advocacy

The St Charles County Commission held a work session this evening on a proposal to ban bicycles on several state roads in the County.

After intense public discussion about the bicycle ban at a previous public meeting, and a private meeting between bill sponsor Joe Brazil and area bicycle advocates, the result was three possible bills that were discussed tonight.

A Suburban Journals article gives a rundown of the three proposals, which are:

St Charles County Bicycle Ban proposed

What's next?

THANK YOU for signing the petition.

What's next?

Invite your friends

Invite your friends to sign the petition opposing the St Charles County Bicycle Ban.

Support MoBikeFed

When cities and counties propose banning bicyclists from their roads, it is advocacy groups like the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation that help protect your rights.

Your membership in MoBikeFed is the single most important thing you can to help make Missouri a better, safer place to bicycle.

We need your help today! 

Prefer to mail in a donation or membership payment? Here are the mail-in instructions.

You will have a chance to review your donations and see the payment total before finalizing the payment.

All payments are final (no refunds).

We appreciate your membership, and any additional donation, whether large or small.

Our members are the power that moves bicycling forward in Missouri!

Note: Memberships and donations to MoBikeFed (#1 and #2 above) are not tax deductible. They support our effective, citizen-based advocacy and lobbying efforts.

If you would like give a tax-deductible donation towards bicycling in Missouri, please consider a gift to the Foundation (#3 above), in support of the Foundation's education and outreach programs.

Friday, June 11th, 2010, the St Louis Board of Aldermen will vote on a bill to create a Complete Streets policy for the city.

How you can help

Best thing you can do to help support Complete Streets in St Louis is to write the St Louis alderman and ask them to support the bill.  Sample message:

Please support the Complete Streets bill, Board Bill 7 sponsored by Alderman Cohn. 

The full list of Board of Aldermen and a link to send each an email message is here.

Details about the St Louis Complete Streets proposal

See the full text of the St Louis complete Streets proposal here.

According to the West End Word article:

“This has already been adopted at the federal level as part of their funding requirements,” said 24th Ward Alderman Shane Cohn, the bill’s main sponsor. “It’s incumbent and imperative on us to get with the program.”

While the bill has received wide support and had 17 co-sponsors, some of the aldermen had concerns about implementing the policy citywide. . . . 

The proposal to extend Springfield's capitol improvements tax--including for the first time ever specific amounts set aside for bicycle & pedestrian projects--won renewal today by a whopping 70/30 margin.

The Vote YES for a more Bikable/Walkable Springfield Facebook page currently has more than 1600 members--and that's a lot when less than 9000 people total voted in this special election.

SpringBike's summary of the proposal:

Mayor Megee of Greenwood is introducing an ordinance to provide much stronger penalties for the harassment of bicyclists.

Bicyclist harassment has been an issue in this part of Jackson County, and now an elected leader willing to take real action about it.

The Greenwood ordinance is based on the law the Columbia, MO, recently passed (full text of the Columbia law passed last year here).

We are planning a ride from Lee's Summit to Greenwood, leaving at 6PM from Summit Park in Lee's Summit (it's about 8 miles each way and you'll need lights as it will be dark on the return trip; contact director@mobikefed.org or 816-695-6736 if planning to ride with us).

You can also help support by writing a brief, polite email of support and sending it to two key alderman: Alderman Chris Seagraves (chris@boanheating-cooling.com) and Alderman Nic Cover (nic.cover1@gmail.com).  

The Springfield News-Leader reports today on Springfield's recent Bicycle Friendly Community designation:

“This is truly a momentous occasion,” said Bruce Adib-Yazdi, Chair of the Sustainable Transportation Advocacy Resource (STAR) Team, a committee of Ozark Greenways, Inc. “While our advocacy team has been working hard on this for the past 10 years, it is still the first of many steps towards a community that embraces cycling as a choice to get around town.”

“Springfield being recognized as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community is a great accomplishment,” said Chris Flouer, President of Ozark Greenways, Inc.

“Ozark Greenways and others have worked very hard over the past several years to position the community for such an achievement. This recognition not only celebrates what the community has accomplished, with trails and street improvements, but will challenge and encourage us to continue working toward a platinum level.”

Springfield joins St Louis (also bronze) and Columbia (silver) as Bicycle Friendly Communities in Missouri.

MoBikeFed's Vision is to have 5 bronze and 1 silver Bicycle Friendly Community in Missouri by 2012, and 5 additional communities working towards Bicycle Friendly status.

This is part of a series, "What has MoBikeFed done for you in 2010?"  Read the remaining articles here. 

Some have questioned whether the General Assembly really debated and approved a specific appropriation for the Tour of Missouri. If they didn't, then what was the House debating, at length, in these amendments?  And why did Rep. McLanahan specifically mention her "amendment on the floor of the house to remove the funding for the Tour of Missouri" to a news reporter?

Late on the evening of Tuesday, March 23rd, the funding for the Tour of Missouri came under discussion on the floor of the Missouri House of Representatives--and was challenged five times. 

Every challenge--to eliminate the funding completely, to reduce it drastically, and to reduce by just a little--was defeated handily and with bipartisan support.

Please join us for a ride with Missouri legislators and officials on the Katy Trail on April 11th, 2011.

It's a great chance to meet your Missouri legislators and elected officials, and introduce them to the Katy Trail.

Also--please take a moment to email or call your own state legislators and invite them to the ride. You can look up their contact info here.

Event: Katy Trail Bicycle Ride with members of the Missouri General Assembly and other officials
Date: Monday, April 11th, 2011
Time: 12:30PM 
Place: North Jefferson Trailhead, Katy Trail (Map/directions to starting location)