a sequence from "The Terminator."  Yeah, I was in heaven.

Many said it was perhaps the biggest CM ever. Writes Dan Goldwater on the Portland Shift list:

I've only been in SF about 4 years, but it was by far the biggest I've been to; like 3x bigger than any other one. From the first bike to leave Embarcadero to the last one was over half an hour with a solid line down Market st. the entire time.

With monthly rides under attack in some cities, it is interesting to see the tactic that San Francisco takes. The police department is practically hands off, and the ride is very peaceful and non confrontational. Even drivers and spectators don't seem to mind the action. So, why can't it be the same in NYC? Of course, discuss.

By closing down over three miles of parkways to cars for four hours, the event allowed people of all ages and walks of life to step into the streets and experience the richness of these neighborhoods in a more livable way.

Spanning from Garfield Park, through North Lawndale and Little Village, participants danced, rode bikes, played games, excersised, walked, talked and enjoyed the beutiful weather.  After years of hard work, the organizers of this even were able to bring together community groups and citizens to put on this beutiful experiement in livable streets. Here is to an even longer and more frequent Sunday Parkways Chicago next year!

This makes us very happy.  But let's make it to 2 million faster!

Alewife station is perfectly situated at the edge of the burbs and perpendicular to The Minuteman Bikeway, one of the most popular rail trails in the U.S. Wanting to encourage even more customers to launch an intermodal bike commute, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) fast tracked two unmanned bike cages that can hold hundreds of bicycles in a secure, covered cage, protected by high-tech surveillance. From the crowded weekday parking action we saw - with hundreds of bikes parked outside the cage to supplemental racks - it looks like a hit.

Also see lots of our other bike parking goodies from Berkeley's Bikestation, BikeLink in the Bay Area, and Portland's on-street bike parking choices.

First off, we are very happy people around the country are starting to use the term "streetfilm" (note, lowercase) to describe similarly themed productions that are inspired by our site. And we fully encourage that. In fact, if you shoot something that you post on YouTube and you want us to feature on our Eyes On The Street right-hand sidebar, just tag it "streetfilms" and we'll try to throw it up for a few days!

So go nuts. Use the term. Of course, you can't say you work for Streetfilms or call it an official Streetfilms production, but this kind of emulation is flattering and needed, cause we can't be everywhere documenting everything!

Now if you want to see LivableStreets Alliance's first "streetfilm" shot and edited by George Zisiadis, I have embedded it below. You can see it definitely is very similar to what we do; it's a great first effort and we hear he is already working on more:

Much thanks to the whole team over at LivableStreets Alliance team including Jackie Douglas and Jeff Rosenblum. On another note, filmmaker George also happens to be in a well-reviewed movie that just opened in theaters called Frontrunners. I plan on seeing it as soon as possible. Check out this way cool Gothamist interview with him.

The school's administration and staff formed a Bike Safety Committee, bought bicycle helmets for every student, and partnered with Bike New York to get students pedaling safely.  Bike New York provided its Bike Driver's Ed curriculum, its Bike Fleet, a Learn to Ride event for students and their parents, and a brand new bicycle which was raffled off to one lucky student.  Did I mention that Bike New York did all of this for free?

Look out Dodgeball, there's a new sport in class.  Check out Bike New York's website for information on how your school can get in on the action.

In our exclusive Streetfilms interview, she talks with The Open Planning Project's Executive Director, Mark Gorton, about some of the highlights her department has achieved in a very short period of time including a physically-separated bike lane on Ninth Avenue, multiple pedestrian plazas (including Madison Square and Broadway Boulevard), new efforts to boost efficiency and speeds on some bus routes, and the city's phenomenally successful, Ciclovia-style closure "Summer Streets".

But in the end as our winner, I am going with galfromdownunder's SKIRT - as a bus that would run in the Garment District.  Something about that felt so right when I read it - entertaining, descriptive, playful and very much fit the mold with the way Boulder names its themed-buses.  Congrats to Lynette Chang who is behind the galfromdowunder moniker. Since she is an always-traveling Bike FRIDAY Customer Evangelist, it is going to be hard to find a place to mail that t-shirt, but we'll try. 

Come to think of it, HONK! (with the exclamation point included as part of the name) quite honestly could be the entire name of the MTA bus fleet.

Okay, on to our first ever contest and this one is a fun, easy one to enter! Simple, just watch our video on the Boulder Bus System to learn what cool route names they have for bus lines there. Then submit your own creative name for a NYC bus line and a sentence or two as to why. Most creative wins the t-shirt. Winner judged solely by Streetfilms staff.

Enter by leaving your answer here as a comment. And, most importantly, you must have a valid e-mail address so we can tell you if you win. Winner posted by Friday AM, October 17th.   We'll also list our top three faves then.  Good luck.

We'll also be filming at least one quick Streetfilm there. And Livable Streets will be debuting their first "streetfilm" short!

Boulder boasts seven high-frequency bus lines with catchy, character-verb names like: STAMPEDE, DASH, BOUND, and BOLT, with all of the buses having their own color scheme and identity. It all started back in 1989 when Boulder endeavored to provide a real alternative to the car for its downtown commuters and as a result gave residents direct input into the process. In addition to creating comfy, frequent, pleasant buses, the city also instituted the Eco Pass, a transit card that allows residents to ride buses system-wide for free - more than doubling transit use between 1995 and 2005, from 15% to 34%.

Not that anyone is asking, but my suggestion for a new bus name: the ZIGZAG. Who wouldn't want to ride that?

Although this is the first bank I've heard about, in Portland, Oregon there are a number of cafes and restaurants that have been providing bicycle customers with window services. It only seems civilized, right? Well, remember this hotly discussed topic on Streetsblog a few months back? Discuss...