ACTION ALERT: Critical Moment On Beacon Hill Contact Your Legislator Today!

From MassBike:

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MassBike is very concerned about the Legislature’s plan to fund transportation. A major issue is that, unlike theGovernor’s Transportation Plan, the Legislature’s alternative

does not dedicate any funding to biking and walking. Further, it would require large increases in transit fares and tolls, while abandoning capital projects such as the Green Line extension, South Coast rail and South Station expansion – all critical to economic development and new jobs. And it would forfeit federal funds available to pay for much of these projects. Instead of investing in the future of Massachusetts transportation, the Legislature’s proposal will cost us all more without any discernible improvement in our infrastructure.

1. Please call/email and ask your state Senator:

• Will you support adequate transportation funding, which at a minimum is $800 – $900 million annually?
• Will you support including dedicated funding for biking and walking?

2. Please call/email and ask both your Senator and Representative:

• Will you support the following bills to improve road safety for all users?
  • Senior Safety Zones Bill, HB 550 – Establishes reduced speed limit zones in areas with larger elderly populations;
  • Vulnerable Road Users Bill, SB 1639 – Adds protections from being struck by a motor vehicle to bicyclists, pedestrians, and other vulnerable users of the road;
  • Active Streets and Healthy Communities Bill, SB 68 / HB 3091 – Creates a certification process for “Active Streets Communities,” which would provide eligibility for certain kinds of funding;
  • Bike Lane Protection Bill, SB 1640 – Prohibits parking motor vehicles in bike lanes;
  • Snow Removal Bill, HB 1570 – Incentivizes snow removal from sidewalks;
  • Speed Limits Bill, HB 3129 – Reduces the prevailing speed limits on most local roads to 25 mph.

3. Email [email protected] to let us know how it went.

Don’t know who your legislators are or how to contact them? Find out here.

Email is OK, but phone calls are preferred. Again, this is a critical point in the transportation conversation. We are hoping to put pressure on the Senate to pass a larger transportation bill, which will give us an opportunity later on to re-establish dedicated funding for biking and walking when the House and Senate reconcile the two versions of the legislation. As always, it is only with your help that we are going to be able to make progress on this. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call the office at (617) 542-2453or email [email protected].

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Have 3 Minutes? Help Change Transportation In MA For Decades

from livablestreets

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Transportation funding opponents have been making their voices heard loud and clear, but legislators haven’t been hearing enough from supporters like you. If you haven’t called or written your legislators yet, NOW IS THE TIME!

More funding to transit, biking, and walking means more livable communities. It means safer, more convenient and affordable ways to get around our region. Safe streets that are enjoyable to use better support neighborhoods and business districts and make Boston a place that people want to live, work and play.

The House is crafting it’s transportation bill this week! It is vital that the amount of new revenue dedicated to transportation is sufficient and is part of a long-term plan, not just a short-term fix. Estimates of our state’s yearly transportation investment for the next generation range from $800 million to $1 billion.

Make your voice heard in the next week:

1. Participate in #MATranspoTalk Twitter Town Hall on April 1, 12-1pm, this is your chance to ask questions and chat with transportation experts.
2. Come to Transportation Day on the Hill on Tuesday, April 2 starting at 10 a.m. on the State House Steps.
3. E-mail your legislators using our newly updated, easy-to-use template.
4. Call your legislators to ask them for their support for a sufficient, long-term transportation funding plan, and if they are supportive, ask them to make their views known to the Speaker or Senate President.

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Act Today! Tell Your Legislators To Fully Fund Transportation Including Bicycling

From MassBike:

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You may remember our post about the Governor’s transportation funding proposal, which quadruples the level of funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects. On Thursday, House Speaker Robert DeLeo is expected to unveil his plan to fund transportation, which will most assuredly differ from the Governor’s plan. Too often, funding for biking and walking becomes a bargaining chip in transportation funding discussions. We can’t let that happen.

We need you to contact your legislators today and tell them to fully fund transportation – including bicycling.

You can help by doing the following:

1. Email your State Senator
2. Email your State Representative
3. Email House Speaker Robert DeLeo ([email protected])
4. Email Senate President Therese Murray ([email protected])
5. Cc [email protected] on all your emails, or send us a message telling us who you contacted.

Don’t know who your legislator is? Find out here.

This action alert is being coordinated with Transportation for Massachusetts, a coalition of organizations of which MassBike is a part. Please join others across Massachusetts in emailing and calling legislators to urge them to fully fund transportation. We are asking that you emphasize the importance of bicycle and pedestrian funding. Some points you can make:

• The safety of our roads is non-negotiable. This funding is crucial to better protecting bicyclists and pedestrians.
• At a time when gas prices are rising, obesity and diabetes are shortening life expectancy, and rising sea levels threaten our coastal communities, we can’t afford not to invest in biking and walking.
• This plan is about the future of the Commonwealth. Bikeable, walkable neighborhoods and town centers need to be in our future.

If you don’t have time to write personal emails, you can use the Transportation for Massachusetts automated system by clicking here. Thanks so much – as usual, we couldn’t do it without you.

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WTF Congress, They Are At It Again Trying To Cut Funding For Bikes

From MassBike:

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Situation For Biking Gets Worse In The House, Act Now!

From MassBike

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The situation in the House is even more dire than we reported last week. We’re alerting you again because your representative, Michael Capuano, is a leading member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. (If you do not live in his district, you do not need to take action yet.)

If you contacted Mr. Capuano last week, thank you! But if you have not yet contacted him, right now is the time!

Today, the House releases its transportation bill, the American Energy and Infrastructure Act. When we got in touch with you last week, we knew the bill would be bad news for biking and walking. But we didn’t think it would go so far as to completely cut bicycling and walking out of federal transportation policy.

We now know that the bill would do much more damage than initially thought, including:

• Destroys Transportation Enhancements by making the program optional
• Repeals the Safe Routes to School program, reversing years of progress in creating safe ways for kids to walk and ride bicycles to school
• Allows states to build bridges without safe access for pedestrians and bicycles
• Eliminates bicycle and pedestrian coordinators in state DOTs
• Eliminates language requiring that rumble strips “do not adversely affect the safety or mobility of bicyclists, pedestrians or the disabled”

But there is still hope. Representative Petri (R-WI) will stand up for bicycling and walking by offering an amendment that restores dedicated funding for Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School, and hopefully goes even further to address the other problems. We need you to contact Representative Capuano TODAY and ask him to SUPPORT the Petri amendment!

This is as urgent as it gets. Even if we do win this amendment, there will be a long road ahead. But if we lose here, we risk losing decades of progress.

Let Mr. Capuano know what biking and walking mean to you. In his district alone:

• Nearly $2 million in Safe Routes to School funding has gone to making the streets safer for children trying to walk or bike to school;
• Transportation Enhancements has supported over $34 million in bike and pedestrian infrastructure, improving the experience for all users of the road;
• Nationally, biking and walking make up 12% of all trips, and 14% of traffic fatalities, but only receive 1.5% of federal funding.

Representative Capuano’s office phone number is (202) 225-5111, or you can email him by clicking here. Please take action today.

1. Call and/or email Representative Capuano TODAY, tell him why bicycling is important to you, and ask him to do two things:

• SUPPORT the Petri amendment to maintain funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs
• OPPOSE any move to eliminate funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs

2. Email [email protected] and let us know you contacted him.

If you don’t have time to call or email, then you can fill out an automated form here, though personalized messages are always preferable.

We know we are asking a lot of you and we thank you for all you’re doing to preserve biking and walking.

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