Blog
Sometimes organizational change is barely seen; subtle tweaks to existing programs or processes. At other times, organizations must embrace more dramatic shifts in approach, in velocity, in culture, signaling important changes to all who are affected by the organization and its mission. In 2013, when we embarked on our strategic planning process, we were clear about our vision and the wide-spread benefits of bicycling — but needed to define a strong, clear leadership role for the League. Since 1880, the League has been the leader in bicycling advocacy. To meet our mission, we know it’s time for us to take bold steps — and help to shift the paradigm of the bicycle movement itself.
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On St. Patrick’s Day, residents of the city of Atlanta approved a $250 million bond package to fund transportation projects. The referendum came two and a half years after the defeat of an initiative known as T-SPLOST that would have implemented a one-cent sales tax for a huge array of transportation projects throughout the state. T-SPLOST was rejected by nine of the state’s 12 regions.
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During this Friday’s #BikeChat — our weekly Twitter chats at 2 p.m. EST — we seized on the excitement for National Bike Month happening in just a week weeks! Event organizers and bike evangelists from all across the country chimed in on their favorite parts of the monthlong celebration of bikes, we shared out our free promotional materials and event guide, and much, much more! Catch up on our conversation — and awesome resources — below, and be sure to tune in next Friday at 2 p.m. EST for our next #BikeChat!
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National Bike Month is so much more than 31 days in May. It’s a celebration of bikes; a reminder to get rolling again; a gateway to riding more often; a time to evangelize the beauty of bikes; and much, much more. Since 1956, May has been recognized as National Bike Month, and the League has sponsored this celebration of bicycling for decades. National Bike to Work Week and Bike to Work Day are often cited as the month’s flagship events, occurring the third week and third Friday of May, respectively. Indeed, bike commuting has grown by 62% from 2000 to 2013 — but Bike Month is about so much more than just getting to and from the office.
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This Friday during our weekly Twitter chat, #BikeChat, we asked the question, “What does a Bicycle Friendly Community look like to you?” Bicycle Friendly Communities come in all shapes and sizes. In one you might ride past a dairy farm, with nothing but green ahead of you, and in the next you might be stopping at a bike-specific red light within a two-way cycle track on a busy city block. We work with community leaders in neighborhoods big or small, sprawling or compact, densely or sparsely populated, and everything in between.
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Two weeks ago, I had the honor and privilege of being a panelist at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. The Summit is an annual bike advocacy event that unites bicyclists from across the nation to build a bicycle-friendly America for everyone. I joined the panel, “People and Policies Successfully Addressing the Root Causes of Inequity” to talk about equity, specifically racial equity, and why it matters for the bike movement.
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Walking advocate Vanessa Garrison is taking on the crisis of inactivity. “Everything we do is around a broader discussion about black community— household stability, health, women with chronic diseases, and the crisis of inactivity,” Garrison, the founder of GirlTrek, said of her work. It’s not about walking, per se, but about how people walking more and creating environments where people walk can impact our society. Sound familiar? It should. It’s the shift that’s happening in bicycling advocacy right now, too.
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You might find it odd for a reflective gear company to leave the safety talking points out of its marketing to consumers. But for Nick Drombosky, that’s what makes his Pittsburgh-based company, Fiks:Reflective, work. His company’s tagline says it all: “Stay safe without looking like a traffic cone.” “Safety doesn’t sell to a big market–safety sells to mothers and then safety sits in the bottom of a drawer,” Drombosky said. “We make cool products that people want to use, want to brag about, and post pictures of. Look at our Instagram or Facebook: we have 15-year-old kids all over the world wanting to get their hands on our products. Find a safety products company that has that.”
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Last Friday we talked bike laws during our weekly Twitter chat, #BikeChat, with Peter Wilborn of BikeLaw.com and Ken McLeod, the League’s Legal Specialist. The patchwork nature of bike laws throughout the United States is a popular topic of disucssion among advocates, government workers and daily riders alike. The League’s bike law resources and Bike Law University series has aimed to equip people who bike with the information they need when out on the road. And our recent partnership with BikeLaw.com has further bolstered those efforts. You can view the bike attorney directory, powered by BikeLaw.com, here.
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What do Portland and Boulder have in common? They are, of course, both considered among the most bike-friendly places in the United States — including by the League. They are two of just four Platinum level communities in our Bicycle Friendly Community program. And in recent years, both communities have dropped the ball when it comes to addressing the needs of, and providing opportunities for, mountain bikers. Boulder has opened the excellent Valmont Park facility recently, but in both cities, there are large swathes of prime mountain biking venues that are declared out of bounds, for no good reason. The local mountain bike community feels unfairly shut out, despite going to great lengths to go through the appropriate channels, follow the process, be part of planning meetings, hearings, studies etc.
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