By David Callahan

As 2006 dawns, the people of Chicagoland face great opportunities to increase their physical activity. And with fuel prices and obesity both on the rise, there are plenty of incentives to build bicycling into one’s life.

For the past three years, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation has approached each new year with a list of resolutions of sorts, called the Top 10 Initiatives.
The Top 10 Initiatives for 2006 recognizes these opportunities and seeks to support the regional demand for bicycling accommodations, while marketing bike transportation and active living to a wider public. Nearly half of our list is comprised of new initiatives that anticipate and capitalize on a generational shift in attitudes toward bicycling transportation and pedestrian access.

Our Top 10 list also includes some unfinished business that is carried over from 2005, such as reversing the 1998 Illinois Supreme Court decision, Boub v. Wayne Township, which stripped bicyclists of their rights on Illinois roads.

But one item you won’t see this year is getting permanent bicycle access on Metra trains, because the Metra board approved this measure in October.
With some 2006 initiatives, there already is substantial progress. For example, CBF recently received funding from the Polk Bros. Foundation to run a pilot version of Go Healthy! in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood.

In this issue, as in subsequent ones, we focus on one of these initiatives, discussing why each is important and what CBF is doing to accomplish its goals. This month, we discuss Initiative 5, to “engage women and people of diverse ethnicities in bicycling and the work of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.”

CBF can accomplish these goals only with the support of its members, so please make a monetary or volunteer contribution to the initiative (or initiatives) of your choice.

At the recent CBF annual members meeting, dozens of members participated in an exercise where they laid out ways in which members can be involved in each initiative. This was a productive event, and we hope that those who could not attend will contact the CBF to discuss their participation in our Top 10 List. If you want to get involved, contact David Callahan at (312) 427-3325, ext. 288, or david@biketraffic.org.

And now, here is your Chicagoland Bicycle Federation Top 10 List of Initiatives for 2006 ( * denotes item carried over from 2005):

1. Establish Complete Streets as the standard for all transportation projects, planning and funding. Complete streets are safe and comfortable for all modes of travel, including walking, bicycling and public transit.*

This is an idea that’s blossoming on several fronts. There’s a bill moving forward in the General Assembly that would require the state to build mult-modal accomodations into all projects. In Chicago, the city’s Bike 2015 Plan calls for Complete Streets implementation, so CBF will work with the Chicago Department of Transportation to see it through. We’ll also pursue municipal and county policies modeled after DuPage’s Healthy Roads Initiative, particularly in communities we consult on bike plans and Safe Routes to School work.

2. Launch the Drive with Care Campaign to rescue communities from reckless driving through a region-wide initiative that promotes and coordinates education, design and enforcement solutions.*

“Launch” is the big word here. There are lots of good ideas. The trick is to knit them together into a comprehensive plan. We will work with Chicago as it develops automated speed enforcement and expands red light cameras. We will court partners nationally to do the heavy lifting on media and mass marketing. We will expand best-practice sharing and training on local traffic calming and enforcement campaigns. The Healthy Streets Conference will play a big role in this. A new Healthy Streets Web site and related media activities will form the basis of the branding activities that bring this all together. Recently, Cicero and Lansing (with prodding from CBF) applied for federal transportation enhancements funding to develop a campaign to reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities.

3. Grow bicycling advocacy’s influence among local, state and national political leaders.

We started this by expansino of the CBF board. We continue to get buy-in from leaders in the Healthy Streets Campaign and individual initiatives.

4. Promote bicycling and walking through Go Healthy!, a project that offers physical activity prescriptions, individualized information, and incentives to people who want to drive less and travel in ways that improve health and well-being.*

Go Healthy! is an intervention program that works with families interested in changing their travel behavior to incorporate more bicycling, walking and transit into their routine. Travel coaches will work with individual families to give them the tools they need to bike, walk or use transit. The pilot program focuses on a population within the Logan Square neighborhood.

5. Engage women and people of diverse ethnicities in bicycling and the work of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.*

This will only happen if there is attention in every aspect of our work: volunteer and member recruitment, event marketing, education programs, newsletter stories, etc. There is already emphasis in this area in Go Healthy, Sunday Parkways, Build and Ride, Safe Routes to School, and the South Side and Southland campaigns. (see related story)

6. Ensure that the new federal Safe Routes to School funding has the maximum impact in Northeast Illinois in encouraging youth to safely walk and bike to school.

The Safe Routes to School Task Force is set up to work on this, under the supervision of CBF staffer Melody Geraci. The Task Force is comprised of municipal, state and county officials plus school officials, PTA and community leaders.

7. Stage Chicagoland’s first Sunday Parkways, a new event that seeks to dramatically increase participants’ physical activity by closing arterial streets to motorized vehicles and opening them only to bicycling, walking, skating, and non-motorized travel.*

This enormous and timely opportunity to highlight accessible, healthy living in Chicago requires us to first win politically, realizing the common goals we hold with governmental and community-based organizations. We are currently engaged in promising conversations with the city of Chicago, and Mayor Richard M. Daley directed the Department of Environment to conduct a feasibility study.

8. Reverse the 1998 Boub decision to encourage towns to add bike facilities and designate bike routes and to restore liability protection for on-road bicyclists in Illinois.*

Again, we only need a little more to win. We are optimistic for the January session of the Illinois General Assembly.

9. Advance Build & Ride and other programs that encourage underserved youth to be more physically active and develop workplace skills through bicycle use and maintenance training.

This after-school bicycle building and job skills training program draws high schoolers from Logan Square, Garfield Park, West Town and Douglas Park. It is a huge success. Students who have never ridden bicycles become proficient in bicycle mechanics and city mobility, coupling bicycles with transit and becoming acquainted with bicycle resources and facilities in their neighborhoods and the city.

10. Expand activities which elevate bicycling within our culture by celebrating bicycling’s vital relationship to food, shopping, entertainment, work, recreation and daily life. Veggie Bike and Dine, anyone? We also debuted the Musical Miles Ride to Ravinia last year and launched popular Shop by Bike campaigns in Oak Park, Glen Ellyn and Forest Park last summer. And, of course, we’ll continue the insanely-popular Bike Culture Lecture Series at the Chicago Cultural Center.