Month: March 2010

Former Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club VP Running Chandler City Council

Former Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club vice president and Chandler cyclist, Kevin Hartke, is running for City Council in Chandler this year. In a recent communication to Bob Beane, CAzB president, Kevin commented, “I continue to love and encourage cycling (and give away police donated bicycles). With the increases projected for gasoline and mass transportation, cycling is more than ever a healthy, efficient and viable mode of transportation.” Chandler residents and others who would like to find out more about Kevin’s campaign may visit: www.KevinHartke.com

ACT Act Introduced

Representative Earl Blumenauer introduced the Active Community Transportation Act, H.R.4722, on 3/2/10. This groundbreaking bill creates a competitive grant program with $2 Billion to help communities build bicycling and walking networks. Read more & TAKE ACTION…
The accompanying chart shows the underfunded position of bike/pedestrian travel relative to the trips and percentage of fatalities. $2 billion sounds like a lot of money, but with these statistics in mind and the obesity problem in this country, it might be some of the best “economic stimulus” and “healthcare reform” spending we could do.

Benchmarking Report Making Its Mark

If you haven’t yet checked out Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2010 Benchmarking Report, released January 28, 2010, what are you waiting for? The nearly 200-page report filled with data on bicycling and walking from 50 states and the 51 largest U.S. cities has been labeled a “Bike-Ped State of the Union.” Over 2,000 e-copies have already been downloaded and 500 hard copies distributed. The hefty book is full of useful data to support your efforts to improve bicycling and walking in your state and community, and includes data on how the State of Arizona and our largest metropolitan areas rank in a number areas as compared to other states and cities.