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!