Complete Streets is a national movement which seeks to ensure that road construction projects take into account the needs of everyone who uses the roadways - pedestrians, motorists, the handicapped, children... and, naturally, cyclists.
In New York State, a bill currently making it's way through the legislature would require that planning agencies do just that. It's a major step in the effort to make sure that transportation planning works for everyone, and a major asset in pressing for better bike facilities.
The bill is sponsored by Rochester's own Assemblyman David F. Gantt, representative from the 133th district which includes the City of Rochester and Gates. Gantt is also the chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee.
Please take a moment to reach out to your Assemblyperson and Senator, as well as the leaders of the Assembly and Senate Transportation Committees and urge them to support Assembly bill A08587 and Senate bill S5711. Representatives of other local districts are listed below, with contact information.
Also, see the call to action from the New York Bicycle Coalition to support the bill.
Assembly
Joseph A. Errigo, 130th district: Henrietta, Pittsford, Mendon, Victor, East & West Bloomfield (and beyond).
Susan John, 131st district: parts of Rochester, Chili, Wheatland, Riga, Rush.
Joseph D. Morelle, 132nd district: Irondequoit, Brighton.
Bill Reilich, 134th district: Greece, Ogden, Sweden.
David Koon, 135th Assembly district: Webster, Penfield, Perinton.
Senate
James Alesi, 55th Senate District: Irondequoit, Perinton, Pittsford, Penfield, Mendon, Henrietta, Rush, Wheatland, Chili, Riga.
Joseph Robach, 56th Senate District: parts of Rochester, Greece, Parma, Brighton.
George Maziarz, 62nd district: Gates, Ogden, and west to Buffalo.
Martin Dilan, 17th district. Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
NYC Bike Lane Design
Here's an interesting video from the New York City Department of Transportation describing the newest bike lanes and signals there:
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
RCA Update
Here's an update on recent goings-on with the Rochester Cycling Alliance:
At our regularly scheduled biweekly meeting at Spot Coffee, the group met with Jon Schull, RIT professor and friend to cyclists everywhere, to coordinate our efforts with his. Jon's been working on bicycle issues for a while now, in particular developing the bike corridor between RIT, UR, and downtown Rochester (check out his blog: http://jonschull.blogspot.com/). It was a productive and energizing meeting, with the group finally beginning to coalesce.
Last night (Monday) the RCA made its public debut at a meeting of the Rochester City Council, where Chris, Jon, and I (Andy) all spoke in support of better facilities for cycling. We also spoke with Alinda Drury, the coordinator of Mayor Duffy's Green Team, who will be an important ally. Video is below, courtesy of Jon.
In addition, we've learned that the City of Rochester is developing a Bicycle Master Plan to be completed by February 2011. The City has issued a request for proposals from planning and engineering firms, and will begin the process of evaluating the proposals at the end of this month. Along the way there will be many opportunities for public input. It will be a great way to have cyclists' voices heard in the city planning process, and the RCA will be there. More information is available on the city's website at http://ci.rochester.ny.us/article.aspx?id=8589940474
Finally, we're trying to organize a trip sometime in the next couple weeks to the City's Bureau of Architecture and Engineering to meet with the engineers running the Bicycle Master Plan project and other bicycle-related planning activities. It will be a huge learning experience for the RCA and a chance to connect with the people who can actually put together a quality cycling infrastructure for Rochester. I encourage everyone to come along; if you're interested please email me your scheduling preferences and I'll try to work out something that can accomodate as many people as possible.
And don't forget: RCA Potluck this Sunday at 21 Diem Street! Be there!
At our regularly scheduled biweekly meeting at Spot Coffee, the group met with Jon Schull, RIT professor and friend to cyclists everywhere, to coordinate our efforts with his. Jon's been working on bicycle issues for a while now, in particular developing the bike corridor between RIT, UR, and downtown Rochester (check out his blog: http://jonschull.blogspot.com/). It was a productive and energizing meeting, with the group finally beginning to coalesce.
Last night (Monday) the RCA made its public debut at a meeting of the Rochester City Council, where Chris, Jon, and I (Andy) all spoke in support of better facilities for cycling. We also spoke with Alinda Drury, the coordinator of Mayor Duffy's Green Team, who will be an important ally. Video is below, courtesy of Jon.
In addition, we've learned that the City of Rochester is developing a Bicycle Master Plan to be completed by February 2011. The City has issued a request for proposals from planning and engineering firms, and will begin the process of evaluating the proposals at the end of this month. Along the way there will be many opportunities for public input. It will be a great way to have cyclists' voices heard in the city planning process, and the RCA will be there. More information is available on the city's website at http://ci.rochester.ny.us/article.aspx?id=8589940474
Finally, we're trying to organize a trip sometime in the next couple weeks to the City's Bureau of Architecture and Engineering to meet with the engineers running the Bicycle Master Plan project and other bicycle-related planning activities. It will be a huge learning experience for the RCA and a chance to connect with the people who can actually put together a quality cycling infrastructure for Rochester. I encourage everyone to come along; if you're interested please email me your scheduling preferences and I'll try to work out something that can accomodate as many people as possible.
And don't forget: RCA Potluck this Sunday at 21 Diem Street! Be there!
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