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How I Became A Bike Advocate
Maureen Becker, Events Director, League of American Bicyclists
12/27/2005
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I never planned on becoming a bicycle advocate. But then, as fate would have it, I became events director for the League of American Bicyclists. I still didn’t think I would ever presume to call myself a bike advocate; my job is to plan fun events like the League’s annual National Rallies of Cyclists. But it is impossible to work for an organization like the League and not be inspired by success stories from around the country and wonder what might happen in your own community— if only someone tried. Working for the League inspired me to
Attractive and durable Cycle-Safe System. Six bicycle Lockers provide needed security at one of Maryland's commuter rail stations (MARTA).
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begin using my bicycle for transportation and touring as well as
for exercise. The dearth of bicycle facilities in my area became more and more obvious, and I wanted to do
something about it. While there are several bicycle
advocacy groups in the state of Maryland, I wasn’t
ready to enlist in an all-out campaign. I just wanted to
fight a couple of battles. Much to my surprise, neither
one was much of a struggle.
My first triumph came nearly by accident. I attended a
streetscape planning meeting in my community
because of my interest in historic preservation. A
recurring theme was the desire to make the town
more “pedestrian-friendly,” so I asked if a bicycle rack
had been included in the streetscape plan. The
response was, “no one has asked for one yet, but
that’s a great idea. It shouldn’t be a problem.” Easy as
that. It didn’t appear overnight, of course, but it was
installed on schedule: an attractive rack accommodating
eight bikes, placed in a secure, central location,
right outside the firehouse.
My second battle wasn’t quite as simple, but it certainly
wasn’t tough. On May 14, 1999, “Bike to Work
Day,” I rose to the challenge and rode my bike to the train station. I had previously considered commuting by
bike, but on my first day at
the train station, a seasoned
veteran warned me that a
bicycle would be stripped
and/or stolen if left unguarded
even for a moment. I
believed her, since the lot is in
a remote area and there is
nothing to which to lock a
bike except a chain link fence.
But at the end of the day, my
bike was still there. That did it.
I started biking to the station more and more, and
decided I wanted a bike locker.
First I e-mailed the state bike/ped coordinator, who
referred me to the Mass Transit Administration (MTA)
planning department. There, instead of the resistance
I expected, I was told by the planner that the funding
for such projects was in place but he was unable to
pursue them without “customer demand.” That
made sense to me. For-profit companies don’t waste
money on products that no one wants; why should
the state? I took his advice and wrote a letter to his
boss, the MTA Administrator. Within a matter of
weeks, the planner called me with the news that the
lockers were on order and the site had been selected.
Four months later, three Cycle-Safe lockers, each built
to store two bicycles, were installed in a great site,
protected from the rain and located right next to the
platform (photo above).
It probably doesn’t seem like very much to those of you
who have successfully lobbied for huge bicycle projects,
but these lockers are the first at any station along the
Maryland commuter rail’s three lines. That’s no small
accomplishment for a novice advocate
working solo. I guess it goes to
show that sometimes if you want
something, all you have to do is ask.
Reprinted with Permission from Bicycle USA™
A Park with Wheel Appeal
Millennium Park ChicagoWhen Mayor Richard M. Daley proposed in the late 1990s to "green" an open expanse of unsightly land along Chicago's lakefront, the Windy City embarked on an ambitious project destined to be regarded as one of the most significant millennium projects in the world.
Even though Chicago's spectacular Millennium Park wasn't completed in time to host the city's millennium festivities, its recent opening this past summer is cause for belated celebration. Located on Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Monroe Streets in downtown Chicago, the people-friendly, 24.5-acre park features such amenities as an outdoor music pavilion, a music and dance theatre, a perennial garden, a public fountain, an ice rink, eight acres of green space, an underground parking garage, and a $3.1 million bicycle station.
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One of the most prominent features of the new park is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Designed by award-winning architect Frank Gehry, the pavilion is described as the most sophisticated outdoor concert facility of its kind. It offers fixed seating for 4,000 and a 95,000-square-foot lawn area, allowing it to accommodate a total audience of 11,000. A network of speakers suspended from an overhead trellis is designed to provide uniformly excellent sound quality for concertgoers throughout the pavilion.
Located at the southeast corner of Millennium Park is the Lurie Garden, a 2.5-acre landscaped sanctuary of sun and shade featuring native prairie perennials, tall sculpted hedges and a pedestrian bridge. The garden is screened by tall hedges sculpted to resemble shoulders—recalling the 1916 poem in which Carl Sandburg called Chicago the "City of Big Shoulders."
In keeping with Mayor Daley's goal of making Chicago the most bicycle-friendly city in the country, Millennium Park also boasts a unique Bicycle Station offering secure, heated, indoor parking for 300 bicycles. The facility, which will be open all year round, occupies the fifth and sixth levels of the Millennium Park parking garage at the southwest corner of Randolph Street and Columbus Drive. It will serve downtown bike commuters and recreational cyclists, as well as runners and inline skaters.
Employing high-capacity, two-tiered racks, the 16,448-square-foot Bicycle Station allows more than twice as many bicycles to be stored in the same amount of floor space as traditional bike racks. The new facility, the first of its kind in the Midwest, also features lockers, showers, bicycle rental and repair, and a caf. Appropriately, it's also the new home of the Chicago Police Lakefront Bicycle Patrol Unit.
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Parking capacity at the facility is maximized with DoubleParker racks from Josta, a German manufacturer of high-capacity bicycle parking systems and bike stands. Cycle-Safe, Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., a manufacturer of bicycle lockers and racks, collaborated with the city of Chicago and Josta to coordinate this significant new installation. Funding for the Bicycle Station was provided by a federal grant awarded to projects designed to ease traffic congestion and improve air quality. The station is run by the Chicago Park District.
The Millennium Park Bicycle Station was constructed to encourage Chicago residents and visitors to bike to work, the park and nearby attractions, like the Art Institute of Chicago. By promoting this alternative method of transportation, city planners hope to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality and encourage more people to enjoy the health benefits of cycling.
According to Bicycle Station Project Director Janet Attarian, Chicago's cyclists are taking note. Riders began taking advantage of the Bicycle Station from the moment it opened to the public.
"We couldn't get over the amount of activity the Bicycle Station attracted the first day," she says. "We didn't really know what to expect, but we had riders stopping by all day long."
And, according to Attarian, what the cyclists saw was more than they had expected.
"They were stunned to see that the same high level of quality that went into the rest of Millennium Park was also executed in the design and construction of the bike parking facility."
Now that Chicago cyclists have seen how good bike parking can be, the city's next big challenge may be to figure out where to construct similar facilities to meet the demand.
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For more information
Millennium Park: www.millenniumpark.org
Millennium Park Bicycle Station: www.chicagobikestation.com
Cycle-Safe, Inc.: 888-850-6531
or www.cyclesafe.com
Richard Hartger is president of Cycle-Safe, Inc.
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