I must admit to my naiveté – I thought “Cyclists in Suits” literally meant cyclists in suits. And I kept wondering how we were all going to ride our bikes around the State Capitol Building in our best “Sunday clothes”. After all, I perspire just thinking hard, let alone riding my bicycle. Our Executive Director, Robin Stallings, had a bit of a chuckle explaining to me that while the dress code is suit and tie we would NOT be riding bicycles that day.
What Cyclists in Suits really means, if there is anyone else out there that thought the same as I, is that people with a passion for bicycling would wear a suit while meeting our Texas legislators and their staff to discuss our concerns regarding issues and bills before the house and senate affecting all cyclists throughout the state of Texas. Many of these issues and concerns would also have an impact nationwide.
The Safe Passing Bill has finally passed the Senate! (25 yeas, 5 nays)
It seems that all of us have had the same negative first reaction to the "Brimer Amendment" to SB 248 and on reflection, the same turnabout. Also, today May 9th, Senator Patrick offered a "required rear red light at night amendment" to SB 248 that has our blessing.
Regarding the "Brimer Amendment" half a loaf is better than no loaf. It is a good time to remember that Lyndon Johnson said "Politics is the art of the possible".
I really appreciate all of your thoughtful and heartfelt comments that have been sent directly and forwarded to me from several cyclist forums.
In addition to feedback from the Texas Bicycle Coalition Board, some Texas bicycle advocacy leaders and many individual cyclists, I have gotten feedback from two Senators, a transportation engineer, two cycling attorneys, a cycling prosecutor, our lobbyists and two cycling experienced political consultants. Altogether it represents over 60 years of experience with the Texas Legislature and 100 years of cycling on Texas roads.
Not knowing exactly what to expect as a rooky at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C., I was mostly successful in keeping an open mind as our plane touched down on Monday at Reagan National Airport. Durwood Mayfield and I, both Lubbock Outreach Coordinators, grabbed our luggage from the baggage claim area and immediately realized what the consequences were going to be from over packing as we contemplated negotiating shuttle buses, subways, and taxis for the next four days. A bit tired from long layovers and queezy from the rough flight (after all, it was a bargain fare), we approached a uniformed official. “Excuse me sir, but I’m so lost I don’t even know where . . . .” said Durwood in his colorful and friendly West Texas drawl. But before he could continue, and not feeling in the mood for conversation, I interrupted, “Shuttle to subway?” “Yeah”, the official somewhat gruffly responded. And so we were off to the Summit to hear the latest on bicycle advocacy, meet with leaders in the bicycle industry, and to enlighten our public officials as to the importance and benefits of “that other form of transportation”.
On the south steps of the Capitol, advocacy groups from all over the state rallied for State Parks. Kristina Gaboury and Brenda Chuleewah with the Texas Bicycle Coalition were on hand to represent the mountain bike trails that are prevalent in our state parks.
Representative Donna Howard spoke at the rally in support of HB 6, which will provide funding to state parks through the sporting goods tax. The Sierra Club organized the event and invited media from across the state.
THINK: BIKE National Bike Summit Wrap Up
Over
400 leaders from the bike industry including bike shop owners, advocacy
groups, researchers, and bike manufacturers gathered in D.C. for the
2007 National Bike Summit March 14-16.
Texas Bicycle Coalition's national counterparts in the cycling world
such as International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), National
Bicycle Dealers Association, Bikes Belong Coalition, Adventure Cycling
Association, and various state federations and coalitions gathered to
collaborate on ways to improve bicycling in America.Hosted
by League of American Bicyclists (LAB), the summit sessions covered a
variety of angles including national leadership, legislative
communication, federal policy, and funding addressed many ways to
promote cycling.
The Texas Bicycle Coalition turned out a good attendance of staff to attend this worthwhile event.Local
outreach coordinators Durwood Mayfield, Sherman Phillips, KC Jones and
Brenda Chuleewah, now head of the Teacher Training Program in Austin,
all attended Safe Routes to School specific sessions.
IMBA
