In just the last few days, thousands of letters have poured into legislators’ offices in support of new legislation to help fund safe networks for biking and walking. Thank you! With the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of Americans dying preventable deaths while walking our streets each month, the need for action is urgent.

Today, we’re joining with bike enthusiasts from around the country in Washington, D.C. for the National Bike Summit to take this call to action to the next level. As hundreds of advocates for safer walking and biking fill the halls of Congress today, you can back them up with a simple phone call – it will take less than one minute and can make a real difference for millions of American families.

It’s as easy as 1-2-3:

• Call your representative right now by dialing the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Tell the operator where you’re calling from to be connected to the office of your member of Congress.
• Let the staff person answering the phone know your name and where you’re calling from – then say, “I’m calling to ask my representative to co-sponsor H.R. 4722, the Active Community Transportation Act.”
• Click here to report your call back to us, so we can follow up directly with your member of Congress.

We’re all united by a shared passion: bikes. Bikes keep us healthy, carry us from point A to point B, save us from high gas prices, and make our air cleaner and our roads less congested. Bikes fill our lives with adventure and excitement, relaxing our minds and energizing our souls.

Peopleforbikes.org is dedicated to channeling that passion to improve the future of bicycling. Our goal is to gather a million names of support, to speak with one, powerful voice—to make bicycling safer, more convenient and appealing for everyone.

Simply put, we believe that life is far more enjoyable when it’s experienced on two wheels. We believe that by coming together, we can make our world a better place to ride.

Critical Mass may be at a critical juncture in its history. The San Francisco police chief is talking about cracking down on a monthly bike demonstration that often ties up traffic. This Friday night, however, police could not be happier.

It is a mass of people that causes massive problems and San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon is questioning its existence.

“We definitely are looking at the process, evaluating it, looking at where we can improve,” said Police spokesperson Lyn Tomioka.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck told a group of bicycle advocates that department-wide training would be implemented to highlight the rights of bicyclists on the road and ensure that officers know how to deal with incidents involving bikes.

L’Union Fait la Force / Strength Through Unity = National Motto of Haiti

LA JOLLA, CA – AdventureCORPS, Inc., an athlete-run firm based in La Jolla which produces some of the world’s toughest sports events – including the Badwater Ultramarathon and Furnace Creek 508 races in Death Valley – will host “80 FOR HAITI,” a cycling benefit ride for Haiti relief supporting Mercy Corps this Saturday, February 13, 2010. The “80 FOR HAITI” cycling event start / finish line is just 44 miles east of San Diego, in Pine Valley and the route features an 80-mile ride along Old Hwy 80 in southeastern San Diego County. One hundred percent of the $80 entry fees are going directly to Mercy Corps, one of the most respected relief organizations worldwide. Approximately 130 cyclists from across California are coming together to ride the event, totaling over $11,000 in entry fees, plus another 94 non-riding supporters have donated $10,000, totaling at least $21,000 to support MercyCorps’ efforts in Haiti. This is the only known cycling event in the USA which was created in response to the crisis in Haiti and is likely one of the only fundraisers of any kind which is donating 100% of the proceeds (not just “the profit”) to support Haiti relief efforts.

“We have been rooted in the African community for over 100 years and today we are as committed as ever to give access to everyday social and economic services we take for granted,” says Luisa Girotto, Vice President Corporate Affairs, Cadbury North America. “In Africa, a bicycle can mean access to clean water, medical care and education. Through The Bicycle Factory program we can improve overall mobility and therefore livelihood and we know Canadians will be empowered to help us realize our goal.”

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition created City of Lights to better help and nurture our Latin cyclist brothers and sisters to ride safer and create a more bike friendly community.

What is City of Lights?
The objective of City of Lights is to increase working-class Latino immigrant bicyclists’ safety and empower them to educate and spread bicycle safety information and advocacy to their communities. We have given out bike lights and safety vests every Friday at the CARECEN center since April 2009. Helmets are to come soon. Additionally, we have done safety, maintenance, and legal rights workshops since June 2009.

The study shows that factors such as neighborhood compactness, access to public transit, and rates of vehicle ownership are key to predicting mortgage performance and should be taken more seriously by mortgage underwriters, policymakers, and real estate developers. With transportation costs accounting for roughly 17 percent of the average American household’s income—and the ongoing foreclosure crisis still garnering much attention—the need for better land use planning and better lending practices has never been more clear. NRDC recommends changes both to planning-related policies and mortgage underwriting procedures that can reduce transportation costs and risk of foreclosure while offering significant environmental benefits.

In these times of high gas prices, a warming climate, increasing traffic congestion, and expanding waistlines, increasing bicycling and walking are goals that are clearly in the public interest. As this report shows, where bicycling and walking levels are higher, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes levels are lower. Higher levels of bicycling and walking also coincide with increased bicycle and pedestrian safety and higher levels of physical activity. Increasing bicycling and walking can help solve many of the largest problems facing our nation. As this report indicates, many states and cities are making progress toward promoting safe access for bicyclists and pedestrians, but much more remains to be done.

This report has highlighted numerous measures to promote bicycling and walking. There is no silver bullet in regard to making communities more bicycle and pedestrian friendly, and a variety of measures are likely needed. But just as it took a large investment of public money into roads, signals, signs, and education for motorists, so too will it take an ongoing commitment of public investment in bicycling and walking to see major shifts toward these modes.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer; New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan; and artist/musician David Byrne will join city officials from Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C. in Washingon, D.C. to launch Cities for Cycling, a new effort by city governments to promote best practices in urban cycling and to increase the use of bicycles to improve urban mobility, livability and public health while reducing traffic congestion and CO2 emissions.

In response to the horrific situation in Haiti, AdventureCORPS will organize a cycling event called “80 For Haiti” on February 13, 2010. It will be an 80-mile ride, on Old Hwy 80 in southeastern San Diego County, with an $80 entry fee. 100% of the entry fees will go directly to Mercy Corps, one of the most respected relief organizations worldwide. The “80 for Haiti” start / finish will be in Pine Valley, CA. The route is spectacular, on absolutely quiet roads through rolling terrain. AdventureCORPS will absorb all costs, but food, drink, and support sponsors are being sought.

Please save the date and please plan to support this event and this cause!

Prescott, Arizona – January 5, 2010 – The New Belgium Brewing Company has invested in an international social bike program to ensure it serves the Southwest of the United States. The Social Bike Business program creates jobs through locally manufactured transportation bicycles for disadvantaged people. Led by One Street, a global bicycle advocacy organization, the program is underway in Prague, Budapest and Los Angeles.

“We are honored to partner with the New Belgium Brewing Company to expand our Social Bike Business program into the Southwest,” said Sue Knaup, Executive Director of One Street. “Their understanding of the enormous impact bicycles can make towards climate improvement and affordable transportation choices, sets them apart.”

• One Street’s Social Bike Business program is designed to tackle pervasive poverty as it solves several systemic problems in the bicycle movement, including:
• A lack of affordable, quality, transportation bicycles for environmentally-friendly and sustainable transportation;
• A strong message from disadvantaged people we have met with in the U.S. and in Eastern Europe that they and their neighborhoods are very poorly served by bike shops;
• The trend by the bicycle industry to move all production into Asian factories that engage in environmentally harmful practices and often misuse their workers through low pay, long hours and hazardous working conditions, thus escalating social problems;
• That very few of the factories making bicycles actually serve disadvantage people near the factories;
• That disadvantaged people are the people who can benefit most from affordable, quality, transportation bicycles;
• That this program, through solving the above issues, will offer well-paying jobs, job training and entrepreneurial opportunities for disadvantaged people to lift themselves out of poverty as they bring environmentally sustainable transportation to their cities.

This international program follows the principle of social business that adheres to the proven for-profit structure, but replaces the monetary bottom line with the number of underserved people served by the program. All elements of the program are scrutinized from a business perspective to ensure adequate income in order to serve as many disadvantaged people as possible.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia opposes bills that are being introduced today by Councilman Frank DiCicco and James Kenney to increase penalties and require license plates on bicycles.

“This is the wrong approach,” said Sarah Clark Stuart, Campaign Director. “Bicyclists shouldn’t be singled out when the problem is all road users – motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians – bending the law to suit their own needs, with little if any consequences. The absence of adequate enforcement has led some road users to develop bad habits that endanger themselves and others.”

“These bills won’t make Philadelphia’s streets safer,” said Advocacy Director John Boyle. “The problem is not that penalties are too low, the problem is that tickets are rarely given out. It is pointless to increase penalties as proposed by Councilman Kenney when the current penalty system has existed only on paper,” he added. Other cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Washington DC, Detroit, Albuquerque, and the states of Minnesota and Massachusetts have all repealed laws similar to Councilman DiCicco’s proposal. Los Angeles’ Police Department Chief directly recommended to LA’s City Council that their program be discontinued. Said Boyle, “Bicycle license plates are impractical and unworkable. Let’s learn from other cities’ experiences and not waste time and resources on an ineffective program.”

The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of billions of people who cannot afford a car. Bicycles increase mobility while reducing congestion and the area of land paved over. Six bicycles can typically fit into the road space used by one car. For parking, the advantage is even greater, with 20 bicycles occupying the space required to park a car.