by Anne Alt
I never thought I would ride a train from Chicago to Washington D.C. to lobby on Capitol Hill. As part of the League of American
Bicyclists’ National Bike Summit, I joined a delegation of Illinois cyclists
who met with several senators and representatives to discuss three bills currently
in Congress: the Bike and Pedestrian
Safety Act, the Safe Streets Act and the New Opportunities (Equity) Act. We asked each senator or representative who
was not already part of the Congressional Bike Caucus to join, and discussed other issues that
might be of interest to them.
One of my
meetings was with my Representative Daniel
Lipinski whose district includes part of
the southwest side and many southwest suburbs, including the western end of the
Cal Sag Trail route. He is
a fellow cyclist who has historically been an ally on bike and pedestrian
funding. I noticed his road bike, pump
and related items in his office during our meeting.
My other
meeting was with Representative Robin Kelly. Her district includes much
of the southeast side and many south suburbs, as well as the eastern end of the
Cal Sag Trail route. We hope that she will become an ally and
support bike and pedestrian projects and funding.
Prior to
Lobbying Day, attendees interested in lobbying were organized by state, with a
designated coordinator for each state’s meeting. We exchanged emails prior to the Bike Summit
and met at the end of the Bike Summit programming to confirm who would attend
meetings with each representative and senator.
We reviewed the details of each bill that we would be discussing in our
meetings and who would cover various talking points in each meeting.
The Bike and
Pedestrian Safety Act is a revision to the highway safety improvement program. It would require the creation of separate
goals and statistics for states for non-motorized and motorized fatalities and
serious injuries. In recent years, the
rate of fatalities for motor vehicle drivers and passengers has decreased,
while the rate of non-motorized (bike and pedestrian) fatalities and serious
injuries has stayed steady or increased.
It’s important to create separate targets for bike and pedestrian
traffic so that all states take the
problem seriously and actively work to reduce these crashes.
The Safe
Streets Act would require all states to have a law or department of transportation (DOT) policy within two years
mandating that federally funded transportation projects on roads that allow all types of users follow Complete Streets policies.
It would also require a mechanism for assuring compliance. If roads are built to safely accommodate all
types of users when they are first constructed or reconfigured, they don’t need
to be rebuilt later to meet Complete Streets standards. Including appropriate features during
construction usually adds little or no expense to the construction. Modifying existing infrastructure at a later
date is significantly more expensive. This
bill would help improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians and get the most bang for the buck out
of available funding.
The New
Opportunities for Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Act would
create a new source of funding (long-term low interest loans) for biking and walking
networks. 25% of the funding must be
spent in low income communities. It is a
set aside from the $1 billion dollar TIFIA loan program funded in the MAP-21 transportation bill (which eliminated dedicated funding for bike
and pedestrian infrastructure projects).
The Summit is
an annual advocacy event featuring panel discussions, presentations, and
keynote speakers on a wide range of topics and included a Women’s
Bicycling Forum. Terry O’Neill of the
National Organization for Women was featured as a keynote speaker. She led a discussion on building coalitions to
get diverse groups working together. A
lunchtime keynote included Gabe Klein, former commissioner of the Chicago Dept. of Transportation, and Anthony Foxx, our new U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
Each breakout
session offered several choices, such as Overcoming the Scofflaw Perception,
Bike Advocacy as a Political Platform, Quantifying Bike Benefits, Building a
Broad Transportation Coalition, Moving Beyond the "Bikelash," the Role of
Enforcement in a Vision Zero Strategy and Expanding Bicycling Options. I found myself wishing I had a clone or two,
as there were usually 2 or 3 programs in each time slot that I would have liked
to attend. A different mix of pop-up
shops appeared each day in the hallway connecting event locations.
Clarence
Eckerson, the founder of Streetfilms, led a session on the basics of documentary
film making. I hope to put that
knowledge to good use. I gained a lot of
helpful information from the event and made several valuable connections that I
hope will be beneficial for future advocacy work.
If you’d like to
reinforce our efforts, please send your own message to your members of
Congress. Use this link to ask your senators and representative to support the Bike and Pedestrian Safety Act. Feel
free to use the following links to send messages requesting their support for the
Safe Streets Act and the New Opportunities (Equity) Act. If
they hear from you on these issues, your voice can help make a difference.
I highly recommend
the National Bike Summit to those who have a serious interest in advocacy
work. It’s a great opportunity to take
your work to the next level.
-
Anne Alt is a paralegal at Freeman KevenidesLaw Firm, president of Chicago Cycling Club, board member of the ActiveTransportation Alliance, secretary of Friends of the Major Taylor Trail and a
member of Women Bike Chicago.
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