Hi {{ FirstName | default: 'Friend' }},
Allow me to introduce myself: As of this month, I’m the new board chair. I’m very proud to lead the capable team we’ve assembled. I’m also stepping into a big pair of shoes—Allison Shauger, the outgoing chair, graced us with a constellation of talents, not least her amazing communication skills and a strong sense of purpose that guided us through a year of transition, from all volunteers to a staffed organization. Last year, she moved to Pennsylvania, and we’re fortunate that she’s choosing to stay with us remotely, in a lighter capacity, for another year.
And, what a year we’re expecting! At some point, we’ll get back to meeting in-person (right?). If we can remember how, we’ll even go back to living “normal” lives. (Remember movies? Concerts? Handshakes? Hugs?) The big change in Washington—a huge weight off the shoulders of at least 81% of Durham County voters—should have local downstream effects, in terms of funding and legislation in line with our priorities.
For our part, Bike Durham has kicked off the year with our own big changes: We nearly doubled our board by adding five new members, each of whom brings a formidable set of talents. Executive Director John Tallmadge, the very model of a one-man workforce, has come up with dozens of strategies to fulfill our mission statement, and with your help, Bike Durham will continue leading the charge for mobility justice. We’re lending our voice to decisions made at the city, county, MPO, and state levels; we’re forging connections with local organizations and neighborhood groups, building strength through unity; and, looking inward, we’re reimagining our board composition and structure as we build toward becoming a bigger, more diverse organization.
We hope you’ll stay with us as we fight to make Durham’s streets safer and healthier for everyone, and make transit better for those who use it most. In the coming months, we’ll send action alerts with ways you can help. And do let us know if you’d like to get more involved with the board, with committee work, or via other volunteer opportunities by filling out the form here.
Looking forward,
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Marc Maximov, Board Chair
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Bike Durham Community Meeting
Bike Durham hosted our monthly community meeting on February 17th. Eighty-two community members registered to join the event. For those unable to participate, we missed your presence but we're sharing a link to the recording (passcode is c3jEl$@s) so that you can still meet our great board members, learn about our strategic plan and advocacy efforts and hear about two super organizations doing great work in our community - Black Girls Do Bike and Triangle BikeWorks.
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Celebrating a win for the Merrick Moore Neighborhood
Bike Durham stood in solidarity with the Merrick Moore neighborhood in their recent opposition to a nearby annexation and rezoning request. The Durham City Council voted to deny the request. We consider this a win because in supporting Ms. Bonita Green and the Merrick-Moore neighborhood, BikeDurham helped to elevate a conversation within our local government about the importance of having a complete network of safe, affordable, and sustainable transportation infrastructure.
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Thank you to Ms. Bonita Green and the Merrick-Moore neighborhood residents. We are grateful for the opportunity to support you in advocating for safe transportation infrastructure.
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Gregson Street Restriping Reconsidered
Conversations that Bike Durham initiated with the NC Department of Transportation and the City of Durham’s Transportation department on the importance of extending the buffered bike lane on Gregson Street all the way to the intersection with W. Chapel Hill Street has led to reconsideration of the proposed design. The buffered bike lane will connect to the intersection and the existing bike lanes on W. Chapel Hill St which will help to mitigate right-hook collisions.
Thank you to the City Transportation Department staff and to John Sandor, NCDOT District Engineer for Durham, who was open to a creative solution.
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Take Action
Bike Durham advocates at the local, state, and federal levels for your interests in a safe, affordable, sustainable transportation system for everyone. There are opportunities nearly every week to influence project designs, plans, policies, or funding priorities. To realize our vision, we need to build power together. Join our growing list of action takers.
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March 18 is Transit Employee Appreciation Day
Use this link to send a note of appreciation to Durham’s transit and paratransit employees. We’ll deliver the messages on March 18, the anniversary of the date that horse-drawn vehicles (the very first buses) are believed to have debuted in Paris in 1662. We will also hand out Thank You Card kits to people at Durham Station that they can fill out and give to operators. If you can volunteer to prepare or hand out the kits, please contact volunteer@bikedurham.org.
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Transit Equity Campaign
The Transit Equity Campaign is pushing forward in its community engagement and asking the transit agencies to measure outcomes that matter. We’re undertaking a storytelling video project with transit riders in Durham. To uplift more voices, the Transit Equity Campaign is seeking to host a community event with neighbors to listen to transit experiences and needs of both transit riders and transit workers. Join the Transit Equity Campaign to learn more about ongoing efforts and partake in the campaign.
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March 2 Day of Action to #SaveTransit
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major hit to transit agencies across the country, while revealing just how important it is to essential workers who rely on it to get to the jobs and services that we all rely on. Last Friday night the U.S. House of Representatives finally passed their COVID Relief Package, The American Rescue Plan, which includes $30 billion for public transit. This would take the nation a long way towards the $39.3 billion identified by transit agencies, big and small, as needed to keep transit moving through 2023.
Now it's the Senate's turn. There is a narrow majority and some Senators have said the package is too big. Bike Durham is working together through the National Campaign for Transit Justice to keep the pressure on to:
1) Keep the $30 billion for transit in the package, and
2) Pass the relief bill as soon as possible. Our communities need urgent relief, and so does transit.
You can join others around the country in taking action to #SaveTransit by sending an email to our Senators Burr and Tillis.
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Durham Drumbeat
Safe Routes to Schools
Bike Durham has been awarded a 1-year contract to manage the City of Durham’s Safe Routes to Schools Program. We’ll evaluate the student population and infrastructure within 1-2 miles surrounding Durham's public elementary schools, support Bike/Walk to School events, and provide a curriculum to teach safe biking and walking skills to students in the 4th and 5th grades at these schools, prioritizing schools in underserved communities. This opportunity allows us to broaden our education programming and build relationships with the public school system.
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Safe & Healthy Streets Campaign
Bike Durham members and supporters have helped to elevate the importance of safe and healthy streets by letting the City Council know last year that funding needs to be increased for safe walking and biking facilities. This has resulted in discussion amongst Council members at their recent budget retreat about how to fund a major Equitable Green Infrastructure package. We are transitioning our individual actions into a sustained campaign for Safe & Healthy Streets. Our goal is build a broad coalition working to see equitable funding and implementation of a Durham-wide network for safe walking, biking, and rolling. We're excited to share more information about the campaign later this Spring.
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Join the April Bike Durham Community Meeting
Register for the next Bike Durham Community Meeting on April 15 where we will discuss priorities for investing about $1 billion in Durham Transit tax revenues and next steps in the Safe & Healthy Streets campaign. We'll also have announcements about May's Bike Month activities.
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Executive Director, John T, featured in the Durham Shared Streets video. Check it out.
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What we learned tracking cycling deaths for a year
Outside magazine and BikeMaps.org analyzed the data on bicyclists killed by drivers in 2020. What they found might surprise you. Read more here.
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Bicycle helmets for children
Organizations across the state of North Carolina will receive 11,850 lifesaving bicycle helmets through the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Bicycle Helmet Initiative, part of ongoing efforts to reduce bicycle injuries and deaths in North Carolina. Read more about the roll out here.
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Five Ideas for Greater Transit Equity
This NextCity article explains why transportation planning without equity is a "road to nowhere" and provides 5 concrete suggestions for bringing equity into transit decision-making. Read more here.
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Copyright © 2020 Bike Durham, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for our mailing list on our website or at a Bike Durham meeting or event.
Our mailing address is:
Bike Durham
P.O. Box 25236
Durham, NC 27702
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