Addressing a room full of cyclists gearing up for a massive annual ride, Mayor Toni Harp promised them more dedicated, protected bike lanes to ride on.
Harp made that declaration as she helped kick-off fundraising for the annual Rock To Rock Earth Day ride, set for April 26.
Cyclists can sign up for rides of eight, 20, 40, or 100 kilometers, all of which start at the base of West Rock and end at the base of East Rock. Riders raise money that goes toward local efforts to make the city a greener place to live. The ride, now in its sixth year, has swelled to over 1,000 riders, and last year raised $150,000 for 23 local environmental groups. (Click here to read about last year’s ride.)
For the first time, Rock To Rock held its launch party in City Hall Wednesday. In brief remarks to the dozens of people gathered, Harp (pictured) spoke about the city’s commitment to make streets safe for cyclists.
In last year’s mayoral election, Harp’s opponent Justin Elicker won cyclist support as a champion of safe streets. Since taking office in January, Harp has taken steps to win over the city’s transit activists. She appointed Elicker ally Doug Hausladen to the position of traffic tsar, and she made improved bus service a focus of her first “State of the City” address.
At Wednesday’s Rock To Rock launch, Harp said her administration is “committed to making the city more bike friendly.”
She said that while the city may not have money immediately for major changes to the streetscape, it can take inexpensive short-term steps toward calming traffic, like using “huge flowerpots” to narrow streets the way curb bump-outs do.
Eventually, she will make sure the city has cycletracks — off-street, protected bike lanes — around town, Harp said. “We are poised to bring real bike lanes — safe and separate — to as many streets as possible.”
Harp said she’s looking forward to a “beautiful spring day” on April 26. She said she would “try to find my bicycle” before the ride.
Wednesday’s event featured food donated by a variety of local restaurants …
… and bike-blended beverages by Ahna Johnson’s new smoothie-spinning company, Fruit Whirled.
Johnson’s mother, Ruth Resnick Johnson (pictured), passed out samples of pumpkin and banana-strawberry smoothies, pureed by a pedal-powered “fender blender.”
Little rosemary plants were laid out for the taking, part of the ride’s “Way To Grow” theme this year. Joel Tolman, one of the ride’s organizers, said 1,100 people biked in the event last year, raising over $150,000.
Anna Pickett, the event’s lead organizer this year, said this year’s goal is to raise $200,000, $50,000 of which has already been pledged.
Tolman said people who raise $500 can become “Green Riders” this year. That means they have their registration fee waived and they get “fancy Green Riders swag” on the day of the ride. Tolman also announced that Chipotle, the downtown burrito joint, will be donating half its March 19 proceeds to Rock to Rock.
Good idea. It is a shame that our city is so many years behind other cities on this, especially considering that more than half our city's population doesn't drive to work every day, and a third of the city's households have no car.
Hopefully the new administration will bring the city up to par with what every other city around the country is doing. It's a very easy and cheap way to bring new jobs to the city.
http://www.peopleforbikes.org/green-lane-project