
House of Representatives
IN RECOGNITION OF THE EAST BAY BICYCLE COALITION’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY

HON. BARBARA LEE, HON. JOHN GARAMENDI; HON. GEORGE MILLER; HON. PETE STARK; & HON. JERRY McNERNEY OF CALIFORNIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 15, 2012
MS LEE– Mr. Speaker, I rise with my East Bay colleagues, Representatives GEORGE MILLER, PETE STARK, JOHN GARAMENDI, and JERRY McNERNEY on the occasion of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s 40th anniversary celebration. In its 40 years of bicycle advocacy, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition has garnered an impressive list of victories and a vast network of supporters working toward the shared goal of promoting cycling as a sustainable, healthy, and safe form of transport in the San Francisco Bay Area. On March 20, 1972, a group of cyclists created the East Bay Bicycle Coalition as a non-profit bicycle advocacy group with the simple mission of promoting bicycling for people of all ages and abilities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties of California. One of the organization’s first battles was for bicycle access on the then-new San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. By 1975, the Coalition had succeeded in that goal and paved the way for BART’s continued reputation as one of the most bike-friendly transit agencies in the country. During the past 40 years, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition has also worked to expand and establish bikeways on Bay Area bridges, stripe hundreds of miles of bike lanes in East Bay cities, and complete 244 miles of the San Francisco Bay Trail. The organization’s members have worked tirelessly for access to urban bicycle parking, inclusion of bicycle pathways in local and regional transit plans, and to establish an annual “Bike-to-Work Day” throughout the East Bay. With growing awareness that an ever-increasing number of individual automobile commuters is neither sustainable nor responsible, there has been a national movement towards alternative forms of transportation. Thanks in great part to the work of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, our East Bay Congressional districts are leading the way in this trend, with four cities certified “bike-friendly” by the League of American Bicyclists-Oakland, Emeryville, Brentwood and Alameda. Berkeley, in my District, ranks fourth in the nation amongst cities with the highest number of people bicycling. We are pleased to see the role that Federal investment has played in promoting and sustaining this transportation shift, beginning in 1991 with the walking and bicycling provisions of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act. My colleagues and I look forward to working with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and their allies around the country as we prepare in the coming years to develop a long-term Federal Transportation Bill that works for everyone, including those who find the bicycle to be a clean, healthy, and enjoyable form of transportation. Therefore, on behalf of the residents of Califonia’s 9th, 7th, 10th, 11th, and 13th Districts, we pay tribute to the East Bay Bicycle Coalition in recognition of their 40th anniversary. We ask our colleagues to join with us in congratulating the East Bay Bicycle Coalition for its continued leadership and commitment to making the East Bay a wonderful place to ride, and we wish them success in the coming years.