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Your to-do list this fine Friday:

1) Cast your vote in the People's Choice Awards for excellence in the bicycle and pedestrian movement.

2) We're looking for a home for our 2015 National Training! Interested in hosting us? Let us know!

3) Have you gotten your city signed on to U.S. DOT's Mayors' Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets yet?

THE POLITICS OF SIDEWALK SNOW REMOVAL

"Perhaps it’s a lack of follow through by the city or perhaps it’s simply that many people are too preoccupied digging out their cars to bother with the sidewalk," wrote Tivona Renoni this week on GObike Buffalo's blog, "but something has got to give with sidewalk snow removal in the city."

The situation has reached a breaking point in many of the country's snowier cities. But the problem isn't just that people are shirking their shoveling responsibility. Some say it shouldn't be an individual responsibility in the first place.

"A system that assigns sidewalk maintenance to every homeowner will never function well for the pedestrian,” says Paul Tinkerhess of Ann Arbor.

An entrepreneurial shoe salesman, Tinkerhess started SnowBuddy, which tractor-plows an entire neighborhood's sidewalks. SnowBuddy runs on pooled donations and volunteer labor, and could be a model for other communities that agree with Tinkerhess' belief that "pedestrians deserve a respectful transportation experience, and the sidewalk is fundamentally a transportation corridor." 

However, a volunteer-run and -funded system isn't the optimal solution either: Ideally, cities would treat public sidewalks and bike lanes as a municipal responsibility, just like streets. 

Evanston, Illinois, has gotten partway there. The city is taking matters into its own hands, plowing untreated sidewalks and sending homeowners a bill -- and a ticket -- for neglecting to take care of it themselves. That means the city is taking responsibility to ensure that sidewalks get plowed, but only insofar as homeowners neglect what is still considered their individual homeowner duty. The idea that sidewalk snow removal should be an official city responsibility, right up there with street plowing, is still a fantasy.

INFRASTRUCTURE INLET

Philadelphia rolls out its new bike-share system: IndeGo.

A planned cycletrack on Boston's Commonwealth Avenue "may well become the most effective protected bike lane in the country." And the city has lots more planned.

This is why people in wheelchairs sometimes roll in the middle of the street. 

A feasibility study formally recommended that South Pasadena, California, move forward with a road diet pilot along a 1.1-mile stretch of Monterey Road.

BikeHouston is advising the city on its plan to enhance bicycle signing and striping in the Montrose District. Here are its recommendations. 

A week after the launch of bike-share in San Diego, a driver somehow landed a car on top of one of the stations.

BIG PICTURE BOULEVARD

Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland has proclaimed 2015 the Year of the Bike.

A grim reminder to report unsafe road conditions -- like the deadly combination of unplowed sidewalks and broken streetlights -- to city officials.

Could Boston host the most walkable Olympic games in history?

Apples to apples: Comparing an automobile commute with a walking commute on a snowy morning.

What do you think: Should cyclists use strobe headlights during daylight hours? Is it that extra bit of caution that "metaphorically reaches out and slaps the distracted driver in the face" or is it excessive? (Correct answer: Put down the darn phone, drivers!)

New York Bicycling Coalition announces the resignation of Executive Director Josh Wilson.

Philadelphia City Council candidate Helen Gym gives a shout-out to safe biking and walking in her campaign announcement. 

ADVOCACY AVENUE

In 2014, nine San Francisco agencies made public commitments to Vision Zero, but a new report shows that much work remains for the year ahead.

SF Supervisor holds hearing highlighting the importance of reducing speed to achieving zero deaths.

California advocates are trying to integrate active transportation goals into state investment plans.

While most cities fight for 1 or 2 percent for active transportation, San Luis Obispo now allocates 20 percent of its transportation budget to biking alone, in accordance with its official goal of a 20 percent bicycle mode share.

LEGISLATION LANE

Wisconsin Bike Fed turns to the Joint Finance Committee to turn back Gov. Scott Walker's three anti-bike budget provisions, including an attack on the state's Complete Streets law. In Fox Valley, activists held a winter bike rally in protest of Walker's budget.

GObike Buffalo gives a backgrounder on the mismatch between the federal gas tax rate and the country's infrastructure needs, especially for active transportation.

PROGRAMMING PROMENADE 

After 15 months with Bike Cleveland: Marvin Ranaldson's exit interview.

BikeWalkLee releases its 2014 accomplishments and 2015 priorities.

GET A JOB 

Want Josh Wilson's job? You could be the  New York Bicycle Coalition's next executive director.

The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition is hiring a part-time bicycle advocacy coordinator.

The California Bicycle Coalition is seeking a state policy director.

Bike Pittsburgh is hoping someone fantastic applies to for this city transportation planner job.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is looking for a graphic designer to design and lay out two documents. (Deadline today!)

Reno Bike Project’s Major Taylor Program is looking for an instructor and a curriculum consultant.

The state and local biking and walking advocacy movement is growing. Check out the Alliance for Biking & Walking job board for listings all over North America.

TRAILER

Did your city make Smart Growth America's list of the best Complete Streets policies of 2014?