SVBC goes to Washington - you can join us from home

A team of SVBC staff and board members will head to Washington D.C. next week to participate in the 2010 National Bike Summit. This year’s Summit marks ten years of cycling advocates from across the nation meeting to learn, share, and advocate in the nation’s capital. While in D.C., attendees will participate in workshops designed to unify our message on issues affecting the bicycling community, in preparation for a series of meetings with Congressional representatives and their staff. The week promises to be a powerful example of the evolving role of bicycling in the national conversations about development, transportation, and sustainability.

If you can’t make it to the Summit next week, you are invited to participate in a nationwide Virtual Lobby Day on March 11 – the same day Summit attendees will be meeting with representatives on Capitol Hill. Representative Earl Blumenauer has introduced the Active Community Transportation Act, H.R.4722, and we need bicycle advocates from across the nation to contact their representatives in support of the bill. The bill would create a competitive grant program with $2 billion to help communities build bicycling and walking networks. The unprecedented program would allow communities to compete for multi-year funding to build active transportation systems, as they already do for transit and road infrastructure.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking suggests these talking points when contacting your representative:

• •Bicycling and walking are part of the solution. Half of all trips in the United States are three miles or less, yet the majority of these short trips are made by car. Shifting more of these short trips to biking and walking would not only reduce congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and our dependence on oil, but will also improve physical activity, safety, and livability.
• •Investing in bicycling and walking infrastructure works. Commuting by bicycle has increased 43 percent since 2000 - and by 69 percent in designated Bicycle Friendly Communities that have invested in infrastructure improvements.
• •Please co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R.4722).

Please set aside some time on the 11th to contact your representative. We want them to understand the strength and size of the bicycle community in the Bay Area. With your support we can ensure national support for local measures that make our communities better places for cyclists.