On the Road with the League

As the national voice for America’s bicyclists, the League is based in Washington, D.C., but our staff is constantly on the road to make biking better in your community. We attend conferences and Summit from coast to coast to share our knowlegde, listen and learn. We present workshops on how to get funding for bike projects, visit leaders to advance our Bicycle Friendly Community program — and much more.

So how have we been serving you — and where will we be next? Here’s this week’s recap and a look ahead…

This week:

The League brought home some accolades this week, as Policy Director, Darren Flusche, was honored with a much-deserved “Professional of the Year Award: Non-profit” award from the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. Of course, that was just one aspect of the annual APBP Professional Development Seminar held in Boulder, Colo. As Caron Whitaker, our VP of Government Relations shared:

There was a lot of great news coming out of the APBP Professional Development Seminar. The U.S. Federal Highways Administration announced it’s support for flexibility in design guidelines for biking and walking infrastructure, Bikes Belong announced the next round of Green Lanes, Barbara McCann released her new book “Completing the Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks” — and our own Darren Flusche was named NGO Professional of the year.

The Keynote address by Kelly Brough, President and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, was also a highlight. She spoke from the business perspective to benefits  biking brings communities — and how to sell it.  

My favorite story came from Carson City Nevada, where the city’s departments of health and transportation are working together with the local hospitals to do comprehensive health assessment of the community and using it to guide infrastructure decisions!

Next week:

A group of League staff, including President Andy Clarke, are heading to the biggest bike industry event of the year: Interbike. The annual trade show in Las Vegas draws more than 20,000 attendees and the League is excited to meet with partners in the bike biz. If you’re headed to Vegas for the big event, stop by our booth in Advocacy Row — and stay tuned to the blog and social media next week for the reveal of the 2014 National Bike Summit theme AND new, exciting data from Women Bike.

On Wednesday, VP of Programs, Bill Nesper, will be in Portland for “The Future of Green Lanes, a forward-looking summit of the leading city staff working on the design, promotion, messaging and implementation of next-generation, protected bike lanes.” Hosted by the Green Lane Project, the event will include touring leading infrastructure in the Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community and the sharing of best practices from past and future Green Lane cities.

On Thursday, Policy Director, Darren Flushe, will speak at Pro Walk / Pro Bike / Pro Place 2013: Moving Pittsburgh Forward. The full-day event in Steel City will bring together “regional leaders and national experts (including the award-winning Mr. Flushe)… to discuss how to improve regional mobility with improved bike connectivity; how to improve neighborhoods and individual health by better and safer walking; and how activate Pittsburgh’s public spaces through Placemaking.” According to the event organizer: “We have 200+ attendees, representing 150+ organizations, municipalities, non profits, private firms, and other entities. This will be the first active transportation summit of its kind in PGH.” To top it all off, the keynote is Mark Gorton. If you’ve never seen Gorton speak, all the more reason to buy your ticket right now!

To close out the week, jet-setting Nesper will be in Harrisonburg, Va., for a regional Bike Walk Summit on Friday. The direct result of an Advocacy Advance workshop held in September 2012 (co-facilitated by our award-winning Policy Director), the gathering will bring together city and county officials to “develop partnerships and to increase coordination between the City, County, and other stakeholders to make our region a great biking and walking community to live in and visit!” Learn more here.