Good morning, Next week I'll be at the League's 10th annual National Bike Summit along with about 700 advocates from all over the country (and a few from out of the country). This sounds like a lot of people, but when it comes to making national policy change it's just a start. They'd like your help. One of the days - March 11 - will be dedicated to lobbying on Capitol Hill for biker-friendly legislation. Those of us (4) from West Virginia will be visiting our senators and congressmen personally (usually their aides) to do this. The Alliance for Biking and Walking has set up a way that you can help, as described below. Of particular importance is the "Active Community Transportation" bill just introduced by congressman Blumenauer that would allow bike/ped projects to be funded over multiple years, like all other successful projects. Please follow the directions in the message below to contact your lawmakers and let them know how you feel about the issues before them (rants about issues that don't have pending legislation should be saved for another time). Please pass this on to everyone you know who feels passionately about supporting biking and walking infrastructure as well (including friends, city govt, businesses, etc). Thank you, Nick
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Alliance for Biking & Walking jeremy@peoplepoweredmovement.org Reply-To: jeremy@peoplepoweredmovement.org Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 10:36:32 -0500 (EST)
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ACT Act Introduced! Virtual Lobby Day March 11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Dear Nick,
Representative Earl Blumenauer just introduced the Active Community Transportation Act, H.R.4722. This groundbreaking bill creates a competitive grant program with $2 Billion to help communities build bicycling and walking networks. For the first time, communities would be able to compete for multi-year funding to build active transportation systems, just as they do for transit and road infrastructure. Though many of you will be coming to DC next week for the National Bike Summit, this is a great opportunity for other leaders and members of your organization not traveling to DC to participate in an important way. Working with our America Bikes partners, we encourage your organization to participate in a Virtual Lobby Day next Thursday. "Too often we take for granted the value of being able to bike and walk to work," said Blumenauer. "It's unfortunate that many communities don't have the infrastructure in place to make active and healthy forms of transportation more accessible. The ACT transportation grants will make it easier for people to get out of their vehicles and onto sidewalks or bikes, boosting both heart rates and community vitality." We thank Representative Blumenauer and the other original sponsors - Russ Carnahan (D-MO), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Bob Filner (D-CA), Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Jim Moran (D-VA) - for championing bicycling and walking. TAKE ACTION Given the timing of the bill's release, we have a unique opportunity to conduct a Virtual Lobby Day and present a strong and unified voice on Capitol Hill, Thursday, March 11th. In conjunction with the National Bike Summit we ask that you call your representative next Thursday at the same time that over 700 Summit participants will have in-person meetings in congressional offices. NEXT STEPS On Wednesday March 10th we'll send a second alert with a link to the League of American Bicyclists on-line action center where people can easily contact their representatives. We encourage you to use the talking points below to send your own alert encouraging your members to participate. TALKING POINTS Please call your representatives on March 11th to ask them to co-sponsor H.R.4722: "The Active Community Transportation Act." Tell Them:
* Bicycling and walking are part of the solution. Half of all trips in the United States are three miles or less, yet the majority of these short trips are made by car. Shifting more of these short trips to biking and walking would not only reduce congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and our dependence on oil, but will also improve physical activity, safety, and livability. * Investing in bicycling and walking infrastructure works. Commuting by bicycle has increased 43 percent since 2000 - and by 69 percent in designated Bicycle Friendly Communities that have invested in infrastructure improvements.
* Please co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R.4722). Thanks, Jeremy Grandstaff Member Services Director Alliance for Biking & Walking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Alliance for Biking & Walking | PO Box 65150 | Washington | DC | 20035
-- Nick Hein LCI# 1705 Director, Positive Spin 2567 Univ Ave Ste 6000L Morgantown, WV ph 304-685-8954 --