News - Page 50 of 62 - Bike Walk Savannah

National Bike to Work Day/DtP Bike Convoy

Aloha, campaigners. The big event for bike month is the National Bike to Work Day, Friday May 15. This is a day where we welcome all comers into the wonderful realm of commuting by bicycle. Savannah is particularly well suited for this, and hopefully some new faces will join us, elected officials and city staff for the Dump the Pump Bike Convoys. Separate rides will leave simultaneously at 8am from Baldwin Park (Atlantic and 42nd), Habersham Village, and a fresh *NEW* location, Pierpont Circle in Gordonston.

Jittery Joe’s, the ever percolating friends of cycling, will again provide coffee and breakfast treats at Davant Park, the south end of Colonial Cemetery. We will also have some announcements there, including a celebration of Savannah’s newly minted honorable mention status in the Bicycle Friendly Community designations. Please come and join in the fun!

redeSIGN, Greendrinks, SBC and you

Check out the innovative show from New Moon of Savannah, one of the ventures of cyclists and local green community promoters Miriam and Jake Hodesh. The redeSIGN art project features retired road signs which have been repurposed by local artists. There will be a party at the show for Greendrinks next Tuesday May 12 at 5:30 pm at 312 W Broughton St. A portion of proceeds from the show will benefit your Savannah Bicycle Campaign!

Bike Month is On

Welcome to May, National Bike Month. Many of you have just celebrated the fifth of May, and it is but one of thirty-one fantastically beautiful days to celebrate the bicycle. There are haters, many would say this month is more for them than those of us who ride throughout the other 11 months. Nevertheless, the debris has been cleared from the Habersham bike lane, and we can commence with the celebration!

Honorably yours

Greetings, campaigners!

We have good news. The efforts of the city of Savannah have resulted in an Honorable Mention from the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly Communities program. While our city has not yet achieved a designation (bronze, silver, gold, platinum), this award is confirmation that we are moving in the right direction. With the support of city government, we hope to move on upcoming suggestions from experts in the League of American Bicyclists to bring Savannah closer to bicycle nirvana with each coming day.

Stay tuned for the breakdown on how we scored. Incidentally, Decatur, GA was also awarded an honorable mention in this go-around. Roswell remains the only community in Georgia with a current Bicycle Friendly Communtiy designation.

Connect Daffin Park and Lake Mayer Park!

The Truman Linear Park’s time has come. The Chatham County Commission has agreed, and members have said at their meeting Friday that they will push the project forward with or without funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This 4.8 mile segment of off-road multiuse trail is vitally important to fill the north-south safety gap of Skidaway, Truman Parkway, and Waters Ave where nonmotorized travel is particularly hazardous, and would also be a valuable recreational amenity for the community.

The Coastal Region MPO, our regional governmental transportation planning board for the greater Savannah area, will choose priorities for just over $7 million of ARRA transportation projects this Thursday April 30 at 10am at the MPC building at 112 E State St, and though there are some issues with whether this project will meet criteria (see comments here), the project’s earliest, best chance for full funding is now.

As mentioned recently elsewhere, road projects are an automatic for GDOT, but advocates for bicycle and pedestrian projects must repeatedly and forcefully make their voices heard if accomodation to users other than the fastest and heaviest is to be made. Please, if you are available, come to the meeting with your helmet and set the tone for our local decision makers on Thursday at 10am, not only for this important and overdue project, but to let them know that continued ignorance of these problems is not an option. This item will be early in the agenda, so please join us on Thursday!

Truman Linear Park: County Commission 4/24 and MPO 4/30

Two meetings I wanted you all to be aware of. If you were to pick one to attend, the second on 4/30 is more important, though we expect both to pass and get this project started before March of next year:

COUNTY COMMISSION TOMORROW 4/24 9:30am:

Our request to move the Truman Linear Park phase II into construction before March of next year, thus qualifying for ARRA stimulus funds, is very likely to pass at the County Commission meeting on Friday (agenda is here ). I think it would be a nice gesture if you are available to attend, to be there to say thank you to the commissioners for their support of this project which has been a long time in coming. It is though all of your advocacy efforts at the county and the MPC that this project is very likely moving forward. The meeting is at 124 Bull St, 2nd Floor at 9:30am this Friday, April 24.

MPO MEETING THURSDAY 4/30 10am:

The funds will be obligated at the CORE/MPO meeting on April 30 at 10am at the MPC at 112 E State St, and that is where we MUST be present in numbers, with helmets in hand if not on head, to remind the county and local municipal officials that these projects are important and should make the priority list (the Truman Linear Park project IS on their preliminary listing here).

Also, look for a new Savannah Bicycle Calendar coming soon to this site that will include events such as these as well as other local cycling activities.

Welcome to the Savannah Bicycle Campaign

Greetings to all of our new members and the hordes of Savannahians who joined us for the second annual Earth Day Savannah Wheelie on Saturday. The weather was perfect and the 4.8 miles through downtown were a slow paced marvel. We thank you all again, and we especially thank the SBC volunteers who made it happen in no particular order: Ben Allen, Lee Burbage, John Bennett, Eve Seibert, Clint Murphy, Sean Brandon, Adam Kirk, Heidi Halabuda, Eric Breen, Patrick McLaughlin, Susan Jaycox and David Acuff — hopefully I have not left anyone out. Note also our new logo by our fantastic board member/designer Heidi Halabuda. Look for changes to the website to reflect the new logo, and grab one of our new shirts with it on the front while you still can!

We meet again as a board this coming Tuesday night, April 21 at Moon River Brewing Company on Bay Street. We will start earlier than usual, 5:45pm, so that we will finish on time for the Coastal Georgia Greenway meeting that will follow at 7pm in the same room. We will discuss the Wheelie gone by and how to make the next one even better, as well as upcoming events and initiatives — the agenda is linked below:

April 21, 2009 SBC Board Agenda

Join us as we continue to move bicycling in Savannah forward!

Love Your Earth, Love Your Wheelie

Reminder: the Wheelie is coming this Saturday — get ready!

Savannah Wheelie is back with the second annual Earth Day Wheelie Saturday April 18 at 3pm. Last year, this free event drew close to 300 Savannahians from all walks of life. This year, we bring back the mobile party through Savannah’s downtown streets to celebrate the joy and possibilities of bicycling. Bring yourself, bring your friends, bring your kids — the Wheelie welcomes all!

The Wheelie will set off from the south end of Forsyth Park immediately after the closing of the Earth Day Festival at 3pm. We will be joined again by the Mayor, Aldermen, and County Commissioners for the ride which will again include a police escort. As always, helmets are strongly encouraged! We will finish at Blowin’ Smoke BBQ at 514 MLK for the Post Wheelie Dealie for food, music, and fun. The Post Wheelie Dealie is our annual membership drive, and paid members will dine courtesy of their Savannah Bicycle Campaign.

Truman Linear Park at the County Commission

Campaigners:

If you can make it, we need your help tomorrow — Thursday at 9:30am at the Chatham County Commission meeting at 124 Bull St, 2nd floor. We are asking them as the sponsoring agency to have phase II of the Truman Linear Park (52nd Street to Lake Mayer) ready for stimulus funding (i.e. ready to begin construction by March 2010).

The initial $1 million in funding for the project came in 2004, and the time is now for this project that would provide safe bicycle access where the adjacent north-south corridors (Skidaway, Waters, and the Truman Parkway) don’t currently provide a good option for nonmotorized traffic. This meeting is the third step after two meetings packed by a large contingent of Campaigners — the final will come April 30 when the MPO chooses the projects it will send up as priorities for stimulus funding.

Ride your bike to work this Friday. Even if it rains!

The April edition of the Dump the Pump alternative commuting event is ready to roll this Friday, April 10. Two groups of cyclists will leave from Habersham Village Shopping Center and Baldwin Park (41st and Atlantic) at 8 a.m., each bound for Davant Park on the southern tip of Colonial Park Cemetery. Once there, bicycle commuters can enjoy free coffee and snacks from bicycle-friendly coffee purveyors Jittery Joe’s (located inside Ex Libris Bookstore) and pick up information from the Savannah Bicycle Campaign and Bikes Belong.

For local residents, who have never tried riding their bikes to work, Dump the Pump provides an easy and fun way to take bicycle commuting for a test drive. The bicycle caravans travel at a moderate pace and are led by experienced cyclists, who can answer questions about bicycle commuting along the way.

Originally scheduled for April 3, this month’s Dump the Pump was moved to April 10 due to the threat of bad weather. What will happen if rain clouds appear this Friday? We won’t let rain hold us back. If the skies are gray, wear a rain jacket that day. And a helmet.