Hi Everyone,
You all have so much experience and insights from your daily observations
of the roads. I am glad that the ped forum motivated you to organize a
committee.
Now the key is to come to a consensus on what you'd like to focus on first
– a program, policy, project? We've found from working with other groups
throughout the state that once you've made an overall evaluation, breaking
it down into steps, concentrating on one initiative at a time, is what
brings about change.
A vision for your community can set the framework. Sometimes looking at
criteria that an organization like Walk Friendly Communities
<http://walkfriendly.org/> puts out, or the League of American Bicyclists
<https://www.bikeleague.org/content/about-league> that John mentioned can
help with ideas. You know your city best, and can provide the information
to local and state government on measures that could make the roads safer
and friendlier for people trying to get around there without a car.
Please let me know if the Bicycle Coalition of Maine can help whether it's
a Complete Streets policy you'd like to get Westbrook to enact or an
Imagine People Here temporary demonstration project you'd like to install
to show how a bike/ped facility improves road safety.
WSMAC has great energy, and there's a direct correlation between positive
energy and positive results!
Thanks,
Angela
On Fri, Feb 9, 2018 at 10:08 AM, John Brooking <johnbrooking4@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
In response to Leelee's morning email (I actually wrote this the other
night but wanted to give it a few days of reflection before sending it):
---------
I'm going to have to go a little further back and start with the fact that
about 15 years ago, I started riding my bicycle to work every day. I had
always been interested in the idea of biking for transportation, because of
the environmental advantages of it. But in the early stages of my adult
life, like many people, it was not a convenient option for me, so like most
others, I drove my car to work alone. When we later moved to Westbrook, I
found myself only 5 miles away from a stable office job, making an
alternative seem more possible. I initially looked into the Portland
Metrobus, but at the time, there was no direct route from Westbrook to the
mall area, so it would have taken changing buses in Portland, and total
about 45 minutes of travel time alone, not counting any connection wait.
Therefore, I tried biking and found that I really liked it. It takes me
about 25 minutes, versus 10-15 minutes by car. The most rewarding part of
bicycle transportation is feeling like I can get around anywhere under my
own power, relatively efficiently, without reliance on several tons of
complicated machinery requiring continuous feeding of gasoline.
My gradual immersion into bike culture led to, among other things, more
interest in bicycle advocacy, of which WSMAC is just one of the more recent
chapters. Most of my advocacy before WSMAC has been on a larger scale, with
the Bicycle Coalition of Maine and some national organizations, or in
Portland, since it has a larger bicyclist population than Westbrook does.
The BCM and Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System (PACTS, our
"metropolitan
planning organization
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_planning_organization>") has
actually been interested in establishing citizen committees in Westbrook
and other communities for some time. The Portland Bicycle/Pedestrian
Advisory Committee
<https://sites.google.com/site/portlandbikeandpedestrian/> has been in
existence for at least 15 years that I know of, and South Portland has had
one for maybe 6 years. I've attended meetings of both intermittently, but
am not active in either currently. While I knew of some advocates' desire
to have a similar group in Westbrook, I didn't feel particularly compelled
to unilaterally start one. I didn't want it to be all about me, all about
bikes, or all about bicycle infrastructure (since I'm not 100% sold on all
of it the way some advocates are). But when Leelee and others started
talking about starting some kind of committee, I felt that was probably my
cue to get involved as well. I'm glad to be along for the ride, and
hopefully being helpful in steering it!
Obviously, one of the contributions I want to make to the Committee, and
to Westbrook, is in the bicycle education area. I am an officially
certified bicycle educator for the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, the League
of American Bicyclists (LAB), and the American Bicycling Education
Association (ABEA), which administers the CyclingSavvy program which I
teach (mostly in Portland). I have also developed an amateur level
interest in traffic engineering as I've studied pros and cons of various
kinds of bicycle infrastructure such as bike lanes. You can read all my
bragging at my online bicycling resume
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TfZ0wLcTK9uhWr_7iP-bislKIsvduHGuBXoqDXinvTs/edit#>
.
Beyond bicycling, of course I also want to be able to support the
committee in issues around pedestrians, wheelchair users, sight-impaired
persons, and other non-motorized road users. In those areas, at this point
my main job is to learn from you all, help you sort through information and
options where I can, and participate in activity and actions. As newly
self-nominated chair of the Communications Committee, I can also bring some
familiarity with technology in administration of a website and development
of literature, along with some of the more artistic types on the Committee
who I will defer to for graphic and video content.
Motivation? Nothing dramatic, thankfully, mostly just ongoing observation
of the problems encountered regularly by non-motorized road users such as
lack of knowledge and due care on the part of motorists, and frequent lack
of attention to those problems on the part of traffic engineering
professionals, law enforcement, and the judicial system (to which lack of
knowledge also contributes). That's why I do this stuff. And lack of
knowledge also among bicyclists? That's why I teach CyclingSavvy!
- John