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Your Friday t(w)o do list:
- Sign up for our webinar on "Maximizing Bike Month: Make May Count" next Wednesday, April 15, to get insight on communications, membership and equity.
- Enter the Xtracycle Cargo Bike Contest by April 15 for a chance to win an Edgerunner for your organization — in time for Bike to Work Day!
#SU4T — MOBILIZING ONLINE FOR REAL WORLD VICTORIES
Yesterday, dozens of different stakeholders mobilized online (and IRL) for Stand Up for Transportation Day, uniting diverse voices to tell members of Congress to take action for a longterm, fully funded federal transportation bill that recognizes equal mobility as a civil right.
From an interactive map that integrated personal stories and compelling statistics to a Thunderclap that funneled the campaign message to hundreds of thousands of Facebook and Twitter followers, it was a campaign that used a variety of the online organizing tools that drive effective campaigns in a digital age.
Recognizing this new media landscape and its implications for inclusive messaging and outreach, the Alliance is hosting it's biennial National Training on "Organizing, Leadership, and Digital Strategy for a Stronger Movement," a training focused on active transportation movement-building with diverse communities in the digital age. Check out our 10 Reasons to attend to learn more about the training and browse #SU4T and #StandUpForTransportation on Twitter to get a glimpse of yesterday's mobilization, including...
INFRASTRUCTURE INLET
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition celebrated a proposal to dramatically expand the Bay Area Bike Share program by adding as many as 7,000 bikes by the end of 2017.
BikePGH explained everything folks need to know about their new bike share system.
And advocates in Texas are fighting to save the San Antonio B-cycle system.
Bike San Diego reported that bike traffic in Uptown has gone up 346% since 2012, "with the biggest jump in bike ridership after the buffered bike lanes were striped on Fourth and Fifth Avenues in 2014."
The Washtenaw Biking and Walking Coalition began working with Ann Arbor officials to close the gaps in the Border-to-Border (B2B) Trail in central Ann Arbor.
The City of Los Angeles unveiled its first parking-protected bike lanes.
And the Motor City is getting its first taste of on-street protected bike infrastructure.
Des Moines-area residents will soon have 25 miles of new historic trail in Central Iowa.
The Market Street bike counter in San Francisco tallied 97,302 people rolling through in March— the highest monthly total yet.
ADVOCACY AVENUE
Bicycle Colorado shared an encouraging case study out of Sheridan, where police are using bicycles to forge meaningful relationships with local families and kids who haven't felt comfortable interacting with police.
Oregon Walks and the BTA released a new report, Our Healthy Streets, amplifying their push for a strong Vision Zero policy.
Walk Score rankings are out and cities with strong Alliance member orgs are, not surprisingly, at the top of the list — congrats TA, Walk SF and Walk Boston.
Bike Austin is asking community members to help them determine what three areas should be prioritized for grassroots Complete Streets campaigns.
Transportation Alternatives, in partnership with Families for Safe Streets and a host of NYC municipal agencies, released an utterly heart-wrenching and deeply compelling video promoting the tenets of the city's Vision Zero efforts, to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2024.
LEGISLATION LANE
The good(ish) news: Last year, Florida police doled out more than 500 tickets to drivers for violating the state's 3-foot passing law. The bad news: Only 8 were found guilty.
The Dead Red Bill in Washington state, which provides bicycle riders a safe and reasonable procedure to proceed through broken traffic signals that fail to detect bicycles, passed in the House and is headed to the Governor’s desk.
Lobby Day in Wisconsin was a success with 70 intrepid Bike Fed members hitting the marble halls of the State Capitol in Madison.
BTA is mobilizing its members in support of HB 2464, a bill authorizes another round of the ConnectOregon program, which has provided more than $6 million in critical funding to non-roadway transportation projects since 203.
In addition to it's battle against a mandatory helmet law, the California Bicycle Coalition is working with Assembly member Phil Ting to ensure that the Golden Gate Bridge District never imposes access tolls on bicyclists and pedestrians.
And coalition of more than 120 groups in California is calling on the state legislature to Increase funding for the Active Transportation Program (ATP) by $100 million.
In the midst of its Cyclists in Suits lobby day. BikeTexas rallied to defeat an amendment in the Texas legislature "to prohibit state funds from being spent to convert any existing general-use traffic lane into a bike, bus, or other special-purpose lane."
Walk to Work Day in San Francisco got folks excited about commuting by foot, in part, by giving out sweet prizes like Best Shoe Bling.
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance announced its annual Alice Awards, including the "Rosewood Initiative, a community-based nonprofit in East Portland, [that] decided to do something about the dearth of bike repair services east of 107th Avenue by opening up Rosewood Bikes, their own weekly bike service."
Women Bike KC announced their next citywide Women's Summit, coming up this fall.
The Bike Toxic Tour supported by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and Rooted LA brought attention to environmental justice issues in Southeast Los Angeles.
BIG PICTURE BOULEVARD
The Washington Post showed in stark (or rather slender) relief the difficulty of disconnected bike networks: "Bike commuting throughout the city is often like this: cobbled together out of a bit of bike lane here, an unprotected shoulder there, a scrap of sharrow and some silent pleas that cars won't run you over."
A new report from Smart Growth America put a value on Complete Streets, finding that "80 percent [of the projects studied] yielded an increase in the surrounding property values and 70 percent saw fewer collisions."
And Dr. Margaret Banyan of BikeWalkLee described the dangerous mentality still lurking in some local transportation planning agencies, describing the prevailing group think of the Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting of the MPO: "In this cult classic, zombies are driven by the single-minded and relentless pursuit of ‘brains.’ An equally formidable foe was at the CAC meeting: road planners whose sole goal is ‘lanes.’"
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Julie Harris has been named the new Executive Director of the Nebraska Bicycling Alliance.
And Bike Cleveland said hello to a new website.
GET A JOB
GObike Buffalo is hiring up a storm. Apply now to be their Community Outreach Coordinator or their part-time Street Team Leader.
The Washington Area Bicyclist Association is hiring for it's trail ranger team.
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
And for those of us who spend endless hours mobilizing folks online, a moment of nostalgia...
