The OutSPOKEn Cyclist
By Diane Jenks
We all love to ride our bicycles. In previous posts, we’ve talked about great places to ride in Northeast Ohio, what to do to get ready to ride, and some fit and comfort tips.
A topic we haven’t delved into, though, is bicycle advocacy and the ways in which you can get involved, if only to voice your opinion on any of a number of initiatives that are and will be coming up in the not-too-distant future.
The pandemic has made a lot of people — including mayors, legislators and the public in general — aware of how important being outside is to our well-being and how we need to take action sooner rather than later to ensure a healthy environment as we tackle climate change.
The U.S. was not always a car-centric country and, given that retirees as well as younger generations are looking to for great places to live, play and work, a car may not be as important as it once was when there was the great expansion of roads, bridges, highways and interstates.
With that in mind, bicycle and pedestrian safety is at the forefront of advocacy — building better infrastructure for walking and biking, education in schools, better training for law enforcement, and making certain that legislators know what you want.
Starting at the grassroots level, Bike Cleveland, our local bicycle advocacy organization, has accomplished some great things in the past few years and have a lot on their agenda for the future.
For example, you can go to bikecleveland.org and sign up for action alerts that will inform you about opportunities in our area to learn about and vote on policies and projects that improve safety for biking and walking.
Or you can take the connecting communities survey to help Bike Cleveland understand how comfortable you are riding on our current bike network and what the your desire is for expanding Cleveland’s bike network.
On a broader level, NOACA, The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, covers transportation and environmental planning for Greater Cleveland.
Included in their work are projects for bicycle and pedestrian planning and bicycle and pedestrian counts.
This year, along with NOACA, NEORSD, and Cuyahoga County, work has begun on a massive plan that has been in the works for 10 years to convert Green Road in South Euclid to include bicycle lanes, bike boxes that give motorists a better view of bicyclists, and other new infrastructure to slow automobile traffic to make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
We also know that these “road diets” as they are referred to, increase interest and income for local businesses, help the environment and climate, and improve property values.
On a broader level are two very important organizations that are working tirelessly to make changes nationally and locally.
People for Bikes is a broad-based organization supported by the bicycle industry that began in 1999 with the mission of “getting more people on bikes more often.” At the time, they had a pledge that you could sign saying you would support that mission, and their goal was to get 1 million signatures. We had a clipboard with that pledge in our shop. They passed that goal long ago.
Today, they’ve added one more sentence to that mission — “to make bike riding better for everyone.” As equity, diversity, and inclusion become more and more important, we find that people of color are more likely to NEED to ride a bike for work as well as to shop — and the majority of them are women!
So, the scope of the organization has broadened to include working closely with legislators to promote and propose legislation that will make funding available for more trails, paths and greenways. They also have a community grant program to help accomplish local goals such as repaving a street to include bike lanes or better crosswalk designations.
The League of American Bicyclists, originally called the League of American Wheelmen when it was founded in 1880, has been working toward making America a more Bicycle Friendly Country ever since.
I’ve attended their late winter National Bike Summit several times. It’s a fabulous opportunity to come together with delegations from all over the U.S. to learn what is happening in other parts of the country to promote better bicycling.
The final day of the Summit is the opportunity to spend a day “up on the hill” meeting with legislators to promote and encourage their support for the specific agenda that the League has developed for that year.
There is an amazing sense of camaraderie as well as that “crowd euphoria” that happens when hundreds of like-minded people come together for a great cause.
Each of these organizations would welcome you. The work they do can’t happen without support from the general public.
I encourage you to explore their websites, or perhaps join one of Bike Cleveland’s events. There are many opportunities within each of these organizations to learn more about how to make bicycling safer and more enjoyable for everyone.
