The generous support of our members allowed us to send our Program Director, Dave Campbell, to the 12th Annual National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, March 20-23, 2012 where he met with over 800 bike advocates and industry representatives at the largest Bike Summit ever. At the Bike Summit, Dave learned a lot from our colleagues around the country and has brought back to the East Bay many good ideas to improve both bicycling in our cities and how the East Bay Bicycle Coalition represents the many diverse communities in our two counties. We are busy planning our followup strategies and want to update you on what we learned and accomplished in Washington.
Dave was able to network with numerous people from around the country throughout the week and learn about the work they are doing in their own states and cities, as well as meet bicycle industry representatives who want to help us here in the East Bay. Workshops on the first day included building diversity in our organization and the economic benefits of bike-friendly businesses. Of course, the main focus of the Bike Summit was the Federal Transportation Bill and the first day’s work concluded with extensive training and preparation for the lobbying work on Capitol Hill the following day. Representatives from Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s Office (Oregon) and Congressman Tim Johnson’s Office (Illinois) spent the entire day at the Bike Summit briefing our representatives on the latest intelligence on the Federal Transportation Bill and helped everyone hone their “Save Cycling” message.
On day two, Dave met with Congressional Staff in the offices of Barbara Lee (CA District 9), George Miller (CA District 7), John Garamendi (CA District 10, and shown in the photo upper right) and Pete Stark (CA District 13). The staff of all four Representatives were extremely welcoming and supportive of bicycling and took as much time as needed to talk about the Federal Transportation Bill. All East Bay representatives support the Senate Transportation Bill championed by Senator Barbara Boxer. Dave learned that many staff members ride their bike everyday to work, with Congressman Pete Stark’s office having the most regular cyclists. They are all enjoying the many new separated bikeways that have been implemented in Washington in the last year. Click here for an update on the Federal Transportation Bill. Click here to check out Dave’s video of one of Washington’s two-way cycle tracks.
Our strategy moving forward is to meet at least quarterly with local District staff members of each Congressmember, to discuss and work on how Federal support can help implement more bikeways in the East Bay. This work will include accelerating the spending the $10 million TIGER II grant received in 2010 for six new East Bay Regional Park bikeway projects connecting to transit, support for completion of the Bay Trail and of course our signature project-the Bay Bridge Pathway connecting Oakland and San Francisco. To start, we look forward to meeting all of the local staff of our Congressmembers at the April 10 ground breaking for the Alamo Creek Trail in Dublin.
Thank you again for supporting our efforts to expand our reach and network of partners at the national level. If you would like additional information or would like to get more involved in working with our Congressional Representatives, please don’t hesitate to contact Dave Campbell. He will be happy to provide additional information.