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Entries tagged: East Bay Bicycle Coalition

On Tuesday night, we held the fifth annual Advocacy Awards reception, the Alliance’s awards ceremony to shine the spotlight on the progress and victories of the bicycle and pedestrian advocacy movement. In a bustling room full of excited advocates fresh out of the opening plenary of the 2013 National Bike Summit, we awarded trophies to the year’s most successful campaigns, dedicated advocates and supportive businesses.

This year, the Alliance honors the following winners from across North America.

Advocacy Organization of the Year- Bike Walk Mississippi

“In a state in which previous biking and walking advocacy depended on coincidental personal interest from elected officials, Bike Walk Mississippi have ignited a movement that has commanded attention in every recent transportation-related election.” That would be high praise coming from anyone, but when a quote like that comes from the Chamber of Commerce in a state’s largest city, it means just a little bit more.  “As a state with a high prevalence of obesity, Bike Walk Mississippi is making it safer and more accessible to exercise and have fun biking and walking in our community,” echoed Sarah Welker from the Mississippi Economic Policy Center.  As local and national organizations continue to emphasize the connection between active transportation and economic growth, perhaps they should take a cue from the fantastic advocates from Bike Walk Mississippi.  Other highlights from the past year include receiving funding to hold their first Open Streets initiative (set for this April), advocating for the passing of the John Paul Frerer Bicycle Safety Act (which established a 3-foot minimum passing distance) and opening Jackon’s first community bike shop in the Midtown neighborhood.

Advocate of the Year: Rebecca Serna, Atlanta Bicycle Coalition

This award goes to an individual who has shown tireless commitment to promoting bicycling and walking in his or her community.  Rebecca Serna has been Atlanta Bicycle Coalition’s Executive Director for over 5 years, and a board member of Georgia Bikes. During this time she has worked with leaders and elected officials from across the region to make Atlanta a better place to bike. As we saw earlier with Georgia’s Complete Streets policy, the Southeast U.S. is a region that is making great strives to become more walkable and bikeable, Rebecca’s work is an inspiration to those around her. “The work that she does sets the bar for the surrounding cities and counties,” said Sonja Parham, who nominated her for the award. The Alliance and the League awarded Atlanta Bicycle Coalition our largest Advocacy Advance Model Grant and they have been an incredible partner, mentor, and example for other organizations across the continent. Jessica Estep, who nominated Rebecca for this award, said that Rebecca has dedicated herself to “making a city that used to be bike-unfriendly into a blossoming city for bicycles, and she does it all with an air of humility. She deserves this award more than anyone else.” We couldn’t agree more!

Business Advocate of the Year: Primal Wear

Primal Wear has always been known for their great cycling gear, but their recent dedication to creating better streets for biking has made the name Primal synonymous with advocacy.  Not only did Primal come on as a strong sponsor of the Alliance last year, including making some awesome jackets for our 2012 Leadership Retreat, but they have been supporting local and state groups for years, including Bicycle Colorado, Bike Texas and Bike Denver.  At the national level, Primal has been a long time supporter of IMBA and Bikes Belong, and they recently revved up their efforts with the League of American Bicyclists as Titanium level sponsor of the Summit, and providing all participants with their own Primal custom jersey.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Barb Culp

Washington State has been ranked the best state for biking by the League of American Bicyclists for the past 5 years, and this is due in no small part to the influence and leadership of Barbara Culp. Barb has been a leader in biking advocacy for decades. She has been executive Director of Bicycle Alliance of Washington twice, for a combined 13 years, as well as previously working for Cascade Bicycle Club as their education director and promoting bicycling and walking as commuter solutions at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her leadership has led to increased bicycle infrastructure in Washington, better education for all users of the road and increased communication between bicycle advocates and Washington DOT. Barb also served as a board member for the Alliance and was our Vice-Chair for many of those years, where her leadership helped us in our critical mission in strengthening and uniting local and state organizations.  We will miss Barb as she retires and steps back from her leadership positions, but her legacy and impact will continue to inspire advocates in Washington State and across the continent.

Winning Campaign of the Year: Georgia Bikes! for Georgia’s Complete Streets Policy

While many outsiders may look at the South as a region that has historically not been the most bike friendly, advocates across the region are working to change that. Nowhere was this more evident than in Georgia, where leaders from local and state biking and walking advocacy organizations worked with the state DOT to pass a Complete Streets Design Policy. The push was led by Georgia Bikes!, who caught the attention of DOT officials during a Ride to the Capitol when the crowd started chanting “Complete the Streets!”.  While DOT officials thought they already had a great policy in place, the raucous advocates let them know there was more to be done, which opened up further conversations.  After countless meetings and hours of advocacy, Georgia DOT adopted a policy on September 20, 2012 that will ensure that wherever possible, road designs will properly balance the needs of all modes of transportation. And as a bonus first in the nation, Georgia became the first state to adopt the new NACTO Guide for Bikeway Facilities! As Georgia Bikes said in their blog post celebrating the new policy, “Can we get an AMEN!?”

Susie Stephens Joyful Enthusiasm Award: Renee Rivera, East Bay Bicycle Coalition

This award commemorates Alliance co-founder Susie Stephens, honoring her passion for biking and walking as fun and economical means of transportation. This year, the award goes to Renee Rivera, Executive Director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. The parallels between Susie and Renee are many. Renee has tackled many challenging situations but always maintains a calm, resilient “can-do” attitude and is always a joy to work with. “Being an Executive Director can’t be an easy job, but Renee handles it with seeming ease and enthusiasm,” said Dave Campbell, Executive Director of the California Bicycle Coalition. “And she’s a workhorse in handling so many aspects of our work in the East Bay, yet her positive attitude still makes everyone feel comfortable and motivated to do their best.” Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition—of which Renee previously served as interim director—agreed: “It has been wonderful to see communities throughout the SF Bay Area’s East Bay become organized to be more bike-friedly, in large part thanks to Renee’s strong leadership—a combination of great focus and joyful celebration of biking.”

Innovation Award: Local Spokes

The Innovation Award goes to an organization that’s pioneering or inventing new ways to promote biking and walking – and the Local Spokes Coalition has certainly been leading the way. Their fearless approach to creating community partnerships has created a model for cities across North America. Comprised of nine organizations working on various issues in New York City, including Alliance members Transportation Alternatives and Recycle-A-Bicycle, Local Spokes has shown the power of starting conversations without an agenda and letting community members lead the way. Working in New York’s Lower East Side and Chinatown neighborhoods, the coalition spent several years working to “engage, understand and advocate for the community’s various perspectives on cycling through multilingual outreach, public participation activities and a Youth Ambassadors program.” The result was a Neighborhood Action Plan released in May of 2012, and continued resource development to aid work in other underserved communities.

Investments in biking and walking are critical to meeting the transportation and energy challenges of the 21st century. Show your support for the advocates that push those investments by signing up for the 2013 Climate Ride!

Climate Ride supports sustainability, renewable energy, and bicycle advocacy with two rides each year. Join Climate Riders for the California ride from May 19-23, 2013, or ride from New York City to Washington, DC September 21-25, 2013. Mark your calendar and register today!

To participate in the Climate Ride, you’ll pay the registration fee of $75 and then raise $2,400 for organizations committed to work on clean energy, sustainability, climate education and bicycle advocacy. This year, Climate Ride raised $6,000 for the Alliance for Biking & Walking and a total of over $300,000 for the environment, green energy and active transportation. You can designate the Alliance and any number of Alliance member organizations as your beneficiaries in 2013!

Daunted by the fundraising requirement? Don’t be! The Climate Ride is a fantastic opportunity to hone your fundraising skills and raise valuable dollars for your favorite advocacy organization. And - it’s a great way for organizations to engage membership and supporters. Read this fundraising tip sheet for organizations and riders - brought to you by the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. Sign up and start fundraising today!

The East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC) is meeting the funding opportunity of a generation with the assistance of an Advocacy Advance Rapid Response Grant.

EBBC’s “One Billion for Bikes: Yes on the Alameda County Transportation Sales Tax Reauthorization” campaign targets a 30-year, $7.8 billion regional transportation plan. As part of the Citizens Advisory Working Group, EBBC helped develop the Expenditure Plan for the Reauthorization, galvanize the Community Vision Platform stakeholder group, and influence elected officials to include $883 million dollars – 11.34% of all funds – for bike/ped projects in the plan.

East Bay advocates have until November to work with their broad coalition of supporters to gain two-thirds voter approval for this ballot measure. They will leverage the $3,000 Rapid Response grant and use funds for voter outreach, publicity, and strengthening collaboration opportunities.

This campaign win would transform transportation in Alameda County and be a major win for the movement. This measure represents 75% of ALL transportation funding in the County over the next 30 years and for the first time in history, a transportation sales tax in California would allocate more money for bike/ped than for highway projects. It would also require all projects in the measure to comply with the County’s new Complete Streets Policy.

Advocacy Advance is a partnership between the Alliance for Biking & Walking and the League of American Bicyclists with the goal to double federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs and projects by supporting advocacy efforts and agency collaboration at the state and local levels. Our Rapid Response grants can be used to fund campaigns that involve all types of public funding: federal, state, regional and city.

Thanks to the support of SRAM Cycling Fund, Advocacy Advance has $29,000 remaining to fund organizations met with urgent and unexpected opportunities to win, increase, or preserve funding for biking and walking. There is no application deadline for these rolling grants and accepted proposals will be funded within one month.

Rapid Response grants have funded the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin’s successful campaign to restore $2 million of the state’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Program, the BTA’s bike sharing success in Portland, and Active Living LaCrescent’s bridge accommodations campaign.

As public works employees put paint to pavement on Friday, advocates and officials celebrated Oakland’s most successful year yet in biking and walking infrastructure.

Leaders from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland joined Mayor Jean Quan to mark the installation of more than 18 miles of bike lanes and nearly 300 bike parking spots in 2011 alone.

Though it didn’t hit the organizations’ target of 30 miles by the end of 2011, the uptick in infrastructure has been a major victory for the Oakland Bikeways Campaign, a joint effort of the EEBC and WOBO. And city officials promised the next wave of sharrows and bike lanes should be on the ground by mid-2012.

“The bike lanes installed this year go a long way to fulfilling WOBO’s goal of connecting Oakland’s neighborhoods with safe, reliable and affordable transportation options,” Gloria Bruce, chair of the board at WOBO, said at the press conference. “Bicycling is fun, it’s healthy, and people want to do it. Despite the budget and other challenges, the City is moving forward quickly to build the network and we applaud them for that. Safe biking makes a big difference in people’s lives.”

“It’s not just putting down more miles, but miles that connect, and create a safe, continuous network that really gets you where you need to go and doesn’t drop you along the way,” Renee Rivera, executive director of EEBC, said. “We need to make Oakland a safe place to bike for everyone. We need to pay more attention to the eastern side of town, working with great partners like Cycles of Change and their earn-a-bike program, and bringing more infrastructure to the east side where it’s so badly needed.”

It’s worth noting that staff and volunteers from WOBO and EBBC worked on aspects of the Oakland Bikeways initiative at Alliance Winning Campaigns Training in 2008 and 2010 respectively. Jumpstart your 2012 campaigns by attending one of these workshops in your area. The first is coming up in a matter of weeks: Register now for the Winning Campaigns Training in Tucson, AZ, January 13-15th. The early bird rate — just $75 for Alliance members — ends on Friday.

Read more about last week’s celebration from the EBBC here.

Photo: Renee Rivera (left), executive director of the EBBC, with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. (Credit: Gene Anderson)

It’s been a big week with Bike to Work events and news of legislative victories in a number of states, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busily uploading the latest research and exemplary materials from Alliance member organizations to the Resource Library. Here’s the latest…

• Transportation Alternatives in New York City put together a best practices guide for its innovative Play Streets initiative — which we wrote about on the People Powered Blog back in November.

• Lisa Quinn at Feet First got us psyched about her participation in our upcoming Mutual Aid Call on “Cultivating an Active, Involved Membership” by sharing these great videos about the group’s popular Walk and Talk events.

• We received in the mail (Hint: We love getting mail!) a sleek, eye-catching tip sheet from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition on “5 Easy Ways to Inspire your Employees to Bike To Work,” which the organization used in its mailing to potential business supporters and participants for its Bike to Work Day on May 12.

• Speaking of Bike to Work Day, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition created an artsy postcard promoting its CycleMAYnia events, with a listing of events and link to a one-stop website for all the festivities.

• And another tool for Bike to Work Day: The League of American Bicyclists debuted a quick, convenient online tool that provides bicycle commuting statistics by city, based on data from the 2009 American Community Survey.

• Bike Pittsburgh also launched a fun, new tool — unveiling its Car Free Calculator, which allows cyclists to enter their miles traveled and keep track of their calories burned, dollars saved and carbon dioxide reduced. (p.s. Brought to you, in part, by funding from the Advocacy Advance grant program!)

• Brighid O’Keane, our Advocacy Advance Program Manager, put together a helpful overview that covers funding sources for bike/ped organizations, including grants, government funding, grassroots fundraising, and other resources.

• A (relatively) new study out of Oregon dispels some myths about active transportation in the suburbs.

• And another report finds that traffic crashes are more strongly correlated to the built environment itself rather than random driver error.