With newly elected officials taking office in every city, the most recent Biketivist forum focused on next steps for the bicycle movement — and specifically on how to make connections with these new decision-makers.

Anthony Montes, an SVBC Community Organizer who formerly worked for Congressman Earl Blumenauer in Portland, Oregon, noted that one of the most helpful things advocacy groups can do is to share knowledge about issues vital to them. A welcome letter from an advocacy group, introducing themselves and offering to act as a resource, can be a valuable tool. SVBC created a letter template that biketivists can use in their cities.

Safer streets can be connected to almost any issue at the top of an elected official’s priority list. And the squeaky wheel gets the grease. A few local team members shared how much local officials really look to the community to tell them what the issues are.

“Meet them and talk to them about safe streets. Be persistent!” Biketivists were advised.

Read a perspective from the December ‘22 Forum from one of our Sunnyvale local team leads, Sharlene Liu, below! You can find the link to the recording of our December 2022 Forum and recaps and recordings of all our previous forums on our website.

Sharlene Liu,
Sunnyvale Team

I attended SVBC's December 2022 Biketivist Forum "Elections: Next Steps", at which we learned strategies to connect with newly-elected council members. The forum was interactive, with attendees sharing ideas from their respective cities. I always enjoy hearing from attendees across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, as I learn how other biketivists address challenges in their cities.
We first heard from Anthony Montes about election races in different cities. It sounds like many cities' elections resulted in pro-bike council members coming on board (yay!). Biketivists gave a shoutout to a fellow team member, Adam Loraine, who was elected to the city council in San Mateo. Adam is a longtime bike advocate and played an instrumental role in starting San Mateo’s local team.

Then attendees shared how they plan to connect with and influence council members. Several ideas stood out to me:

The Palo Alto local team holds an informal face-to-face mixer with council members, strategically timed to happen before council sets priorities for the year.
The Sunnyvale local team meets by Zoom with each individual council member before any bike-relevant issue comes up for a vote.
Another suggestion was to get appointed to commissions, particularly bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees (BPACs) or transportation/traffic commissions, so you have the council's ear. Good idea; I just filed my application to be on BPAC and am keeping my fingers crossed.

We heard a brief summary of Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian's "13 Tips for Successful Advocacy.” I attended Joe's talk last month and found his tips to be super helpful. I'd even say, if you plan on doing any advocacy, be sure to learn from his tips before you get started. He periodically gives this talk, and it's useful to hear from him directly if you can, to fully understand his tips.

We spent a good chunk of time at the end in breakout rooms, by city. In the Sunnyvale local team breakout, we put together a welcome letter for our three newly elected council members, listing eight issues we wanted them to be aware of. The issues included the need to support plans and programs, like the Vision Zero Plan and Safe Routes to School program, and specific projects, like the Bernardo Avenue under-crossing and Homestead Road full-time bike lanes. In the discussion, we shared what we knew about the new council members in terms of how bike-friendly they appear to be. They sound promising, and hopefully they deliver on that promise.

All in all, the Biketivist Forum was quite fun. I enjoyed sharing information, and hearing others speak. Definitely a good way to spend your evening if you like bikey stuff. I came away from energized and optimistic, as I often do from these Forums.