Advocacy – Page 10

Category: Advocacy

Leaves are Falling

Posted on October 28, 2009 by RideCoordinator

The leaf piles are out to get us... fight back!

The leaf season is here and this year we have some good developments from the Public Works Maintenances Leaf Program. GEARs has worked closely with the City to make changes to their program including changing their outreach material, working to create priority sweeping streets (similar to snow plowing routes), and a new reporting method. The changes are a major development from just last year when the City was putting out fliers showing people how to “neatly” stack leaves in the bike lane. The recognition that leaves are not allowed in the bike lane is a great step forward and the new program changes are a great start to improve this important safety issue for cyclists.

The new reporting method includes a city website that allows you to see where the latest street sweeping has happened (with up to the minute updates and a history). You can also report exact locations where leaves have been piled by residents and businesses. With this reporting method the city will have a way to see where repeat offenders are. Go to http://www.eugene-or.gov/leaf to use these services. Finally, for an off-line method of reporting they have set up a Leaf Hotline to call and report problem areas. That number is 541-682-5383. Plug it into your cell phone.

For this system to work well we need people to use it. When you see issues go online or call them in to report them. As we go through the year we’ll work the City to refine this program and we’ll continue the work to make our streets safer for everyone.

Board Nominations for GEARs

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Paul Adkins

The GEARs Nominating Committee has come up with our Executive Board Nominations for 2010. We are very excited to have the volunteer effort and commitment of these folks to help in reaching toward our mission. Here they are. Their bio’s are included below and the election will take place at the General Meeting on November 9th, 8pm at the Keystone Cafe. There are no Board positions that are contended.

Executive Board Nominations:

Sue Wolling -President
Sue has been a GEARs member since the club was founded in 1991. She likes relatively long rides (40-90 miles), but really doesn’t care about speed as long as she’s home by early afternoon. She hopes GEARs can welcome riders who seek exercise, fun and friendship, no matter what pace. While Sue loves recreational cycling, her real passion is bicycling as transportation. After learning about bike advocacy on the Eugene Bicycle Committee, she established the Eugene Bicycle Coalition, which merged with GEARs in 2008. Sue hopes that GEARs can help develop safe, efficient bikeways, education and incentives to promote bicycling, and a culture that makes people choose to hop on a bike, whether to get to work/school, run errands, or for fun on the weekend.

Price Armstrong -Vice President
Price has been a cycling activist since his days as an undergraduate working as the lead coordinator for the community bike program at Hampshire College. Since coming to the University of Oregon, he has had the privilege to work with the Bike Loan Program, the transportation student group LiveMove, and as a Graduate Assistant for the Sustainable Cities Initiative. With climate change, an obesity epidemic, and a unstable energy costs upon us, Price cannot think of a better way to spend his time than with GEARs, advocating for active transportation options. He is currently a Masters of Public Administration student with a concentration in transportation policy.

Richard Hughes -Treasurer
Richard has been a member of GEARs since 2007 and Treasurer for the last year. Also he has been instrumental in directing the Bike Rewards Program, in which retailers offer discounts to members. This program alone has been responsible for a significant increase in our membership. Retired in 1994 as a senior manager in L.A. County Government, where he was responsible for a staff of 300, collecting and accounting for $50 million annually. Richard has lived in Ashland, Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks, Tehachapi and now Eugene for the last 8 years.

Sarah Thorpe -Secretary
Sarah is eager to start working with GEARs this fall. Sarah recently finished her internship with the City of Eugene Transportation Planning and is looking forward to continuing her work with Eugene’s bicycle community with GEARs. She graduated with a BA in Planning, Public Policy and Management from the UO this June, 2009. Sarah grew up in Ashland, OR, and is a proud member of the Eugene Concert Choir.

Shane Rhodes -At Large (also: Newsletter, Website Director)
Shane Rhodes is the Program Manager for SRTS at Eugene School District 4J. He has worked in the bicycle industry since 1995 as a cargo-bike courier, League of American Bicyclists Instructor, and as an advocate for cyclist and pedestrian issues in Sevilla, Spain, the Bay Area of California, and Eugene. He serves on the cities Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and would probably be a transportation policy wonk if he didn’t think real change comes from the grassroots. When not riding between meetings to make Eugene a better town for families to choose active transportation he can be found gardening with his wife Melissa, daughter, Isadora, and their four chickens.

Gary Cook -At Large (also: Ride Coordinator)
Gary has been cycling in and around Eugene for 36 years on the same bike. He knows the roads and streets well. He has been a GEARs member for about fifteen years.

Paul Adkins -At Large (also: Advocacy & Education Director)
Paul joined the GEARs Board in the Spring of 2008. With a background in communications and marketing, he works at Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life; on their website and community outreach. He earned a BFA from Kent State University in 1995, and led mountain bike tours for years before moving to Oregon in 2007. Now, Paul and his wife, Monica, live car-free with their four young kids: Rainy, Torrent, Dare, and Sanguine. Paul lived in Atlanta, one of America’s worst biking towns, as well as a few of America’s best biking towns: Palo Alto, San Francisco, Missoula, and now Eugene. Paul also serves on the Board of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Portland.

There are many other volunteer opportunities within GEARs. If you think GEARs should be working on a particular issue, please bring it to our attention. The best way to get involved is to attend a general meeting and/or ride and let others know your interest. We really do appreciate all the help we get.

Gold Celebration (number one)

Posted on October 22, 2009 by RideCoordinator

Today was the official city PR event and announcement of Eugene’s Gold award from the League of American Bicyclists. Tomorrow there is a “Happy Hour” Celebration at Arriving by Bike at 27th & Willamette from 6-7PM.

At todays event Mayor Kitty Piercy, Transportation planner David Roth, and GEARs President Paul Adkins all spoke on the importance of the award, not only as a recognition of what we have accomplished but also what we still have to work towards. Following is some media coverage, part of Paul’s speech and a couple photos. Continue reading “Gold Celebration (number one)” →

Eugene Goes Gold!

Posted on October 19, 2009 by RideCoordinator

We are celebrating because Eugene has just been awarded the Gold-level designation from the League of American Bicyclists in their Bicycle-Friendly Communities Program!! Eugene has been a Silver-level community since 2004 and now joins Corvallis in their Gold-level designation in Oregon. We have seen some great changes in the past few years at both the city and community level to earn this award. Here are a few of the projects GEARs has been active in coordinating, participating in, or is simply excited about:

Implementation of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Strategic Plan
Formation, meetings, & events of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC)
Growth in special events including a larger Bike Day celebration, the Spring Roll Ride, and Breakfast at the Bridges events
Completion of three successful Walk and Bike Summits
Growth in the Safe Routes to School program including several active SRTS schools, a growth from 8 participating schools for Walk + Bike to School Day to 29, the formation of the SRTS Team, and the start of Kidical Mass!
Hosting of several Webinars by the City of Eugene for the community and the BPAC
Opening of a new multi-use bridge over I-5 and work on one over Delta Hwy.
Creation of a new and updated bicycle/pedestrian map.
Work with the City to improve the “leaf collection program” to increase safety for cyclists.
Starting the Eye-to-Eye campaign; a share-the-road education program.
Growth of the Business Commute Challenge for National Bike to Work Month in May.

GEARs has grown quite a bit in these past few years too. Here are a few of the projects and changes that have occurred:

Merger of the Eugene Bicycle Coalition advocacy group with the GEARs recreational club.
Addition of the Blackberry Jamboree family friendly ride to the already successful Blackberry bRamble.
Implementation of the Bike Rewards program for members; a great way to get discounts at local stores just for riding your bike there!
Growth in our Bike Education program including holding over 15 Street Skills classes this Spring and Summer
Creation of the “Low Gears” rides. Recreational rides aimed at the more mellow riders among us
Quadrupling our membership!
Makeover of the GEARs website with a calendar of events, news, listserve, resources, and more
Posting ride descriptions and cue sheets for over 100 rides all over the south Willamette Valley on the GEARs site.
Beginning development of “Meet in the Street”, Eugene’s version of Ciclovia and Sunday Parkways

There are other projects, events, and programs that are also brewing and though there are many areas we want to improve, projects we still want to see off the ground, and events we want to hold now is our time to celebrate our latest achievements!!

Come celebrate with us!

We’ll be joining the City of Eugene, including Mayor Kitty Piercy, on Thursday from noon- 1pm at the Hilyard Community Center (see below) and then we’ll have a Happy Hour gathering at Arriving by Bike on Friday from 6-7pm. Stop by either event, or both, and join us in this Gold-level celebration!!

LTD West Eugene EmX Extension

Posted on September 29, 2009 by RideCoordinator

There are a some rumors floating around regarding the West Eugene EmX extension. Last fall GEARs was active in gathering information and giving feedback on different alignments. LTD has gathered more information and is holding more community input meetings that we, as cyclists, need to attend to discuss how this transportation corridor affects us. Having traffic (even nice bus ‘traffic’) along a stretch of ride that is currently quite and pleasant doesn’t sound very ideal and LTD has certainly heard that. However, there are a lot of barriers to some of the other alignments they are looking at. Some of those are coming from community members and some from the actual physical environment. We need to be sure that our voices and concerns are heard.

If the best alignment is somewhere along 6th, 13th, or 11th rather than the Amazon creek area but the opposition to those areas are pushing LTD to look at Amazon because there is simply less resistance than we need to push back and have our voices heard as well. If, however, it makes sense to have the alignment near the Fern Ridge Path then we need to make sure it makes that path a better path rather than a less desirable one. How could it be better with buses near the trail? Continue reading “LTD West Eugene EmX Extension” →

A New Bike Box….Or is it?

Posted on September 24, 2009 by RideCoordinator

One of the countries original bike boxes got it’s start right here in Eugene. However, if you’ve ridden by it in the past few years it’s easy to see how you might have missed it. The bike symbols and stop bar paint had long ago worn off, though the “Stop Here on Red” signed remained and compliance by motor vehicle drivers was pretty decent considering. However, most cyclists when asked about it had no idea it was there or what it was.

The main reason for this bike box is different than other boxes installed in other cities. It is meant to aid cyclists in their move from the left side bike lane to the right side bike lane. Between 7th (this intersection) and 6th there are bike lanes on both sides for a short distance but you need to move to the right to continue through past 6th (and on down to the river). Most bike boxes are meant to help in the prevention of “right hooks” and to give cyclists visibility and a slight advanced start.

The great news is that this bike box has been repainted!

The not so great news is that despite encouragement from GEARs and advice from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) it’s not quite up to snuff with other bike boxes in Portland and New York. It lacks the green paint that other communities have already found effective. By not painting the box green the city has shown a lack of forward thinking and a vision of creating a safe and comfortable environment for cyclists. Continue reading “A New Bike Box….Or is it?” →