day two at the summit
Day two was off to an early start, 6am to be precise! Early morning we heard from a few key players across the country, folks who are making major strides in a bicycle friendly America.
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) has been advocating for bicycles since being elected in 1996, and can easily be considered one of the leaders for bicycle advocacy in DC.
Earl Bluemnauer (D-OR) “Cycling speaks to all current headlines: healthcare, oil crisis, congestion, active living, and saving money during tough economic times […] You have a message that empowers communities to respond to local challenges.”
Helping put New York City on the map of global biking cities, Janette Sadik-Kahn, from the NYC Department of Transportation, is making monumental changes in providing New Yorkers more options for navigating through the metropolis.
Sadik-Kahn also unveiled the brand new NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, a tool to help local governments plan bicycle facilities in the future. It contains amazing resources for towns who want to install facilities, but aren’t sure the specifics of how they might fit in with existing traffic modes.
Both of these pioneers were energized when speaking to our room of over 800 bicycle enthusiasts, from industry, non-profits, local government and more. Their words were inspiring, and gave us the push we need to feel confident as we head to Capitol Hill tomorrow.
After a various breakout sessions, which focused on specific issues and futures of bicycle advocacy across the country, we were extremely lucky to hear from the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.
Awards time! The SLO County Bicycle Coalition was able to accept the Gold Bicycle Friendly University award on behalf of our neighbors at UC Santa Barbara. This was the first time the Bicycle Friendly University distinction was given, and we were proud to accept it on behalf of UCSB, congrats!
Advocates from across California gathered as we strategized for our full day on Capitol Hill, keeping our message simple, and making sure we talk to every single representative from California, quite a task, but we were up for it! The Coalition led the charge to head to offices which weren’t represented at the Summit, giving us the opportunity to hit the ground running in the morning as we saw elected officials from across the state.
Big, busy day. But tomorrow will be even busier, more updates then!
