Tuesday, March 1, 2011

There is a good chance that I won't be posting much for a while

I just got the most recent American Bicycles magazine. In it they talk about all of the great things that cities and non profits are doing around the country to make biking easier and more accessible. I started this blog in an attempt to build up the commuter and bicycling community. I do not feel that this has been very successful.
I do feel as though the city is making some strides. The bike fort Wayne plan has been written, there are some more bike racks downtown, Rudisill, Wayne, and Berry got bike lanes thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (thank you President Obama). We have a few people show up to the courteous manners critical mass rides every second Friday of the month.
There also was a great article featuring a former colleague of mine in South Bend. I lived there close to five years ago and it is awesome to see how far that City has come. When will people realize that this is another way to keep us competitive as a city? Walkable/bikable communities will be more apt to succeed in the future.
I will be looking into some other avenues that might help fort Wayne to succeed. I don't know exactly what yet but .... I will probably keep up on the Twitter feed in the meantime. Once my discouragement for the status quo wanes, I am sure that I will get back to this, but for now, I have got to meet with a couple people to see what they think we should do. Thanks for reading.
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Well here is an update. I am not discouraged any longer. In fact I am encouraged by all the stuff going on.
I will still be looking to partner with existing organizations to further advocate for cyclists rights.
I still have to sit down with some folks and figure out the plan for this year. Thanks to all of you who read this and for the words of encouragement.
FWBC

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't give up yet.This is my first time reading.myself,i live in syracuse,in.,but travel over to fort wayne often. It would be great to get bicycle worthy improvements on any roads.thanks for efforts so far!

fwbikecommuter said...

Anonymous,
Thanks for the words of encouragement!
FWBC

Anonymous said...

You have encouraged me to commute to work more often. While I dropped off over the winter (sigh), I have again started to bike to work. Granted, I am still a fair weather/part time commuter, you are an inspiration.

With that said, I too am frustrated with the lack of riders in Fort Wayne. Over 100 coworkers at my job (health care) and only 2 others ride to work (infrequent).

No encouragement from our employer either.

John Legg

fwbikecommuter said...

Thanks John.
It makes me feel great knowing that I encouraged you to ride more often.
I have been thinking that individually we will not get much done or for that matter, be heard. There are a couple bicycle organizations in town but commuting seems to not be on their list of priorities. I plan on joining 3 Rivers velo sports this year in an effort to raise awareness of our growing population of commuters. In the past I thought of starting a non profit but without the at least emotional backing of many people willing to partner, the point seemed moot. All of this along with the fact that there is no bike summit this year really can take the wind out of our sails. We need to all come together as citizens of this great city to make it happen. Any thoughts about how to go about this? Let me know.
I just got finished reading the Bike Fort Wayne plan. There are some great suggestions in all of the sections but I lean toward the Legislative goals. Which cycling organization in this town is going to drive that? Great question I know.