San Antonio Cyclists Pedal with Mayor After Bike Summit

On November, 2, 2009, San Antonio cyclists got a chance to hang out with San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and ride the Missions Trail, after the morning San Antonio Bikes Summit at City Hall.

A number of City department heads and program managers joined San Antonio bike advocates to hear Mayor Castro outline his hopes to make San Antonio a League of American Bicyclists-certified Bicycle Friendly Community.

The meeting kicked off with City of San Antonio Bike/Ped coordinator Julia Diana outlining the city’s bike program. She then introduced League of American Bicyclists’ (LAB) Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) Program Director Bill Nesper, and LAB Education Director Preston Tyree.

Bill and Preston then outlined LAB’s Bicycle Friendly Program and led the participants, most from City departments with an interest in cycling and physical activity, in exercises to develop an action plan to help San Antonio achieve BFC status. To do that, participants tried to determine immediate and long term opportunities, issue identification and ranking of priorities for bicycle policies and infrastructure. Alamo Area MPO Bike Coordinator Lydia Kelly and BikeTexas staff attended and assisted Bill and Preston in the process.

While the meeting was certainly enjoyable and productive, the next activity was even better – a bike ride!

After lunch, Mayor Castro led a group of over 40 cyclists south from downtown’s Main Plaza, onto the Missions Trail. One group stopped and turned around at Mission Concepción, while those of us lucky enough to have the time to do so rode all the way to Mission Espada (just outside Loop 410 South) and back to downtown. (Click here for the BikeTexas article on our previous Missions Trail bike ride.)

In addition to trying for BFC status, the San Antonio City Council is exploring a local Safe Passing ordinance to protect San Antonio’s vulnerable road users, using the language of the Safe Passing Bill (SB 488) that was so thoroughly vetted by the 81st Texas Legislature.

BikeTexas urges San Antonians and other Texas cyclists to sign the Safe Passing petition, and to contact BikeTexas if you would like to enact a Safe Passing Ordinance in your community.

Photo, l-r: Lydia Kelly, Alamo Area MPO Bicycle Coordinator; Bill Nesper, LAB Bicycle Friendly Community Program Director; Preston Tyree, LAB Education Director; San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro