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Your organization can help the National Bike Challenge reach its 35 million mile goal. FInd out how at our webinar next week.
Interested in applying to America Walks' Walking College? They are now accepting applications, through April 17, for this nearly-free, five-month, mostly-remote program to teach advocates how to create walkable communities where they live.
NATIONAL BIKE SUMMIT REDUX
"Bike advocacy is like water," philosophizes Wisconsin Bike Fed Director Dave Cieslewicz. "When we encounter an obstruction, like state government," you just flow around it to where you might find greater success.Do bike advocates have more opportunity for success in Congress right now? Dan Rivoire from San Luis Obispo confessed he's optimistic about the chances for a transportation bill this year and the inclusion of more bike funding in it. And while MassBike Director Richard Fries hit some emotional potholes along the way, two Oklahoma Republicans steered him back to the path of hope. After all, even Bike-Hater-in-Chief James Inhofe admits he won't be able to snatch away bike/ped funds this year.
At the Summit's Lobby Day, advocates asked lawmakers to support the 1) Vision Zero Act to create an incentive program encouraging communities to embrace Vision Zero goals and 2) the Transportation Alternatives Program Improvement Act (TAPIA) to improve a key source of funding for bike and pedestrian projects.
The California Bicycle Coalition applauded the more bipartisan tone of this year's Summit, which they found especially important now that there's just one party in charge.
The Bike Summit and Women's Forum focused heavily on equity. Local Motion was shocked to learn that the bicycling gender gap begins at age 10. (The New York Bicycle Coalition notes that much of that can be solved with some simple safety improvements.) And Rivoire says he learned an important lesson about supporting marginalized communities: "Be an accomplice, not just an ally."
Meanwhile, Dave Cieslewicz was inspired by Bicycle Indiana's short video profiles of bike riders and the Bike-Walk Alliance of New Hampshire's low-stress bike maps. Bike Athens was pumped to go home and start working on Vision Zero.
And the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is still riding high from winning Advocacy Organization of the Year award.
INFRASTRUCTURE INLET
The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition celebrates the Lincoln Avenue road diet by breaking their own diets with ice cream.
Eighteen years after they were first proposed, the Fell and Oak Street bike lanes in San Francisco are almost complete.
Safe walking and biking facilities aren't just a "nice to have" on a planned 800-acre park above the Yellowstone River in Billings, Montana -- they're a must.
Hillsboro, Oregon's Trail System Master Plan includes the extension of the Rock Creek Trail and the Crescent Park Greenway, encompassing more than half of the city limits and spanning over ten miles.
And Hillsboro isn't the only Portland suburb out to outdo the urban core. If preliminary plans are any indication, the city of Milwaukie’s first neighborhood greenway will turn out to be one of the region’s best.
BIG PICTURE BOULEVARD
Yellow lights are too short and the speed limits are too low?! If that's what your "safety" consultants are telling you, you're going to have more speed-related deaths in your town -- something Chicago, with its 145-person death toll from 2014, doesn't want to contemplate.
Props to the Cops: University of Wisconsin-Madison police just busted a professional ring of bike thieves and recovered 592 bicycles. To prevent future thefts, the Bike Fed has added a bike registry page to our website so you can check out a used bike before you buy it off Craigs List.
Where should Los Angeles begin if it wants to address its pedestrian safety problems? This map shows you exactly where.
"The fall did not scare me. But the rapid slide across the ice, straight towards the wheels of the truck, terrified me." And no one stopped to make sure she was OK. Where's the accountability? Where's the compassion?
President Obama announces the "Every Kid in a Park" Initiative to make the country's most beautiful natural spaces accessible to all children.
Bike Pittsburgh put out this useful DIY guide to giving your own bike a springtime checkup.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
The Safe Routes to School National Partnership names Cassandra Isidro, formerly of SHAPE America, as their new Executive Director.
Bike Austin is pleased to announce that Mercedes Feris will be the organization’s new executive director.
Welcome Rob Thompson, Bike Cleveland's new communications and membership manager!
ADVOCACY AVENUE
Wisconsin Bike Fed fights to keep the Gandy Dancer trail "quiet" and ATV-free.
When you've got all the mayoral candidates in your city competing for the title of Chief Vision Zero Champion, you're on the right track. Way to go, Philly!
Have you seen Bike Pittsburgh's video ode to Advocacy Advance and the progress they've made as a result of that partnership (and oh yeah, having the best mayor ever)? Well, have you?
LEGISLATION LANE
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced an ambitious transportation levy to fund his Move Seattle plan, a 10-year transportation vision that integrates transit, walking, biking, driving, and freight. The nine-year, $900 million proposal would replace the existing Bridging the Gap levy, which was $365 million over nine years.
Connecticut's "Bike Bill" clarifies rules on passing, encourages the state DOT to endorse NACTO design guidelines, and explicitly states that cyclists may "take the lane."
San Jose City Council moves forward on its Vision Zero proposal, charging, "San Jose has 2,400 miles of roads with essentially no traffic enforcement, which leaves pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers at risk of serious injury or fatality."
Why does California ban bicycle education as an alternative to a court appearance for a bike-related traffic infraction? California Bicycle Coalition is working to overturn the ban.
Dear San Diego Councilmember Marti Emerald: Opposing bike lanes and wider sidewalks hardly fulfills your campaign promise to "make sure bike lanes are improved" and "create a network of streets that allow cyclists to ride safely and enjoyably from one end of the city to the other."
PROGRAMMING PROMENADE
The first-ever International Valet Bicycle Parking Conference took place March 6 in San Francisco with nine local attendees and six more online participants from as far away as Santiago, Chile.
SF Bike has prizes for everyone during Bike & Roll to School Week (which should be renamed "Little Red Wagon to School Week" because that totally counts). And Bike Doctors will dot the city on Bike to Work Day -- so your rusty chain and flat tire is no excuse.
Everything cool happens in Richmond, VA. The second Bicycle Urbanism Symposium is happening right after the UCI Road World Championships in September. Submit your paper abstract by April 1.
Helllooooo spring. Saturday, March 28 is Rails-to-Trails third annual Opening Day. Get ready to get out there and walk and bike your heart out.
The National Bike Summit wasn't the only bikey confab in the Mid-Atlantic. Bike Maryland energized its based and trumpeted its 2014 achievements at its own 2015 Bicycle Symposium.
GET A JOB
Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago is seeking a project manager for its work with the Cook County Department of Public Health and a campaign coordinator.
Bask in the glow with Bike Walk RVA, which won the Bicycling Magazine People's Choice Award last week. They're seeking a community engagement coordinator.
Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) in Portland is seeking a marketing manager.
Looking for some part-time work in San Diego County? Apply to be the bicycle advocacy coordinator for the Bike Coalition
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
