Georgia Advocates Secure City Resolution Encouraging Better Bike Infrastructure

Guest post by the Griffin Bicycle Coalition.

Congratulations to the Griffin Bicycle Coalition and Georgia Bikes! for a successful ‘Show me event’. We believe this is the first follow up district event since the National Bike Summit. At the Summit, the League encouraged advocates to urge their lawmakers to visit a bicycle project or event to see the positive effects of bicycling in their communities.

Griffin, Georgia, held a Bike to City Hall event in chilly weather with occasional snow flurries last month to mimic the Atlanta-based “Ride to the Capitol” led by Georgia Bikes! earlier that day.

Tracie Sanchez, Michelle Cannon, Ian Flitcroft, and Bruce Reid of the Griffin Bicycle Coalition organized bike trains from four points across the city: a university, church, high school, and city park — and invited citizens to ride along, including Matt Brass from Rep. Lynn Westmoreland’s (R) office — who all joined a regularly scheduled City Commission meeting.  At the meeting, the following recently approved resolution was read out loud and presented to the more than 30 cyclists. The cyclists stated their names and addresses as part of the permanent record of support for the resolution.

2013 COG Bike-Ped Resolution

The Griffin-Spalding Area Transportation Committee Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee is working in collaboration with the Griffin Bicycle Coalition to increase and enhance infrastructure, including the installation of sidewalks, bicycle lanes, multi-use paths, routes, signage, bicycle parking, and storage facilities. In addition, they are working to encourage walking and bicycling as viable modes of transportation, in order to reduce the dependence on the use of automobiles and improve air quality.

This is a great example of involving your Congressional office. Not only did the Congressman’s staff come out to a bike ride, but he witnessed the local government voicing their support of biking and walking!