2014 Summit

United Spokes: Moving Beyond Gridlock

The 2014 National Bike Summit united the voices of 650 bicyclists on Capitol Hill to advance bicycle safety, funding and equity.

The 2014 Summit — and Women's Forum — shared success stories and best practices from the federal, state and local level; examined new means of messaging and communications; and took on some of our critics’ most challenging arguments against investing in bicycle-friendly policies and funding.

Check out some of the resources from our event below.

Program & Presentations

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Opening Plenary
Mayor's Perceptions on bicycling: Benefits, challenges and opportunities
Douglas Meyer, Bernuth and Williamson

Elected officials
Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Representative Albio Sires (D-NJ)
Texas Senator, Rodney Ellis
Pittsburgh Mayor, Bill Peduto

Break out Sessions

Overcoming the Scofflaw Perception: Learn how advocates have partnered with police, courts and others to provide education for cyclists who are ticketed for their scofflaw behavior. These successful partnerships teach people how to ride safely and prevent this behavior from standing in the way of progress.

Moderator: Ken McLeod, League Legal Specialist
Rich Conroy, Bike New York
Laura Solis, Bike New York
Tyler Dewey, Bike Athens
Brian Potwin, Commute Options
Click here for their presentations

Who is the Urban Cyclist? The authors of “The Metro Urban Cyclist: The Key to Future Transportation Growth” found significant differences between adult cyclists living within the zip code boundaries of the largest 12 American cities and the typical adult cyclist overall. A panel of leaders reacts to the report.

Elliot Gluskin, Gluskin Townley Group (moderator);
Nicole Freedman, City of Boston’s Director of Bicycle Programs;
Mia Kohout, CEO and Editor in Chief of Momentum Magazine;
Keith Benjamin, Safe Routes to School Street Scale Campaign Manager
Click here for their presentations

Bike Advocacy as a Political Platform: Hear from a panel of local elected officials who used their bicycle advocacy to get elected, and use their positions to change the transportation conversation. .

Moderator: Scott Bricker, BikePGH, Executive Director (moderator)
Meghan Sahli-Wells, Culver City Vice Mayor
David Chernushenko, Ottawa City Councillor
Dave Cieslewicz, former Madison, WI, Mayor
Click here for their presentations

Rural State Success Stories: Improving bicycling in rural areas and red states often requires different tactics and strategies than it does in other areas. Hear success stories from around the country for working with business, influencing the planning process, and working with elected officials in rural communities.

Dick Norford, Executive Director of Bicycle South Central Pennsylvania (moderator);
Shane Marshall, Utah DOT
Melinda Barnes, Bike Walk Montana Executive Director;
Martin Shukert, RDG Planning and Design
Click here for their presentations

Quantifying Bike Benefits: Hear from US DOT’s top economist, Jack Wells, as to how the TIGER program calculates the cost/ benefit of bicycling and walking projects, and discuss how this formula compares with state DOTs.

Darren Flusche, League of American Bicyclists (Moderator)
Jack Wells, Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Transportation
Ned Codd, P.E., Assistant Secretary for GreenDOT, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Click here for their presentations

Empowering Communities through Bicycling: Lessons from Los Angeles: In a city known for its car culture, advocates are innovating new strategies for bicycle promotion by drawing on L.A.'s diversity. The bike movement in Los Angeles has exploded since the 1990s- and has helped ensure a greater commitment for better bicycling. This session will highlight programs that work to connect overlooked users with these improvements in Central, South, and Southeast LA.

Andres Ramirez, Community Health Councils
Miguel Ramos, Multicultural Communities for Mobility
Shanon Muir, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Active Streets LA Initiative Coordinator
Eileen Forbes, T.R.U.S.T. South LA
Click here for their presentations

Moving Beyond the Bikelash (Congressional A): Social media, old and new journalism, and even improv comedy, can change the conversation faster than you think. You just have to help it along. This session will show you how to beat the bike lane backlash -- and have fun doing it!

Doug Gordon, of Brooklyn Spoke
Aaron Naparstek, of Streetsblog
Click here for their presentation

Why Equity, Why Now?: The League’s Equity Advisory Council has reached the one-year mark. Come hear EAC members, a League Board member and an advocate from the NAACP comment on the opportunities, challenges and next steps to expanding the benefits of bicycling to more Americans.

Helen Ho, League Equity Advisory Council Member
Hamzat Sani, League Equity Advisory Council Member
Tania Lo, of Momentum Magazine and League Board Member
Niobli Armah, NAACP
Click here for their presentations

Next Level Lobbying and Election Strategies: As momentum for bicycling grows, politicians are paying more attention. This session, featuring Rock the Vote, StreetsPAC and ‘lobbying by bike’ will focus on taking advocacy to the next level through working through politicians and elections.

Robin Stallings, Bike Texas Executive Director (moderator)
Amanda Brown, Rock the Vote Political Director
Steve Vaccaro, StreetsPAC Board Member
Peter Bourke, Cycling Promotion Fund General Manager
Click here for the presentations

Building a Broad Transportation Coalition: Pennsylvania Walks and Bikes and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia worked with representatives from all transportation modes, engineers, contractors, and the health and business communities to pass a $2.3 billion state transportation package in 2013. Learn the lessons from their participation in the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition.

Alex Doty, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia Executive Director (moderator)
George Wolff, Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition
Jennifer Ebersole, American Heart Association
Mike Jayne, Mission: Readiness

If Local Control is Good, Would Devolution be Better? Hear from leading transportation advocates on the federal stage as they discuss what devolution of federal transportation funds to the local level could mean for biking and walking.

Deron Lovaas, NRDC
James Corless, T4America
Tyler Frisbee, former Capitol Hill Staff

Retailers Best Practices for Advocacy: Retailers will share their advocacy success stories - how have they worked with advocates to improve bicycling in their community. This panel will also have an open discussion about the rapidly changing landscape of bicycle retail and how advocacy fits into the future of the channel.

James Moore, Moore's Bike Shop (moderator)
Brian Drayton, Richmond Spokes Executive Director
Brandee Lepak, Global Bikes Director of Business Development
Jeff Koenig, Big Poppi Bikes
Chris Kegel, Wheel & Sprocket President
Click here for their presentations

Federal Bikeshare Bill: What is it, what's happening and what are our next steps?

Caron Whitaker, League's VP of Government Relations

The Role of Enforcement in a Vision Zero Strategy: Law enforcement isn't always a bicyclist's best friend and justice for bicyclists and pedestrians hit by cars is rarely served. Hear from lawyers and advocates who have changed the law and worked with enforcement agencies to ensure proper legal protection for cyclists.

Brent Buice, Georgia Bikes (moderator)
Peter Wilborn, of bikelaw.com
Bob Anderton, Washington Bike Law
Click here for their presentations.

Video Advocacy: Sixty percent of Capitol Hill staff watch videos to learn about current issues or bills. How can the bicycle movement use video to advance our cause? Watch some short advocacy videos and learn how these are being used to make biking better.

Clarence Eckerson, Director, Streetfilms (moderator)
Max Hepp-Buchanan, Bike Walk RVA Director
Yolanda Davis -Overstreet, Ride in Living Color Director
Michael Marinnacio, U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Digital Director
Click here for their presentations

Leveraging National Health Goals: Both the Healthy People 2020 plan, spearheaded by Sec. Sebelius and the National Prevention Strategy, spearheaded by Surgeon General Benjamin, set goals for active transportation. What are they and how can the bicycling and health communities work together at the local and federal level to reach these goals?

Jeff Levi, Trust for America's Health Executive Director (moderator)
Janet Walberg Rankin, Ph.D, American College of Sports Medicine Immediate Past President
Beth Koser Schwartz, Lancaster General Health
Cortney L. Bloomer, MPH, CHES Carson City Health and Human Services
Click here for their presentations

Expanding Bicycling Options: With bicycling on the rise, so is the demand for better access. The panel will explore three hot topics in bicycling- including roll on service on Amtrak, accommodating bikes on transit, and the growing interest and use of e-bikes to extend the ability of bicyclists to continue biking throughout their lives.

Jason Henderson, of San Francisco State University (moderator)
Debbi Stone Wulf, Amtrak Chief of sales distribution and customer service
Rebecca Roush, Sound Transit Bicycle Program
Don DiCostanzo, Pedego Electric Bikes, President
Click here for their presentations

Rapid-Fire Victory: 10 Advocacy Wins from Around the Country: This PechaKucha session features 10 fast-paced mini-presentations on remarkable campaigns from across the United States. From billion-dollar ballot measures to state legislative change, learn how state and local advocates have won dollars for bicycling.

Brighid O'Keane, Alliance for Biking and Walking & Advocacy Advance Partnership, Advocacy & Programs Director (moderator)
Renee Rivera, East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Executive Director
Scott Bricker, Bike Pittsburgh, Executive Director
Rebecca Serna, Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, Executive Director
Kyle Wagenschutz, City of Memphis, Bikeway/Pedestrian Coordinator
James Wilson, Bike Delaware, Executive Director
Jason Jordan, Center for Transportation Excellence, Director
Jamie Maier, LivableStreets Alliance, Campaign Coordinator
Gerik Kransky, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Advocacy Director
Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling Association, Director of Travel Initiatives
Click here for their presentations

Business People make the Best Messengers: More and more companies are encouraging bicycling in their communities and in their workplace. Hear from business representatives as to how and why their companies are promoting bicycling, their innovative ideas to get more employees on bikes, and how employees are the agents of creating bike culture.

Amelia Neptune, League’s Bicycle Friendly America Program Specialist (moderator)
Adam Rubinfield, World Bank
Bob Evans, 3M
Benny Foltz, eBay/Paypal
Maggie Smith, Digital Graphics Editor, National Geographic
Click here for their presentations

Equity in Practice workshop: As more bike advocates recognize the need to expand their reach, we may struggle with how to implement a commitment to equity in practice. In this more informal setting, the League's Equity Advisory Council will be available to discuss their work and expertise. We'll be reaching out before the Summit to find out what big and little questions you'll be bringing with you.

Fact Sheets

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Factsheets for members of Congress
For ALL members

Information on the New Opportunities for Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Act

By state

Background sheets for advocates

The background sheets below are current as of Feb 21. For co-sponsors who have signed on since that date, please click here for most up-to-date information.

Alabama House Districts
Alabama Senate

Alaska House Districts
Alaska Senate

Arizona House Districts
Arizona Senate

Arkansas House Districts
Arkansas Senate

California House Districts
California Senate

Colorado House Districts
Colorado Senate

Connecticut House Districts
Connecticut Senate

DC House District

Delaware House Districts
Delaware Senate

Florida House Districts
Florida Senate

Georgia House Districts
Georgia Senate

Hawaii House Districts
Hawaii Senate