Action Alert: Call Cambridge City Councilors by Monday for Protected Bike Lanes!

The group of citizens in Cambridge pushing for safer streets is on a roll! (more, here and here)

From the email:

FURTHER BACKGROUND & TALKING POINTS

What’s happened before now?

• 8 policy orders were passed 10/17, including:
  • pop-up bike lanes on Mass Ave, Hampshire, Cambridge, Broadway
  • revisit Huron / Pearl St to improve bike infrastructure per bike plan
  • include bike leaders in Vision Zero working group
• City presented on its plan this Wednesday 11/2:
  • planning to implement one pop-up by Spring (on part of Cambridge St), no others in foreseeable future
  • not going to revisit Huron, Pearl St will have parking studies done
  • Vision Zero group with community leaders to be formed by December

• Most important are motions #1 and 3 from the Neighborhood and Long-term Planning Committee to move up the pop-up for one street from Spring to NOW (pre-Winter), put in a larger network of pop-ups in the spring, and put in protected lanes on Huron as it is reconstructed.
• See the motions here
• Mayor Simmons has a policy order to implement all 8 policies by Nov 2017
  • this is WAY TOO SLOW. Which is why we MUST make sure the pop-ups get done by pre-Winter/Spring
  • When talking to her, you can say “thank you, but we need you to vote YES on the motion to move the pop-up to pre-Winter”. This is fine, since some of the 8 policies can get done by Nov 2017 (e.g. the website for bike safety)

• We realize this is an ambitious program, so we need city councillors working with the city staff to move this work forward
• In the past three months since Amada Phillip’s death there have been over 80 recorded crashes in Cambridge involving cyclists. Of the 69 crashes that were so serious they were reported to the police, 44 have been on Cambridge, Mass Ave, Hampshire, or Broadway
• The city is encouraging new businesses (e.g. in Kendall) to minimize parking and encourage workers to commute by bike, but then not providing the needed infrastructure for safe commuting
• We want to see cyclists from ages 8 to 80 able to get across the city safely.
• Protected bike lanes increase safety for all users of the street and also increase foot traffic to businesses
• Tell them your personal biking story

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MassBike Needs Your Help Again

from massbike.

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Call Your Senator Today!

Things are heating up, this is not a drill people.

From MassBike

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We told you late last week that the crisis in federal transportation funding was only getting worse, and to stay tuned for an Action Alert. This is it. The consensus among advocacy groups, like the Alliance for Biking and Walking, Transportation for America and MassBike, is that there is no chance for salvaging the House transportation bill. MassBike is in close touch with the Massachusetts delegation and is confident that we will have their unanimous opposition to this horrible transportation bill. (Which is why we are not asking you to contact your House Representatives about killing H.R. 7 – but you can if you want.)

Hope, then, lies in the Senate. Over the past few days, two amendments have been proposed to the Senate’s transportation bill (MAP-21, or S. 1813) that would fix many of the problems relating to bike funding. Without these amendments, the three key sources of funding for biking and walking (Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails Program) will no longer receive dedicated funding and will instead be forced to compete with many other programs for a smaller pot of money.

Today, we need you to contact Senator Kerry and Senator Brown to ask them to support the Cardin-Cochran Amendment and the Klobuchar Amendment.

Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) are co-sponsoring an amendment which would give local communities more access to Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. In Massachusetts, this amendment would likely make it easier for towns and cities to access this funding.

Senator Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) amendment would restore dedicated funding to the Recreational Trails Program, a key resource for off-road trails.

In Massachusetts, these programs have been leveraged into hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in off-road trails, paved multi-use paths, and improved signage, drainage, and crossings that remove barriers to biking. Just a few examples of worthwhile projects that received funding were:

• The Independence Greenway in Peabody for path construction;
• The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in North Adams for trail construction;
• The New England Mountain Bike Association for maintenance and improvement of numerous off-road facilities around the state.
• The Jamaica Pond Trail in Boston for both construction and land acquisition.

We are asking you to do two things:

1. Call and/or email your Senators TODAY, tell them why bicycling is important to you, and ask them to SUPPORT the Cardin-Cochran Amendment and the Klobuchar Amendment to MAP-21 (S. 1813).

Senator John Kerry: (202) 224-2742, Email (select “Transportation” as Topic)
Senator Scott Brown: (202) 224-4543, Email (select “Transportation” as Topic)

Don’t have time to write your own email? Click here to send a pre-written email message.  
2. Email [email protected] and let us know you contacted them!

We know that we have been sending out a lot of Action Alerts on federal issues, but we want you to know that it’s only because the situation has grown that dire. Thanks so much for adding your voice to this crisis – and stay tuned for more developments!

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Call Today To Support Bicycling In The Economic Recovery Bill

Call Today to Support Bicycling in the Economic Recovery Bill

Support Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects in the Economic Recovery Bill

The House and the Senate have each passed their own version of the Economic Recovery Bill, aimed at creating jobs and stimulating the economy. Both bills include billions for transportation infrastructure, but only the House bill includes funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects in the Transportation Enhancements program. The House bill includes approximately $1.35 billion for Transportation Enhancements of which 50-60% is traditionally spent on bicycle and pedestrian projects. The Senate bill does not explicitly include Transportation Enhancements, so it’s unclear whether this funding will be in the final bill.

We need to make sure Transportation Enhancement funding is in the final bill.

This week there will be a conference committee where several members of the House and several members of the Senate will work together to reconcile the two bills. Conferees need to hear that Transportation Enhancements are important to stimulating the economy, creating green jobs, and moving us towards a sustainable future.

We need you to make three calls today:

1. Call Senator Kennedy (202-224-4543)
2. Call Senator Kerry (202-224-2742)
3. Call your representative (click here to find out who your Congressperson is, then click their name for contact info)

and ask each of them to tell the Conferees to support Transportation Enhancements in the Economic Recovery bill.

Tell them:

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Call The Governor NOW! Get The Bike Safety Bill Passed!

Just got this from MassBike.

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TELL THE GOVERNOR TO SIGN THE BICYCLIST SAFETY BILL

Thanks to you, thirty-two legislators signed the letter of support delivered to Governor Patrick yesterday! We can still add more legislators to the list, so call your state representative and state senator today if you have not already done so. Click here for yesterday’s Action Alert and instructions.

Today, we’re asking you to contact Governor Patrick directly by phone or email, and ask him to sign the Bicyclist Safety Bill, S. 2573. Tell him that the bill will help get more people bicycling, which will protect the environment, make us healthier, and, perhaps most important during the economic crisis, promote more affordable transportation options.

To contact Governor Patrick:

1. By Phone: Dial 617-725-4005 for Governor Patrick’s opinion line. Be sure to give your name and city or town.

2. By Email: Go to http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_contact_us and scroll down to fill in the Email Form.

Please do not delay – call or email today!

About the Bicyclist Safety Bill (S. 2573): 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 full text of the bill can be found here. For more details about the bill, including links to the affected statutes, see our previous Action Alert.

Click here to find your State Representative (called “Rep in General Court”) and your State Senator (called “Senate in General Court”), then click on their names to get phone numbers.

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