[*BCM*] Re: [BCM] Opinions on move by Mass Bike

[Anne Wolfe]

Tom, I either met you or Tim at the Bikes Not Bombs BAT this past spring.  Howie Schmuck introduced us (I think it was Tim - he was heading to law school.  I was the very tall girl who can't seem to get out of law school.)

I've responded to your points individually, but if you want to post them to BCM, feel free.
I strongly encourage Anne, and everyone, to learn who your local, state and national representatives are, and to contact them directly. MassBike's website links to http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php , which is a page where you can look-up this information by your street address. (If yours comes up empty, give your street without a number; this worked for me.)
 
Well, I do this.  I've talked to a number personally even.

Here is a run-down of what we've accomplished in the past year, with references to previous years --

In the Legislature, MassBike has sponsored four bills in the past two sessions. One is the Bicyclists Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, which we will continue to promote until it's passed.
 
It is one of the basics of Mass law and procedure that any one person or organization can sponsor a bill.  Getting it passed is the big thing.  Why is there not more lobbying and success?  This is why I'm writing people directly.

In the interim, MassBike successfully promoted legislation that requires the Registry of Motor Vehicles to include information about bicycling in the Massachusetts Driver's Manual, and to incorporate one or more questions about bicycling on the driver's license examination. When this item was vetoed by the governor, MassBike staged a campaign to overturn the veto by a 2/3 vote of both houses of the Legislature. It worked. MassBike is now consulting with the RMV about the manual, and the questions that will be asked.
 
This seems a very minor acheivement.  Most people in Boston have passed the RMV test and do you actually see much safe driving, with or without reference to bikes?  This is going to be a couple of questions, almost as hard as other RMV questions, and then they will be forgotten once the test is passed.

We are a sponsor of the Safe Routes to School bill, which has passed, but is awaiting funding.
You say you are A sponsor - how many other sponsors are there?  And where is the funding?  Where is the lobbying for funding?  What is the point of a passed bill without funding?  Isn't this called an "unfunded mandate?"

We have also promoted a state-wide bicycle touring routes bill that would create marked, numbered routes that have been identified as useful through routes for long-distance bicyclists.
 
Promoted is one thing.  Where are the results?  Why not just DO this?  Compile the routes on your own?  There are maps out there that start to do this, why not just start compiling as a fundraiser issue (to then sell, make money, etc, raise the profile?)???

In 2003, Governor Romney instructed the Massachusetts Highway Department to rewrite its design manual. This is the book that specifies the standards and practices for building and maintaining roads throughout the Commonwealth. MassBike's then Executive Director, Tim Baldwin, was selected by MassHighways to chair the panel that would specify pedestrian and bicyclist accommodations, as required under the statewide law that mandates these accommodations (a law that MassBike helped to pass in 1995). MassBike Board member David Loutzenheiser now sits on that panel, and he is advised by Paul Schimek (former MassBike President, US DOT researcher, and PhD planner), and John Allen (author of the Bicycle Driver's Manual in four states). The new manual is expected to be released late in 2005, or early in 2006.
 
Ok, so you sit on a panel.  I sit on a few myself.  Again, where are the RESULTS?  Where are the bike lanes?  Where are the pedestrian routes?  The manual gets published, then what???

In the 1990s, MassBike successfully lobbied the MBTA to bring bicycles on public transit. In 1999, the T stopped requiring bicycle passes to ride, at MassBike's encouragement. In 2004, the hours during which a bike may be brought on-board were substantially increased, and when the T threatened to ban all bicycles from public transit during the Democratic National Convention, MassBike worked hard to have these restrictions removed. After three Boston Globe articles covering our activities were published, the T relented on the most onerous ones. MassBike continues to sit on the MBTA's Bicycle Committee -- which we're working very hard to make more effective!
 
Except you still can't have bikes on the Green Line, which is the longest and most heavily ridden by passengers, or during rush hours on any line.  I've been turned away plenty of times.

Locally, MassBike produced a guidebook to starting town bicycle committees. For anyone who lives in a town or city that does not have a bike committee, this guide will help you get started, and the MassBike office will assist you in creating such a committee. This guidebook is available on line at
http://www.massbike.org/resources/bacguide0.htm, or by calling 617 542-BIKE (542-2453).
 
A guide tos tarting a committee?  I didn't realize it was all that hard.  And isn't this sort of representation what MassBike is claiming they're doing for us anyway?

Having received a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, MassBike developed a curriculum for police officer training in bicyclist safety. This education program was rolled-out last year to state and local police forces in four states, and it's going into wider distribution this year with US government backing.
 
Is one of these states Massachusetts?

For our members, MassBike has long offered a 10% price discount at most bike shops. In 2004, we added discounts at 23 bed and breakfast inns from Provincetown to Pittsfield. We also offer discounted automobile insurance through CLF Ventures (an affiliate of the Conservation Law Foundation), and we encourage cyclists who drive cars to join the Better World Club, a AAA alternative that provides roadside assistance services for bicyclists as well as motorists. MassBike members also get a $25 discount at Zipcar (a car hire service for city dwellers), which is a pretty good deal considering a basic membership in MassBike is only $30 per year, or $15 for students, elderly or fixed-income.
 
I already get such a discount at bike shops through Bikes Not Bombs, or do work in their shops, where they do cyclist training, etc.  The rest of these benefits are not through great advocacy by MassBike, but rather the sorts of incentives that places offer in return for press and publicity.

We have three major social events per year. In May, we participate in the Redbone's Barbecue Bicycle Party during Bike Week, in conjunction with the New England Mountain Bike Association. In August, we hold our annual Bike Rally (this year at Verrill Farm in Sudbury). Bike Night, in the autumn, is also our Annual Meeting, which last year featured Massachusetts' Secretary of Transportation Dan Grabauskas and comedian Jimmy Tingle as our keynote speakers. (I think we also had something to do with the Red Sox 14-inning victory over the Yankees in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series which also occurred that night, but I'm not sure -- let me look into that!)
 
So you're saying I should re-join for the SOCIAL EVENTS???  I have a social life.  And correct me if I'm wrong, but are these social events not also fundraisers for MassBike?  Bit self serving, this argument?

We publish four MassCyclist newsletters per year that are mailed to our members, and we send out email updates at least twice a month where these kinds of initiatives, events and accomplishment. We operate a website that's known nationally for its comprehensive summary of bicycle laws and legislation in North America (see
http://www.massbike.org/bikelaw/bikelaw.htm#STATE ), as well as a wealth of other information collected from over a decade. MassBike was an early-adopter of the World Wide Web.
 
Ok, so you were an early adopter fo the WWW.  Well, that's not really going to cut much now in the internet age, is it?  The sort of thing you're describing is now used by every organization, and in many ways more effectively.  I still get MassBike mailings, but have yet to hear via e-mail of any "get the vote/lobby out" efforts via this e-mail.

All of these efforts take enormous amounts of volunteer time, effort and coordination. We have only three paid staff members (up from two a year ago), and we run on a very tight budget with few luxuries. We are dependent on our membership for our funding, and for their labor. We're not AAA, with twenty offices statewide and a built-in travel agency (though that might be a good idea someday!), and if you believe that you can contribute to us, with ideas, with action, and yes, with money, then please join MassBike and help us.
 
I did, I tried, I was strongly rebuffed, I left, I wrote my representatives, I felt more listened to.  Comparing yourself to AAA isn't really helping your cause - they're providing a quite different service.  You want to start coming out and rescuing me late at night when I have a flat on my bike and am alone on a busy road as a single woman kneeling int he mud and I'll sing a different tune.

It's because we are our membership that we want to start a chapter in the Metro Boston area that will energize city cyclists to continue and expand on these successes. I hope you will participate with us and join MassBike if you're not already a member. You do this us at
http://www.active.com/donations/campaign_public.cfm?key=massbike .

And if you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to send them to me at trevay at massbike.org. I look forward to hearing from you!


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