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NATIONAL BIKE CHALLENGE
Last year, 47,000+ people biked 23 million miles during the summer National Bike Challenge. This year, host organization People for Bikes is hoping to reach 75,000 people and an ambitious 35,000 million miles! Your organization can help by hosting a local challenge. Your community will rejoice at a little springtime riding, spiced with some friendly competition -- and your organization will benefit from the publicity. Anyone in your territory that logs on to the National Bike Challenge website will see your logo and will automatically join your local challenge if they sign up for the national one. Plus, you’ll get all those names and email addresses to help build your membership.
INFRASTRUCTURE INLET
In Ann Arbor, Stadium Boulevard will get reconstructed with bike lanes and better sidewalks.
Grandview, Missouri, saw a 1,000 percent rise in pedestrian counts after implementing complete streets.
Buffalo could soon find out more about what complete streets have done there: The Regional Transportation Council got a $20,000 FHWA grant to complete cyclist and pedestrian traffic counts at various complete streets throughout the city. Another New York state grant will fund the evaluation of these counts.
BIG PICTURE BOULEVARD
Simran Noor of the Center for Social Inclusion reflects on her panel on “People and Policies Successfully Addressing the Root Causes of Inequity” at the National Bike Summit. Racial equity is both an outcome and a process, Noor says. And she suggests five things the bike movement can do to demonstrate their commitment to racial equity.
Bike thefts are down in San Francisco and 100 stolen bikes got returned to their rightful owners last year because of the bike registration program.
Why bike on highways? Because that's the road that takes me where I need to go.
Walk-friendly workplaces are located in mixed-use, walkable areas, leave time for midday activity breaks, and encourage walking meetings.
Your four-step program for getting bike-hostile pedestrians on your side: 1) Listen, 2) Find common ground, 3) Share the solution, 4) Enlist their help, 5) Win!
But no four-step program can save bicyclists' shared reputation when guys like this are in the streets.
David Kroodsma has spent 32 months biking tens of thousands of miles across Latin America, Asia, and the U.S. documenting the impacts of climate change. Read about it in his book, The Bicycle Diaries: My 21,000-Mile Ride for the Climate, or if you're in New York, go meet him yourself.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Bob Previdi, former communications director for the Philly City Council president, is the new policy coordinator for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, working public officials and candidates to advance Vision Zero.
ADVOCACY AVENUE
Dueling petitions in San Diego fight it out over a plan to close a dangerous conflict point between pedestrians and cars for everybody's safety. So far, planners seem to be ignoring the pleas of safe streets advocates.
Active Trans calls on Chicago’s elected leaders and candidates to support Vision Zero, in light of horrifically sad stories like this one.
LEGISLATION LANE
Bike Texas spent the week advocating for HB80, a statewide ban on texting while driving, and organizing for Cyclists in Suits, their lobby day, which has several other bills on the agenda.
BikeWalkLee is hoping safe cycling bill HB 231 passes.
First, a cycletrack with innovative protected intersections on Commonwealth Avenue -- then Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announces a Vision Zero initiative. If good things come in threes, can't wait to see what's next!
PROGRAMMING PROMENADE
People Power is changing its name to Bike Santa Cruz County.
Getting NFL stars to promote your organization: All in a day's work for Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia!
Philadelphia focuses its coming bike-share system on low-income areas to provide a new, affordable public transportation option.
WalkWiseLee is a new initiative that provides innovative pedestrian safety education to any group at no cost in an area notorious for high traffic fatalities and injuries. Just invite them and WalkWiseLee provides an interactive 15- to 30-minute presentation with time for discussion for anyone living or working within Lee County.
GET A JOB
Active Trans in Chicago is hiring: bicycling and safe routes ambassadors; a campaign coordinator; two temporary outreach ambassadors each for its Go Edgewater campaign and its Go Albany Park campaign to help residents of those neighborhoods walk, bike, and use transit more often; and a temporary marketing and media coordinator to focus on the Chicago Department of Transportation’s “Zero in Ten” initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2020.
The Bicycle Coalition of Maine is hiring a bookkeeper/contracts and grants administrator.
Want to be a ride wrangler for the Wisconsin Bike Fed?
Attention finance-minded folk in Oregon! The Bicycle Transportation Alliance is looking for a finance and HR director.
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.
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