A great new group in town, Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates, needs your help. They're pushing to make Salem, Oregon a much more bike-friendly town.
Which was the subject of my Strange Up Salem column in Salem Weekly a few weeks ago.
Angela Obery seeks to change things.
She’s a long-time resident of the Highland neighborhood who has formed a Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates group.
After talking with Obery I’m super-enthused about her vision. This could be a game-changer for enhancing our quality of life, along with making Salem more attractive to people and businesses thinking of coming here.
A bike boulevard is a residential street that’s been optimized for bicycles, which also makes the street friendly for pedestrians, skateboarders, joggers, and other people outside of a vehicle “cage.”
Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates has put out an action alert. I've copied in the most pertinent information below, adding in a direct link to email the Mayor, City Manager, and city councilors.
Help us spread the word...
Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates needs your help to spread the word about bike boulevards. Here's how:
1) Learn more about bike boulevards and how they can benefit Salem neighborhoods. These two videos are a great place to start: "What are bike boulevards?" at http://youtu.be/CyQHSdhIYCg and "Who benefits from bike boulevards?" at http://youtu.be/fJ8IlX2g_js
2) Write to Salem Leaders and tell them that you "support the development of bike boulevards in Salem." Contact info here: http://www.cityofsalem.net/CityCouncil
Email address is: [email protected]
3) Forward this e-newsletter on to friends and encourage them to join our mailing list at: http://eepurl.com/bcFbVP
4) Invite SBBA to present at your organization/school/ church. Let us know the day & time and we're happy to share our message with all of Salem: [email protected]
Together we can bring safer, more comfortable biking routes to our home town!
Pleasingly, the Salem Breakfast on Bikes blog is reporting that enthusiasm is growing for Bike Boulevards.
I believe the City Council is having a work session on March 16 to come up with their 2015-2017 goals. The Mayor and City Councilors need to hear from Salemians that this needs to be a top priority.
And give Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates a Facebook like.
If you need convincing that Salem should put a lot more emphasis on walking and biking, take a look at this video. Other cities are way ahead of us in this regard.
Pedestrians First from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.
[2017 update: Progress! Here's a PDF file of the draft City of Salem Winter-Maple Bikeway plan.]
Download Winter-Maple Bikeway Plan
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