National Bike Summit 2007 report: Kit Bond

Karen, Harold, and Eli Karabell, John Sweet, and Lisa Marty (all of the St. Louis Bicycle Federation) and Brent Hugh of the Missouri Bicycle Federation met with Senator Kit Bond's legislative assistant Michael Collins for over 30 minutes Friday, March 16th, 2007.

Collins seemed knowledgeable and talked with us for a significant amount of time. He is new as Bond's transportation assistant, though he has worked for Bond in other capacities for some years. He understands the idea of "Complete Streets" because he lives in Columbia, Maryland, a planned community with very good bicycle and pedestrian connectivity.

We thanked Collins for Senator Bond's work to bring the Nonmotorized Pilot Program to Missouri, to help with the effort to create a safe bicycle/pedestrian crossing of the Missouri River in the Kansas City area (in conjunction with the $50 million earmark Bond obtained for the Paseo Bridge project), and to obtain funding to help retrofit the Heart of America Bridge for bicycle/pedestrian use. (The Heart of America funding apparently will not come through, but Sen. Bond and his staff put some considerable work into it.)

Collins indicated that the Senator probably will not be able to help with obtaining funding and earmarks this year, as he has in the past, because of being in the minority party now and because of proposed changes to the system that allows for congressional earmarks.

We discussed the Bike League's initiatives: Bicycle Commuter Act, Conserve by Bicycling proposal. We also asked the Senator to consider joining the Senate Bicycle Caucus. We discussed the Complete Streets idea. The Harkin Complete Streets amendment will likely be introduced again this year--and if you remember, Senator Bond played a key role in its defeat when it was introduced in 2005.

We also asked for Sen. Bond's support in writing a letter in support of the idea of connecting the Katy Trail to Kansas City. Collins indicated that may be possible and we will follow up by sending a sample/draft letter on the matter to Senator Bond's office.

• If you would like to email Senator Bond, thank his staff for taking the time to listen to the concerns and interests of the Missouri bicyclists who visited March 16th, and encourage the Senator to support the Bicycle Commuter Act, the Conserve by Bicycling proposal, and the Complete Streets Amendment, you can email Senator Bond here.
  
  
• More about the Missouri delegations' visit to Washington, DC, for the National Bike Summit 2007 here.