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Thursday, November 19, 2009
City of Austin gets Bicycle Friendly Business award
This just in from the City of Austin:
City of Austin receives prestigious national Bicycle Friendly Business award
Austin, TX - The City of Austin can now count itself as one of the best businesses in the country to work for if you are a bicycling commuter. The League of American Bicyclists announced 45 new Bicycle Friendly Business award winners at the end of September, including the City of Austin.
The BFB program recognizes socially responsible organizations who promote healthy, green workplaces that encourage employees to ride their bikes. The City of Austin is currently the only city in Texas to receive the award and is one of only three government entities in the nation designated.
BFB businesses make bicycle friendliness a core element in the workplace and use innovative tools to promote bicycling as an easy and fun option for transportation and recreation.
“There are a lot of very simple, effective and creative ways that companies are finding to get people back on their bikes, and we recognize those efforts with our BFB awards,” said League President Andy Clarke.
The City of Austin offers a variety of programs and facilities to promote cycling as an alternative commuting solution. A bike share program through the Austin Energy Climate Protection program called City Cycle allows employees to check out bikes and ride to meetings or appointments. There are also locker room and shower facilities in many city buildings to assist commuters.
The PE Bike program is a free fitness initiative for employees to attend indoor cycling classes and a League bicycle education component, Traffic Skills 101. The training is held in-house and led by City of Austin League certified instructors. Over 150 employees have completed the seven-hour training since the programs inception in January 2008. This all helps City employees be better stewards of the roadways, whether driving a bike or a car.
Mayor Lee Leffingwell will receive the award this evening at City Council during Proclamations. On hand to present the Bicycle Friendly Business Award is the Executive Director of Education for the League, Preston Tyree.
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Bicycles banned on Manor road
Did you read that Manor has adopted a city ordinance banning bicycles from a half-mile stretch of Brenham Street, also known as Blake Manor Road?
That sets a terrible precedent for cyclists.
Ban bikes from a rough stretch of public road in Manor today and who knows what roads will be off-limits to cyclists tomorrow.
“From our perspective … banning any legitimate road user from public infrastructure is never the correct solution, as it sets an ominous precedent for us all,” Lane Wimberley of the League of Bicycling Voters wrote me in an email. “The correct response is to figure out what needs to be done to accommodate the legitimate demand.”
City leaders adopted the ordinance on Oct. 21, saying they had concerns about safety and liability because the two-lane road is cracked and in bad repair. BikeTexas, the Austin Cycling Association, and the League of Bicycling Voters all say the solution to bad roads is not to ban cyclists, but to fix the roads.
Enforcement will begin at the end of the month at the earliest. Violators can be fined up to $200.
Read the entire story in the Austin American-Statesman here.
This is discouraging news.
Bicyclists are tax payers and have a legal right to the road. To ban them is wrong.
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