Alliance > Media center > People Powered Blog

Entries tagged: Event

Over 100 people attended the 2nd annual Chittenden County Bike/Pedestrian Summit sponsored by Vermont’s Local Motion. According to Local Motion, “Keynote speaker Mary Collins, Author of American Idle: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture, challenged the 110 attendees to see physical activity in new way. After a cross country tour talking to families, coaches, sports professionals, doctors and planners, Mary concluded that getting out and getting active is a civil rights issue. For people living in poverty or living in cities, active lifestyles aren’t always possible. Being in shape doesn’t necessarily mean having the self-discipline to go to the gym; it also means having public spaces and a built environment that are safe and encouraging to people to get outside and move.

Read more: An Inspiring Walk/Bike Summit!

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.

For more information, click here…

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.

For more information, click here…

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.

For more information, click here…

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.

For more information, click here…

Over 20 leaders from the Bike Michiana Coalition, the Alliance’s newest member organization, met recently for a planning summit. Jeffery Miller, the president and CEO of Alliance for Biking & Walking and Steve Buchtel, the southland coordinator for the Active Transportation Alliance facilitated the summit. The group gathered January 17th with half a dozen other organizations from the Northern Indiana region to discuss partnerships, prioritize programs and campaigns, and decide next steps in organizing. From a successful Bike to Work Week to grand visions of a Bike Station in downtown South Bend, the organizations’ priorities of the Coalition were set forth. We look forward to seeing the results of this planning session in action!

For more information on Bike Michiana visit their website at http://bikemichiana.org/

According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, “Thousands of adults and kids took to the streets to play during the first very successful Sunday Streets event! The route from Chinatown along the Embarcadero all the way down Third Street to the Bayview became a huge playground full of hoola hooping, yoga, dancing, rollerskating and of course bicycling. It was fantastic to see so many people participating, especially so many parents and kids—we lost count of the number of kids out learning to ride their bicycles on the car-free streets.” San Francisco’s first Sunday Streets events, where four miles of downtown streets were closed to cars, took place August 31st and September 14th.

Check out a video of the event or visit Visit SFBC’s Web Site for more information.

Transportation Alternatives (T.A.) held its fourth annual Tour de Brooklyn fundraising ride on May 25th. According to T.A.’s StreetBeat, “Close to 3,000 riders celebrated the Brooklyn Bridge’s 125th birthday with a sun-soaked 18-mile bike ride that started in DUMBO, stopped for a snack in Bushwick, sailed through the Navy Yards and finished up at Walt Whitman Park.  It was a perfect day made even better by thousands of smiling faces, hundreds of helpful volunteers, scores of skilled marshals and the beautiful borough of Brooklyn.”

View video from the ride from StreetFilms.org.

On March 8th the Florida Bicycle Association (FBA) invited its members for a free bike ride and ice-cream social (donations were accepted) in Orlando, FL.  FBA used this opportunity to engage its members and to give a program update including legislative initiatives over the next two years.  Family business owner Steve Beumer also had a ribbon cutting to celebrate new bike racks installed to show his support to bike riders.