Building the People Powered Movement
Member NewsBicycle and pedestrian advocacy news from Alliance organizations across North America.
06/18/2009 -- Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition Puts Mark on City Streets!
More good news from Lake Tahoe, “The City of South Lake Tahoe earmarked $25,000 in the 2009 general budget for the purchase of bike racks to be installed throughout the city. Racks will be installed at City properties and will also be made available to local businesses who are interested. The racks will be free to qualifying businesses who will be responsible for installation and maintenance.” For more information, click here… 06/16/2009 -- SLO City Council Adopts $4 million Budget for Bikes
For more information, click here… 06/11/2009 -- Mississippi River Trails Get Upgrades
For more information, click here… 06/11/2009 -- New Bike Lanes on the Way for Toronto
For more information, click here… 06/11/2009 -- Forget Bike-to-Work Day….
For more information, click here… 06/11/2009 -- DC Bike to Work Day Draws Thousands
For more information, click here… 06/11/2009 -- VA Governor Joins in on Bike to Work Day
For more information, click here… 06/11/2009 -- Bike Walk Mississippi Awarded $50K Grant
For more information, click here… 06/11/2009 -- Complete Streets Becomes Hawaii Law
For more information about PATH, click here… 06/09/2009 -- Thousands of San Franciscans Take Part in Sunday Streets
For more information, click here… 06/07/2009 -- 1,600 Cyclists Ride LA River Ride
For more information, click here… 05/27/2009 -- Livable City Wins Grant for Sunday Streets Program
For more information, click here… 05/01/2009 -- 2009 Wisconsin Bike Summit an Outstanding Success!Bicycling history was made in Wisconsin on April 27th and 28th as more than 450 bicycling enthusiasts from across the state attended the 2009 Wisconsin Bike Summit in Madison. The two-day event featured talks on advocacy, legislative training, and a “Ride on the Capitol” media event, where more than 200 bicyclists pedaled from Monona Terrace to the State Capitol to speak to their Legislators about the importance of bicycling in our communities. For more information, click here… 05/01/2009 -- Vermont Coalition Speaks to US Secretary LaHoodOn April 17th, Nancy Schulz, Executive Director of the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition, had the chance to present to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood at the Vermont State House. In her presentation, she highlighted the pent up demand for funding needs for biking and walking infrastructure and education, and how his help is needed to get increased funding in the transportation bill. Sec. LaHood responded to Nancy by saying he will incorporate a “Livable Communities” program into the next bill so that people who want to bike, walk, jog, and “get out of cars” will be able do so. For more information, click here… 05/01/2009 -- SFBC Gives a Golden Wheel to Sunday StreetsThis month the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) will honor Sunday Streets at their annual awards ceremony, the Golden Wheel Awards. Each year, this event honors those individuals or organizations that have dedicated all of their resources to advance biking and other avenues of sustainable transportation in San Francisco. SFBC is proud to have initiated the idea of Sunday Streets, a temporary car-free event that encourages San Franciscans to “get out and get active” on selected Sunday mornings. Sunday Streets was championed by a broad coalition of organizations and has been expanded for 2009. For more information, click here… |
Invest in biking and walking advocacy where it matters most... on the ground!
Creating Walkable Communities on a Budget --Call on May 16
Making the Equity Case: Working with Transit --Call on June 06
Winning Campaigns Training: Houston, Texas
June 08 through June 10, 2012
05/22/2012 - 2012 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings Just Announced
05/22/2012 - Bikes, Tourists, and all that Jazz
05/21/2012 - San Francisco Implements 15-mph School Zones
05/11/2012 - Apply to Become a Walk Friendly Community
According to the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, “A new collaboration between the Coalition and the City of South Lake Tahoe began this month with the painting of bike emblems on city streets. This collaboration will assist cyclists in navigating through town and will increase awareness among motorists that cyclists are sharing the road. The Coalition hopes to expand its painting project to other Tahoe communities and will maintain them annually.”
San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition celebrated the adoption of a two-year budget that will add significant improvements to SLO’s bicycle network. According to SLOCBC, “The budget adoption is the culmination of over a dozen public meetings where hundreds of residents made their voices heard about the need for continued bicycle and pedestrian improvements. The budget adoption also marks the culmination of the Bicycle Coalition’s own Bike the Budget campaign, an organized effort to continue improving the city’s bikeways.” The budget will make significant progress on the Railroad Safety Trail, funds bicycle education efforts, staffing of a part-time bike programs assistant, and a fund for miscellaneous bikeway improvements.
For over a year, Mississippi River Trail, Inc. (MRT) has been working with area agencies to install new route marking signs within the 72-mile Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) corridor. On June 6th (National Trails Day) they will celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening celebration led by St. Paul Mayor, MNRRA Superintendent, and an MnDOT commissioner. MRT also reports that MnDOT has received funding to sign the entire Mississippi River Trail corridor in Minnesota! Riding in the MNRAA will soon be no sweat!
Toronto kicked off their Bike Month with a big win for cyclists when the Toronto City Council voted 28 to 18 in favor of new bike lanes on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto. According to Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cyclists Union, “This is a big win for our city’s cyclists, and for the Toronto Cyclists Union who got the wheels rolling on this issue last fall by submitting a report to Transportation that showed the viability of bike lanes, in addition to some of the proposed pedestrian realm improvements. This is particularly important because the original scope of the Environmental Assessment (EA) did not include any consideration of cyclists, and was focused solely on the beautification of the pedestrian realm.”
Sure Bike Pittsburgh (Bike PGH) had a great Bike-to-Work Day with over a hundred commuters stopping in for their biker breakfasts, and with many more on the streets. The real celebrations, however, were after work at the Bike PGH Bike-FROM-Work Day Party in conjunction with a local brewery. Over 500 participated and help haul kegs of “Pale Ale by Bike” to the shindig.
According to the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, “Thousands of bicyclists turned out to celebrate Bike to Work Day 2009 at locations in the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Over 8,000 people signed up to participate in advance of the event, which set a new record for registrations. Bicyclists gathered at a total of 26 “pit stops” featuring entertainment, food, drinks, and raffles. Experienced WABA volunteers helped lead “commuter convoys” from across the area to Freedom Plaza and other pit stop destinations. Convoy leaders assisted participants with safe riding and equipment tips as well as showing riders the best route to their destination.”
According to the Virginia Bicycling Federation, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones joined hundreds of riders (on May 15th) for a Bike to Work Day ride in Richmond.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) has awarded Bike Walk Mississippi (BWM) a $50,000 grant! This grant will allow BWM to partner with Mississippi Safe Routes To School to customize the current SRTS Guide with Mississippi examples, create a SRTS quarterly newsletter, send a BWM representative to the National SRTS Conference and much more. BWM is also coordinating the training of 40+ LCI members across the state to increase bike safety awareness within Mississippi communities with the help of MDOT.
According to PATH (Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii), “Hawaii Complete Streets bill, SB718 was signed into law (May 7th) by Governor Linda Lingle. The law requires that all new roads and roads slated for maintenance be designed to accommodate all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists. This is a major landmark victory in our effort to create a safe, connected network for walking and bicycling.” Congratulations to Alliance members PATH and the Hawaii Bicycle League for this exciting victory for biking and walking in the Aloha state.
According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), a record number of people came out for the ciclovia-style Sunday Streets in San Francisco’s Mission district in early June. The party stretched nearly a dozen blocks and the festivities included walking, biking and dancing. Sunday Streets was initiated in 2008 by SFBC, Livable City, and other local partners. See photos of the event here. The overwhelming turnout illustrates a yearning for more car-free recreational areas.
More than 1,600 cyclists participated in Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition’s 9th Annual L.A. River Ride, making it the largest River Ride ever! The event is LACBC’s largest fundraiser and raises awareness of the need for bike path connectivity along the LA River.
Livable City was awarded a $10,000 Bikes Belong grant to help return Sunday Streets, a program that creates a fun, car-free place for people to be active, to San Francisco this summer. Last year’s two events drew over 15,000 people each; this year, there will be six events in four different neighborhoods. Sunday Streets is supported by a broad range of city agencies, advocacy organizations, local businesses, corporate sponsors, and local bike shops that provide funding and free rentals for participants.
