With the start of Bike Month this week, the League of American Bicyclists released their 2013 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings. At 16th, we’ve moved up one from 17th in 2012. But we still have a long way to go to make top ten in time for Richmond 2015.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
What can we, the Virginia Bicycling Federation, do better, to help make Virginia a top ten state?
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The VBF could organize a Virginia Bike Summit. I went to the NC Bike Summit last year for lack of one in Virginia. The NCDOT Bike Coordinator spoke, as well as representatives from businesses, schools and health advocates. The LAB suggests a bike summit to improve Virginia’s score.
Juliellen: we held Virginia summits every year, sometimes twice, until recently. They were well-attended and productive. Barbara Duerk graciously organized them, and since she left they just haven’t happened. But we’re working on one for this November, probably a one-day Saturday event in Richmond. If you’d like to help, let us know!
If we want to move into the top 10, look at what the top 10 are doing and do it better. For example, I’m looking at the 2013 Rankings from the League’s website. There are grades across 5 categories. Pick one – Wisconsin, which is highly touted – currently #8. We match them in Legislation and Enforcement (but we could do better). We match them in Policies and Programs. We both have failing grades in Infrastructure and Funding. This is a category we can/should improve in. They are one notch better in Education and Encouragement. Here is where a few morsels from the Governor’s table about Transportation accomplishments could help. We can/should do better in this area. Both states received failing grades in Evaluation and Planning.
So, get the details for each category – talk to League representatives, hold firm on what we’re doing well, and turn on the after-burners and improve our failing grades. We can do this.
We do need leadership at the state level. Tom, have you thought about a run for state office – I’m not kidding about this. We need representation in state offices – facilitators, people who coordinate, nurture.
At a yearly retreat, the group needs to review these categories, focus on what we can accomplish, develop a plan, and move forward.