June 10th, What Will Change?

BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY STATUS COMING SOON...

Click for more art from Jordan Taylor Shwartz from Vibrant Shadows. 

On June 10th, the League of American Bicyclist (the countries oldest and largest bicycling organization) will unveil it's latest round of Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFCs). Boise will be one of them, and it's a pretty big freaking deal.

Is it going to change everything?

Will it take Boise to the top? 

Will Boise become recognized as a Platinum Level BFC? One of 5 in the Country?

The short but NOT simple answer is NO. We won't receive Platinum. We won't be at the very top. Everything won't change...at least not instantaneously. What will happen is, that for the first time in Boise's history, it will be nationally recognized as an official Bicycle Friendly Community. It will have an official starting point. It will have a road map to keep going and keep moving up. The bar will be set on June 10th, and on June 11th... we'll set the bar even higher.  

BUT WAIT...

Aren't we already a BFC? There are signs up all around town that've said "Bicycle Friendly Community" for years?

Yah, some of the signs also say 2009, a little outdated. You see, ACHD (Ada County Highway Department) has been applying for bicycle friendly community status for the County for several years. Originally Ada County received a Bronze status and then reapplied a couple years later and was awarded Silver. It's great that ACHD took the initiative to do this, but what sort of representation does that give to the various parts of the County? What sort of roadmap does this create for the individual cities? It doesn't. And even though the County applying is better than no one applying, it's still a bummer. In fact, of the 100s of BFCs around the country, there's only a couple that been awarded to counties rather than individual cities. Here's why it's problematic. 

THE BURBS...

Are Meridian and Eagle as "Bicycle Friendly" as Boise? I don't think so. Does Garden City face different challenges than Star and Kuna? Probably so.

Again, hats off to ACHD for getting the ball rolling, but what the cities in Ada County really need is to apply for their own individual status (like Boise just did) so they can know where they stand and have a toolset (feedback from the League) that identifies their strengths, their weaknesses, the easy next steps, and the long term goals they need to be working on. 

I currently live near Downtown Boise. It's close to where I work and it fits my lifestyle. It may seem like I bag on living in the "burbs," (because I often do and driving down Eagle Road gives me high blood pressure), but at one point I had horses, chickens, and farmland in Eagle and I thought it was the shit. I don't have those things now, so it no longer tickles my fancy, but that doesn't mean I don't care about them.  The truth is, these areas have huge barriers for walking and biking to overcome because they were designed around the automobile, with faster speeds, wider intersections, and smaller shoulders. When I was young, this wasn't so bad but that's because there was a quarter of the traffic. Now it's a little scary, actually terrifying in some places, and that's not ok. 

This is exactly why individual cities, not the County, should be applying for their own Bicycle Friendly Community status. So they can identify and address their own needs. They won't do this unless their citizens ask for it though. They won't do it unless YOU ask. Whether you live in Eagle, Meridian, Star, Kuna, Boise, or Garden City, we're all using the road, paying for the roads (through property and gas tax), and should all want our streets to be safe for all types of road users.

THINK WE, NOT ME...

While some of us (including myself) have the choice to walk, bike, or drive to our daily activities, some folks don't. For some kids in our community, participating in after school programs (wrestling, band, yearbook, soccer, study groups, etc.) means they're walking or biking home, because the bus is gone, and their folks aren't coming to pick them up. For those choosing to drive, don't forget that making it easier for others to walk and bike also means less cars on the road for you. If you're like me and hate driving in traffic, that sounds pretty damn good for everyone. 

This blog, this initiative, is about Boise, but Boise is a lot bigger than just the downtown core. If Boise is really going to be a Bicycle Friendly Community, it means connecting the core to the suburbs, and connecting the suburbs to the neighboring cities. No roads/paths to nowhere and better paths to the core!

Last week's CALL TO ACTION...

Last week I asked you to email Mayor Bieter, and ask him to announce Boise’s “Bicycle Friendly Community” status during his State of the City Address. Thank him for his formation of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee and ask him to task the Committee to come up with an initiative that will take Boise to the next award level. If you forgot, do it now. Here's his email: Mayor@cityofboise.org

 

NEW CALL TO ACTION...

For the next few days. I want you think about where you live (the city) and what other city you interact with most. Do you visit your sister in Kuna, do you work in Meridian, do you ride on the Green Belt through Garden City on the weekends. How do you get from here to there? That's all you have to do for now. Identify what two cities (one you live in and another you go to) you interact with most in Ada County, think on it, and stay tuned for next week. 

For a bonus action item, there's one more thing. Next time you ride you bike (anywhere) take a picture and post it to facebook.  Tag it... #RideOnBoise! Let's start making this a habit...a rallying cry for the identity we want for Boise

#RideOnBoise!

-Jimmy Hallyburton