Biking in downtown Los Angeles
Last week I was in Los Angeles, California attending a Winning Campaigns Training put on by the Alliance for Biking & Walking. It was an incredible experience as 28 bike/pedestrian advocates (I was the sole representative from Idaho) spent three days working on their campaigns, hearing about one another's specific challenges, and helping one another muscle through various transportation issues. As you can imagine, the complexities of advocating for bicycle and pedestrian issues in such a car centric area as southern California are immense, but the enthusiasm and energy from everyone was infectious. Clearly, this passion is what has enabled them to have come so far in their respective missions.
The highlight of the weekend was the bike tour of L.A. LA County Bike Coalition (LACBC) has done extraordinary work in Los Angeles over the last 13 years to make the city more bike friendly. Some of the streets we toured, for those of you familiar with L.A., were 7th Street, 4th Street, Sunset Blvd, Melrose and Wilshire Blvd.
You can check out the LACBC's full blog post here with workshop photos. Thanks Bridghid from ABW, Ron from Ron Millam Consulting, and our welcoming hosts, the LACBC. And best of luck to every advocacy group to reach your campaign.
My board and I are working hard here in Idaho to make my home state more bike and pedestrian friendly. After seeing what can be done in other areas, I have brought home fresh ideas and energy. We face issues here in Idaho which may be different from what is faced in larger urban states, but all are challenging in their own right.
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