MassBike Quick Release 11/9/07: Action Alert, Volunteer Night, &c.

Action Alert: Help Get Bicyclist Safety Bill Out of Committee

We've heard from our legislative contacts that not many people have contacted them about the bill. The Public Safety Committee needs to hear that the bill is important to you. Please call or email now, and tell your friends!

We need your help to get the Bicyclist Safety Bill out of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. This is essentially the same bill that was passed by both houses of the Legislature last December, and then vetoed by the outgoing administration, forcing us to start over. The bill, Senate 1414, called "An Act Relative to Bicyclist Safety", can be viewed here.

The key provisions of the bill are: police training on bicycle law; clarification of how to safely pass a bicycle; clarification of how to safely make turns in front of bicycles; "dooring" subject to ticket and fine; riding two abreast permitted when it does not impede cars from passing; improved enforcement of bicycle law for both motorists and bicyclists; and additional legal protections for bicyclists who choose to ride to the right of other traffic.

The Public Safety Committee held a hearing on this bill in June, and MassBike and others testified in support of it. Now we need the Committee to report favorably on the bill, so that it can move to the next step in the legislative process. We are still a few steps away from getting the bill passed again.

Here's what we need you to do:

1. Email the co-chairs of the Public Safety Committee, Senator James Timilty (James.Timilty@state.ma.us) and Representative Michael Costello (Rep.MichaelCostello@hou.state.ma.us) to ask that S1414, An Act Relative to Bicyclist Safety, be reported favorably.

2. Call or email your state representative and your state senator and ask each of them to contact the co-chairs of the Public Safety Committee to say they want S1414, An Act Relative to Bicyclist Safety, reported favorably.

Your participation counts – don't assume that everyone else will do it! 

Click here to find contact information for your State Representative (called "Rep in General Court") and State Senator (called "Senate in General Court").

More on Boston Bikes Summit

Now that we've had a couple of weeks to reflect, here are more highlights of the Boston Bikes Summit. MassBike is already working hard with the city and our advocacy partners to take advantage of the momentum generated by the summit.

Things kicked off with an overview of the state and regional bike plans, to provide context for the Boston effort, presented by the Executive Office of Transportation, Planners Collaborative, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. As Boston's plan develops, there will be opportunities to explore integration with the broader initiatives at the regional and state levels, with future opportunities for paths from Central Massachusetts into Boston.

Following that was the "official" kickoff, with a press conference by Mayor Menino on City Hall Plaza, joined by ‘bike czarina’ Nicole Freedman; Steve Madden, editor of Bicycling Magazine; Andy Clarke, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists; our own David Watson; and surprise guest cycling celebrity John Allis of Wheelworks.

The day was capped off by the "Role of Bicycling in World Class Cities" presentation at the Boston Public Library, where speakers Steve Madden, Ken Kruckemeyer (former Associate Commissioner Massachusetts Department of Public Works), James Hunt (Chief of Environmental and Energy Services for the City of Boston), Jeff Rosenblum (LivableStreets Alliance), and Andy Clarke discussed Boston's rise as a "green" city and explored how other cities around the world have integrated bicycling into daily life.

The second day of the summit began with the "Engineering Facilities Design Workshop". Experts Nick Jackson (Chicagoland Bicycle Federation) and Jennifer Toole (Toole Design Group) presented a whirlwind overview of the many bicycling facilities options available to planners. It was particularly good to see people from city departments engaged in the discussion and asking lots of questions. Boston City officials later took a tour of Cambridge's bicycle facilities, and a few even took the opportunity to experience them first-hand on bicycles. Some of the more innovative treatments stimulated healthy discussions regarding their merits.

The final day of the summit began with perhaps the best session of the summit, the "Bicycling and Education Roundtable", an especially exciting forum that brought together organizations engaged in a wide variety of bicycling education programs. Participants included Bikes Not Bombs youth programmers; Urban AdvenTours and Citizen Schools, who are teaming up on in-school bike programs; and MassBike, which is headed into schools to teach bike safety through the Safe Routes to School Program. There’s a lot of energy around in- and out-of-school bike programs for the City to tap into! Education has long been a focus of MassBike's efforts. We intend to keep meeting with all of the groups involved in bicycling education to find ways to build on each other's successes. And we’ll work particularly closely with the City of Boston on education.

The summit was capped off with a presentation entitled "Boston Bikes: Past, Present, and Future", where some general, short-term recommendations were presented, pending the preliminary conclusions of the visiting experts. These "low hanging fruit" projects included new bicycle facilities and more bike parking, several small connectivity projects, increased budget and staff for bike issues, and the re-establishment of the Boston Bicycle Advisory Committee. There was so much to talk about that the night was cut short when we were kicked out by the closing BPL!

In all, it was a great three days, and we're really looking forward to working with Nicole Freedman and Mayor Menino over the coming months!

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions or if you’d like to hear more.

Do you enjoy hanging out with fellow cyclists, conducting sparkling conversation, and eating gourmet Picco pizza with a refreshing Harpoon beer or soda? Then you won't want to miss Volunteer Night on Tuesday, November 13, from 5-8pm. It's a chance to have some fun and help MassBike with a few easy administrative tasks. The more help we get from volunteers, the more time MassBike staff can spend making bicycling better. Just let us know you’re coming so we know how much pizza to order! RSVP to dorothy@massbike.org or call us at 617-542-2453.

Our office is located at 171 Milk Street, Third Floor, in Boston's Financial District. The closest T Station is Aquarium.

For more info, click here.

Dorchester Avenue Project Community Meetings

The Boston Redevelopment Authority in conjunction with the Boston Transportation Department and the Dorchester Avenue Project Task Forces would like to invite all community members and interested parties to attend one of two public meetings to discuss the Dorchester Avenue Streetscape & Transportation Action Plan.

Wednesday, November 14, 6:30-8:00PM
Holiday Inn Express, 69 Boston Street, Dorchester

Thursday, November 15, 6:30-8:00PM
St. Gregory Elementary School, 2214 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester

The Dorchester Avenue Streetscape and Transportation Action Plan represents a set of urban design and traffic improvement guidelines for the Dorchester Avenue corridor that were developed through an extensive public participation process. The meetings are a culmination of the design phase of the community process, and a showcase of the Action Plan that was developed through hard work and dedication from all who were involved.

The final Action Plan draft is available for download at www.dotavenueproject.com and cityofboston.gov/bra/. Printed copies are also available upon request.

Printed copies can be viewed at the following Boston Public Library branch locations:

South Boston: 646 E Broadway
Washington Village: 1226 Columbia Road
Fields Corner: 1520 Dorchester Avenue
Lower Mills: 27 Richmond Street

Translation services provided upon request.

If you have questions, please contact Jeremy Rosenberger, Jeremy.Rosenberger.BRA@cityofboston.gov, Assistant Project Manager at BRA.

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works have joined together to honor three municipalities for their efforts to increase walking and bicycling through the Massachusetts Healthy Motion Awards. Three municipalities, one rural, one suburban and one urban, will be recognized for their achievements in engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and planning that support these healthy modes of transportation. A community must demonstrate achievements in each of the five categories in order to be considered for an award.

Award winners will be recognized at the 2007 Smart Growth/Smart Energy Conference on Friday, December 7, 2007 at the DCU in Center in Worcester (http://www.mass.gov/smartgrowth).

The deadline for submissions is Thursday, November 15, 2007. Applications should be sent to Lea Susan Ojamaa, lea.ojamaa@state.ma.us, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, 250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108.

The ABC TMA (A Better City Transportation Management Association) is working on a survey of public and private bike parking locations in Boston, with the results to be available on their website.

They’re asking for your assistance as a bike commuter to please let them know about the bike racks that you use.

The ABC TMA will launch the first version of the Bike Rack Map in mid November and will continually update it as more information is provided.

The map will include information on location, type of rack, number of bike spaces, security, etc. Please circulate widely so that ABC TMA can gather as much data as possible- they’re even willing to go beyond their core downtown focus area if people want to send in data about other areas as well!

To access the Bike Rack Reporting Form, click here.

Join MassBike!

If you ride a bike in Massachusetts (or even if you don't!), you should be a MassBike member. Whether you're a commuter, tourist, racer, recreational rider, mountain biker, messenger, pizza deliverer, unicyclist, all, or none of the above, MassBike's advocacy efforts help make riding safer and better for you. Please join our growing membership and support better bicycling. We truly appreciate it, and to show our appreciation we're working hard to expand our member benefits: discounts at more bike shops, B&B's, and other services; discounts on car insurance and Zipcar; and a free subscription to BikeCulture magazine.

Click here to join and make your mama proud!