Contact your Senators Again Today to Save Bicycle and Pedestrian Funding
It’s happening again. Just one month ago, Sen. Coburn (R-OK) failed in his efforts to strip funding for Transportation Enhancements from the six-month transportation extension.

Senator Rand Paul’s 80-year Bridge Repair Plan
Now, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is taking the lead in trying to destroy the Transportation Enhancements component of the transportation bill that funds bicycle and pedestrian projects. On November 1, the Senate will finalize the transportation appropriations bill, which sets funding levels for FY2012. Sen. Paul has offered an amendment to redirect all funding for Transportation Enhancements to bridge repair.

We agree on the need to keep our bridges safe, but the lives of pedestrians and cyclists are important too. Thirteen people died when the Minneapolis bridge collapsed in 2007. Since then, close to 20,000 pedestrians and 2,800 cyclists have died on our nation’s highways, largely as a result of poor highway design and a lack of safe non-motorized infrastructure – exactly what the enhancement program was created to fix.

If Sen. Paul’s amendment is successful, it would eliminate approximately $700 million in federal funding for FY2012 that is used to construct sidewalks, bike lanes, bike paths, trails and other infrastructure that makes it safe for bicyclists and pedestrians to get around. Even if every penny of these funds is diverted to bridge repairs, Senator Paul’s plan will still take 80 years to fix the backlog of bridge repairs we have today — by which time all those repaired bridges would be falling down again.

Remember that the TE program represents less than two percent of the federal transportation program and these projects help alleviate traffic congestion, improve safety, get people active, and create more jobs per dollar than highway-only projects.

Remember also that last year, states sent back to Washington $530 million of unspent bridge funds in rescissions. The states are leaving bridge repair funds on the table, unspent, year after year. They should at least spend these funds first.

If the Paul amendment succeeds, it will make it much more challenging to sustain funding for Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails in the long-term transportation bill that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee starts debating on
November 9.

We must turn back any amendment to strip Transportation Enhancements.

Last month, more than 75,000 messages were sent to Senators to ask them to stand strong for Transportation Enhancements. Thank you, that was an amazing turnout – but we must do better this time. Every time someone in Congress attacks bicycling and walking, we must push back even stronger than we did the time before. And, we will keep doing it until bicycle and pedestrian funding is protected.
This is the third time in a month that a small group of Senators has targeted Transportation Enhancements, using a different angle each time. It is a waste of the Senate’s time and taxpayers’ dollars to focus on this small and valuable program when we are in dire need of real and viable solutions to fix our failing transportation system.

Please contact your Senators today to ask them to vote against the Paul amendment (SA-821) to eliminate Transportation Enhancements. And then please forward this message to all your friends, club members, and supporters, with the link to the League of American Bicyclists Action Center.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me 850-238-5328.

Thank you for your help today, and for passing along the call to action. ]]> http://floridabicycle.org/wordpress/2011/10/action-alert-contact-your-senators/feed/ 0 http://floridabicycle.org/wordpress/2011/09/action-alert-critical-funding-at-stake-4/ http://floridabicycle.org/wordpress/2011/09/action-alert-critical-funding-at-stake-4/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:14:17 +0000 Becky http://floridabicycle.org/wordpress/?p=1939 A message from FBA Executive Director Tim Bustos:

“We have been working on this for awhile now, but the fight isn’t over yet.  I’ve gone on the congressional record on behalf of FBA, we’ve written letters, and we’ve had meetings with our members in congress.  However, the final vote could happen in a matter of days.  People that don’t ride bikes, and know nothing about the valuable contributions cyclist contribute to society, could vote to take away as much as 700 million in critical funding for bicycle projects.  They also fail to realize that Florida is one of the most dangerous places in America to walk or ride a bike, so we can’t let this happen.  Please circulate the information below to your contacts, your bike club members, and anyone else you know that can contribute to this effort.”

From the League of American Bicyclists:

We expect that in the next few days, Senator Coburn (R-OK) will ask Congress to eliminate the federal Transportation Enhancements program – the primary funding source for the past 20 years for bike lanes, trails, bike racks on buses, bike education etc.  This isn’t safe or smart; it’s not good for the economy or the environment; this is bad health policy and bad transportation policy. But they are going to try because they don’t think bicycling matters.This year, around $700 million of Federal transportation funds, which in reality is less than 2 percent of total transportation dollars, will be spent on bicycling and walking.  In 2012 that figure might be a big fat zero.

Even though bicycling projects create more jobs per dollar than highway-only projects and cutting enhancements won’t impact the deficit – the money just won’t be spent on bicycling – some Members of Congress want to  force us backwards to a 1950s highway-only mindset: as if oil embargoes, congestion, smog, the obesity epidemic and climate change never happened.

Now is the time to Save Cycling, so we are asking you to contact your Senators and urge them to support continued funding for biking and walking. Don’t let them take away this vital investment program for smart, sustainable, safe transportation choices.

Please Take Action today.

Thank You.

Go HERE for LAB “I BIKE  I VOTE” Blog post and direct link to TAKE ACTION

“In addition to the message I sent about recessions threatening needed improvements in our infrastructure at the state level, we have a new threat affecting our needs at the national level.  Members of congress, including Florida’s own Representative, John Mica, are seeking to gut federal requirements for important bicycle and pedestrian funding.  Please see the message below from the Alliance for Biking and Walking, and spread the word far and wide through your respective networks.  We will need to take action soon, and we’ll have a narrow window of opportunity, so please spread the word through all your respective networks.”

The attack is on: Leaders in the U.S. House and Senate want to cut funding for bicycling and walking.

Tomorrow, July 7, 2011, Rep. John Mica (R-FL), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is holding a press conference to announce his vision for the next federal transportation bill. We anticipate he will include provisions that eliminate dedicated funding for biking and walking.

In order to preserve these critical dollars, we will need you to act immediately.  After the press conference, we’ll work with our partners at American Bikes to craft an urgent action alert to send to your members and supporters tomorrow afternoon.  Our best chance to change the bill is before the official language is released.  To do that, we’ll need all hands on deck, urging their members of Congress to preserve dedicated funding for biking and walking.

The attack has started in the U.S. Senate, too.  Last week, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), the lead Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, stated that one of his top three priorities for the transportation bill is to eliminate ‘frivolous’ spending for bike trails.

If we don’t act quickly, dedicated funding for biking and walking programs may be written out of our transportation system for the next two to six years.  And, once those programs are cut, there’s no guarantee we’ll get them back!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you in advance for your help in this urgent issue.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Grandstaff

Member Services Director

Alliance for Biking & Walking

Find your US House Representative

Find your US Senator

“It looks like the feds will be raiding state coffers again, and funding for bicycling and walking projects will likely take a big hit.  We also have a very narrow window of opportunnity, so please spread this message far and wide.  If you haven’t done so already, please contact your FDOT and let them know _again_ how important these funds are to help improve the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians in Florida.  Remind them that we already lead the nation in bicycle and pedestrian fatalities, so now is _not_ the time to be cutting critical funding.”

For more information, see

League of American Bicyclists blog post

Alliance for Biking & Walking blog post

FDOT contact list

THANK YOU for your support!

Twenty-five Floridians are visiting Washington, DC, the week of March 7-11 as part of the National Bike Summit.

Members of the delegation will be visiting most if not all Florida congressional offices on Thursday, March 10, 2011, making the case for better, safer bicycling and walking in Florida.

You can help since your message of support to your own members of Congress really multiplies the impact of the delegation’s visit.  It only takes about three minutes.

Click here to look up your members and find their contact information.

Sample message:

Dear Congressman/woman X,

The National Bike Summit is taking place today in Washington and a delegation from Florida will be visiting your office. I hope you’ll take the time to meet with them because bicycling and walking is very important to Florida and to me.

Federal funding for bicycling and walking is a very, very small amount–just 0.03% of the federal budget–but it is very, very important:
- Federally funded roads and highways are among the biggest impediments to bicycling and walking
- Destinations that people want to bicycle and walk to cluster along federally funded roads and highways
- Federally funded roads and highways cut right through every city and town in Florida, and when they are not built to allow people to bicycle or walk along or across them, the result is that entire neighborhoods become unwalkable and unbicycleable.
[Add a sentence or two about why bicycling and/or walking is important to you.]

Sincerely yours,

THANK YOU! When you contact your elected representatives, it really does make a difference!

Thanks also to Kathryn Moore who is leading the Florida Delegation.  Follow her updates HERE.

Regional Advocacy Director Stephen Tocknell

I am proud to announce that Stephen Tochnell has been appointed as FBA First Coast’s Regional Advocacy Director. Steve brings to the position a wealth of transportation and planning experience, along with a love of cycling. More importantly, Steve brings a unique understanding and temprament ideally suited to the advocacy ideals of FBA. He is a relationship builder who understands that what is done or not done in the short run, ultimately determines the long run.

Steve has a nearly new entry-level road bike, along with a much older bicycle that he uses for commuting between his home in Avondale and his office downtown. With his wife Margaret, Steve also enjoys riding through their neighborhood and on the Jax-Baldwin Rail Trail. Steve and Margaret have two grown daughters. Erin lives in Chattanooga and rides with the Krystal Chicks cycling team there. Cathleen lives in Manhattan, where she never has to drive a car.

“If you expect America to succeed, to increase wealth, we have to get
the cost of living down, so that we don’t have to have such high wages
in order for people to live a good life… Cycling is a key part of it.
You want to reduce the cost of education? Get kids back riding bikes
back to school. Because the number two budget item in the school
budget is busing. Everyone is being bused, not for racial integration,
but because the roads are too dangerous to walk or to cycle. If you
fix the problem of the roads and safety for cyclists, you’ve now cut
down the budget for schools. By the way, you’ve also cut down the
budget for roads.”

“If you really want to reduce the things that are driving up the cost
of government, it’s really going to happen by improving the
infrastructure for cycling, and for pedestrian activities, and mass
transit, and things like that.”

Richard Schwinn is a co-founder of Waterford Precision Cycles and the
grandson (I think, maybe a nephew) of the founder of Schwinn Bicycles.

The quotes are taken from a podcast – http://www.wjcu.org/2010/12/18/the-outspoken-cyclist-12182010

Bill Edmonds
btedmond@fsu.edu

All the best for a happy, healthy 2011. Be safe.

Thirty-five RTC supporter-cyclists joined RTC leaders and local Florida bicycle and pedestrian advocates on a ride from Out-Spoke’N Bike Shop in Lake Mary to AAA headquarters in Heathrow to deliver the petitions.  The ride was on the Federally funded Seminole-Wekiva Trail–a trail in AAA’s front yard that, ironically, was developed using the same funding programs AAA would eliminate.

Go HERE for a report by the Orlando Sentinel as well as RTC’s website.

Thank you Floridians for making the trip, even in such chilly temperatures, and to Michael and Arden Cottle for hosting us at your bike shop.

A 4.1-mile ride on the Cross-Seminole and Seminole-Wekiva trails with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) to deliver tens of thousands of signatures asking AAA to support continued federal funding for trails and bicycle/pedestrian programs.

WHY

AAA Mid-Atlantic recently proposed the elimination of trails and bicycle/pedestrian programs from federal transportation trust fund. This would effectively kill the 20-year-old Transportation Enhancement (TE) program that has helped make nearly 20,000 miles of trail possible. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has been gathering names on a petition asking AAA National to reverse their position, but they have yet to do so and have, in fact, endorsed Mid-Atlantic’s stance. Please add your name to the more than 30,000 signatures on our petition at www.railstotrails.org/AAA. Then ride with us to deliver the petition to AAA’s front door, which happens to look out over the TE-funded Seminole-Wekiva Trail!

WHO:

Riding with us will be Rails-to-Trails Conservancy President Keith Laughlin and Vice President of Policy Kevin Mills, Florida Bicycle Association Executive Director Laura Hallam, and other special guests

WHEN:

Monday, December 13

9:30 a.m. departure from Out-Spoke’N Bike Shop to AAA headquarters
10:30 a.m. press event on Seminole-Wekiva Trail across from AAA and petition delivery

WHERE:

Ride departure: Out-Spoke’N Bike Shop (1061 South Sun Drive, Suite #1073, Lake Mary, FL 32746, Phone: 407-688-1959)

Petition delivery and event location: Seminole-Wekiva Trail at intersection of AAA Drive and International Parkway, Lake Mary/Heathrow, FL

This is an out-and-back ride; total mileage is approx. 8 miles.

ATTIRE:

Please dress in NON-CYCLING ATTIRE opposed to spandex and lycra. We want to show AAA how cyclists come from all walks of life, not just people in tight clothing. Appearance plays a big role in representing the interests of cyclists, walkers and all users of roads and trails. The same holds true when meeting with elected officials. Business attire should be the standard. The moderate bike ride distance should make this dress code workable.

Pedestrian and bicycle facilities are among the least expensive transportation infrastructure to build and maintain. We also know that shifting short trips to walking and bicycling saves fuel, lessens our dependency on foreign oil, keeps more money in the local economy, makes us healthier and gets people out of their automobiles and into their communities.

Let’s show Governor-elect Scott that there is great demand in Florida for safe, convenient places to walk and bicycle. Please leave a thoughtful message on his website that helps build our case for more walking and bicycling opportunities.

Below are some talking points you can use, but we encourage you to be creative. Personal responses make a better impact than canned comments. Keep your responses positive and forward-looking. As Governor-elect Scott’s campaign ads suggested, “let’s get to work” by communicating our needs to him.

Ken Bryan
Florida Field Office Director
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Dotted rule

Talking points:

* The most cost-effective way to improve Florida’s transportation systems in urban areas is to better accommodate walkers and bicyclists with active transportation infrastructure.
* Nearly half of all trips in the United States are within a 20-minute bicycle ride, and a quarter are within a 20-minute walk.
* Every trip made by a pedestrian or bicyclist increases the existing roadway capacity, improves the user’s health, and reduces his or her carbon footprint—all of which can save Florida millions of dollars, according to the Florida Department of Transportation’s Conserve By Bicycle Study.
* Better active transportation infrastructure saves lives. Florida consistently has one of the worst safety and fatality records per capita in the entire country for pedestrians and bicyclists. Trails and other biking and walking facilities can keep more Floridians safe.

Communicate your thoughts with Governor-elect Scott now!