Summer Newsletter. Lots happening!
Hey all, first off, thank you SO MUCH to all of you who renewed their memberships in 2018. We literally cannot do this without you, so thanks again for your continued support! And thanks to those who came out and/or donated to our fundraiser. We raised enough money to produce our Economic Benefits Report which we've given to as many influential people as we could in the hopes of showing how investing in biking is a slam dunk investment for our city. Please feel free to send it to anyone and everyone.
We're having our next open meeting for all members Thursday July 26 at 6:30 PM at Front Yard Bikes at Mid City, 2560 Government Street. Seating will be a little limited so if you have a folding chair you can bring, that'd be helpful. We will have some refreshments but feel free to BYOB or snacks. (adult beverages are welcome) In case you can't make it but still want to be involved...
1. If you haven't already, help out our efforts to create the best possible Ped/Bike Master Plan we can by filling out a survey, marking up the interactive wikimap or providing general comments. Click here to access the site's new features. These interactive features will be live until August 6th.
2. Help the good folks at Culture, Recreation and Tourism as they seek public input about the Recreational Trails Program. This program is responsible for creating and funding a lot of the bike infrastructure you probably use all the time. We want bike folks and Baton Rouge to be well-represented in the survey's results. Click here to provide input.
3. We have some great ideas that we need help bringing into reality. We are in need of people with certain skills who would be willing to donate some of their time to help us with some projects. Specifically, we need graphic designers and video editors to help us improve and expand the ways we get our message out to the public. If you know of anyone who has these talents and might want to put them to use making the city a better place to live, please put them in touch with us.
4. Most of you probably heard about the tragic death of Councilman Buddy Amoroso who was killed riding his bike in East Feliciana. Buddy was an avid bike rider and a good friend to bike riders in Baton Rouge. What you may not have heard is just days before, a bike rider was killed in Amoroso's district on Sherwood Forest Blvd, a pedestrian was critically injured on Old Jefferson Hwy and TWO people were hit at the same intersection on Florida Blvd just two days apart, one of whom died. There is a sense of urgency that we're not seeing from our city's leaders to improve conditions for those who walk and bike.
The latest proposal for a sales tax to fund road construction projects reflects this lack of urgency. Please take the time to contact the mayor's office and the metro council to let them know people who walk and bike are not second-class citizens, and we need our priorities, our laws and our built environment to reflect this. We need our existing facilities maintained. We need more bike lanes, more sidewalks and more paths. And if roads are widened, as they're sure to be, we need our Complete Streets Policy to be followed so that All those who pay for and use our roads are accommodated, not just those who drive.
Hope to see as many of you as possible at the meeting. Thanks again for your support.
Yeah Bike!