Calbike Summit Recap
In early April, SVBC staff attended the Calbike Summit. Calbike Summit 2022 was a wonderful opportunity to connect with people in the bike and transportation advocacy world by learning more about what they’re doing in their respective areas. SVBC staff met bike advocates, city planners, city officials, and pedestrian advocates from as local as Oakland to other countries such as as Colombia. SVBC was also fortunate to have some of our staff members be panelists during the summit. Read on below to hear more about what Tim Oey, Sandhya Laddha, and Clarrissa Cabansagan shared during their presentations.
Sandhya, SVBC’s Policy Director, hosted a panel on "People Power in Bike Advocacy" where she talked about SVBC's local team model. Sunnyvale Council member Omar Din, Sunnyvale team leader Ari Feinsmith and San Mateo team leader Raayan Mohtashemi were three amazing panelists who talked about their roles and perspectives of the local teams and how impactful they've been in the past years. Organizing through community is only as effective as the number of folks on the team. If you'd like to be a part of the movement for safer streets in your community, please consider joining your city's local team here!
Clarrissa, SVBC’s Development Director, was part of the opening plenary panel alongside MTC's Deputy Executive Director of Operations, Andrew Fremier, and Warren Logan, Oakland's former Policy Director of Mobility and Interagency Relations. Streetsblog's Melanie Curry moderated the discussion where panelists shared lessons from the field on why it is taking so long for our cities to become bike-friendly and ideas for quickening the pace of bike infrastructure.
Sandhya and Clarissa standing outside in Calbike Summit’s closed street.
Left to Right - Tim, Violeta, Diana, Michelle Wexler (SCCPHD), Lauren Ledbetter (VTA), Yolanda Davis Overstreet (Ride in Living Color), Vignesh Swaminathan (Mr. Barricade)
Tim, SVBC’s Program Manager, taught attendees two optimal ways to teach someone how to ride a bike. One easy no instruction method is just giving a student a balance bike and letting them go (training wheels are a no-no, but this method can take a few weeks or months). The other is a fast method with an instructor that can get just about anyone to ride a bike in a few hours.
The CalBike Summit is a state-wide event, where SVBC learned about state and international perspectives on bike advocacy. This August, SVBC will be hosting a regional gathering of active transportation leaders for our 12th annual Silicon Valley Bicycle Summit. Subscribe to our newsletter here and follow us on social media to stay up to date on all the bicycle happenings in your backyard.
More photos from Calbike Summit
