[*BCM*] BOSTON BIKE RALLY! MONDAY MAY 12 @ 2 PM SHARP.

[Lee Peters]

It's funny how speaking or listening to your government requires taking time 
off from your job. Clever on their part.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeffrey Rosenblum" <rosenblum.jeff at gmail.com>
To: "Boston Critical Mass" <list at bostoncriticalmass.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 6:37 AM
Subject: [*BCM*] BOSTON BIKE RALLY! MONDAY MAY 12 @ 2 PM SHARP.


> BOSTON BIKE RALLY! MONDAY MAY 12 @ 2 PM SHARP
> * ATTENDANCE IS CRITICAL! *
>
> Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons kick-
> off Bay State Bike Week with a mini-bike ride and speeches! Depart
> City Hall Plaza by bicycle @ 2 PM SHARP, Bike to Post Office Square,
> Rally 2:15 - 2:30pm.
>
> Free T-shirts and/or water bottles provided to first 100 attendees.
>
> LivableStreets Alliance strongly urges you and your friends and
> acquaintances to attend-- a strong show of support is critical to the
> success of the new Boston Bikes program. We know it is short notice,
> and the weather is questionable for Monday, but we need as many
> cyclists to attend as possible. It's only a HALF HOUR COMMITMENT of
> time but is so important. If you know any cyclists who work downtown,
> please forward this announcement to them.
>
> PLEASE RSVP TO:
> "Freedman, Nicole" <Nicole.Freedman.bra at cityofboston.gov>,
> PLEASE CC:
> info at livablestreets.info
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> EDITORIAL: MAYOR MENINO'S NEW BICYCLE INITIATIVE
> by Jeff Rosenblum, co-founder LivableStreets Alliance
> October 19, 2007
>
> For many decades, bicycle advocates have been asking for the City of
> Boston to take leadership in making our city a better place to
> bicycle. Yes, in the past there have been false starts, the City's own
> recommendations unheeded, and commitments broken. Why, then, do I
> think things are different now with this latest bicycling initiative
> from Mayor Menino?
>
> For over three years, in laying the groundwork for and then launching
> LivableStreets Alliance, I have been talking with advocates,
> government staffers, transportation professionals, political-types,
> business owners (past and present) from around the Boston area, the
> US, and the world, about how to make social change happen in the realm
> of urban transportation. All roads, so to speak, point to an alignment
> of two "stars": (1) leadership and (2) grassroots support.
>
> The just-announced "Boston Bikes" program is an initiative of the
> Mayors office, with solid support from his Chief of Policy. And the
> Mayor has just started biking regularly! A staff person (Nicole
> Freedman) dedicated to this program has been hired and initial funds
> have been allocated to her program. This could only have happened with
> the groundwork of advocacy networks and support already in place from
> organizations like MassBike, LivableStreets Alliance, BikesNotBombs,
> Adaptive Environments, WalkBoston, and many others.
>
> Chicago and Cambridge, for example, both started the same way-- an
> initiative at the highest level of government, skepticism by the
> transportation staff, but high level of community support and previous
> years of advocacy groundwork.
>
> The City of Boston has reached out to the League of American Cyclists
> to organize a Summit, and they have asked LivableStreets and MassBike
> to help guide the process. The Summit is next week (sorry for the
> short notice, but when Mayor Menino decides to move on something, he
> wants it fast). While there is certainly no assurance that this will
> turn into a full-fledged bicycle program, it is certainly extremely
> promising.
>
> I URGE YOU TO PARTICIPATE AND CONTINUE TO SHOW THE CITY OF BOSTON WHAT
> A HUGE DEMAND THERE IS FOR BETTER BIKING IN BOSTON AND OUR REGION.
>
> On behalf of LivableStreets Alliance, I would like to personally thank
> the countless bicycle and urban planning advocates, both working
> outside and inside City Hall, who have been working so diligently over
> the past several decades to help bring us to this point in time.
> _______________________________________________
> Boston Critical Mass mailing list
> list at bostoncriticalmass.org
> http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list
> To unsubscribe email list-unsubscribe at bostoncriticalmass.org
>