Downtown Austin Plan and Imagine Austin
Social Marketing
Advocacy Efforts in Austin
Bike Programs at Schools
Engaging Diversity
Advocate Training
Adult Cycling Education
Infrastructure Overview
Working for Regional Connectivity
Downtown Austin Plan and Imagine Austin
Secretary: Susan Wilcox
Facilitators: Paul DiGuiseppe, Dave Sullivan, Jana McCann
Key Ideas/Topics:
Imagine Austin: Need for new plan, process, major goals and topic areas; working groups that are a place for involvement
DAP: Major goals, steps for next ten years, multi-modal network, facilities for all riders, code amendments
Post-Summit Goals: Ongoing; attendees can get involved by contacting either group
Post-Summit Lead Contact: Imagine Austin: Paul DiGuiseppe; DAP: Jana McCann
Post-Summit Working Group Name: Imagine Austin Working Groups; Public DAP meetings
Post-Summit Meeting Info: Imagine Austin: sign up for email alerts; DAP: Planning Commission April 26, City Council May 26, City Council Adoption early June
Post Summit likely collaborating organizations: TBD
Workshop Notes:
Imagine Austin
- Background of Imagine Austin, applicability to cyclists
- Current plan is out of date (from 1979)
- Projecting to add 750K people in next 20-30 years
- Comprehensive Plan: Covers general issues and growth, not detailed or specific
- Process: Phase 1 (kick-off) completed in Oct 2009, Phase 2 (framework) completed March 2011, Phase 3 (creation) underway
- Consistent public input
- Livable, natural and sustainable, mobile, prosperous, value and respect people, creative , educated
- Seven topic areas are as follows:
- 1. Land use and transportation (must think about these together)
- 2. Housing and neighborhoods
- 3. Economy
- 4. Conservation and environmental resources
- 5. Society
- 6. City facilities and services
- 7. Culture
Downtown Austin Plan
- Comprehensive, integrating elements of a great city
- Seven transformative steps in next 10 years:
- 1. Initiate a next generation of downtown signature parks
- 2. Complete the first phase of urban rail
- 3. Rethink 6th Street as a destination for everyone
- 4. Provide permanent supportive housing
- 5. Invest in downtown infrastructure and water quality
- 6. Amend the land development code
- 7. Create an entity to implement the plan
- Create multi-modal network with certain streets as cycling priority
- Convert most streets to two-way
- Make all streets bike-friendly
- Create facilities that attract riders of all levels
- Bike priority streets
- Code amendments: require employment developments of a certain size to provide showers; limit curb cuts; require developers to implement “great streets”; limit parking development
Social Marketing
Secretary: Susan Wilcox
Facilitator: Pete Dahlberg
Key Ideas/Topics: Brainstorming, spreading the message
Post-Summit Goals: Direct ambassadors with downtown workers; hashtags; be the message; Google group; list of email addresses
Post-Summit Lead Contact: TBD
Post-Summit Working Group Name: TBD
Post-Summit Meeting Info: Google group?
Post Summit likely collaborating organizations: TBD
Workshop Notes
- Which comes first? Build it and they will come?
- Cycling subcultures=not the formula
- Other countries’ examples
- Social marketing refers to end goal, not menas
- What are selling points for cycling?
- No: green movement, health
- Yes: money, time, stress, sexiness, interaction, journey, carry own weight
Brainstorming selling points
- Fun
- Quality of life
- Eat whatever you want
- Address concerns: safety, routes
- Gas prices
- Freedom
- Adventure
- Wash up/Casual attire
- Downtown workers
- Commuter Buddy Program
- Normality (peer pressure?)
- Carrying capacity
- Use bikes to do crazy things
- Sitting in traffic
- Hashtags
Brainstorming messages
- Community Building
- Hashtags
- Normality
- Use (carrying stuff)
- Riding
- Burn fat, not gas: Ride a bike
Advocacy Efforts in Austin
Secretary: Marisa Newell
Facilitator: Tom Wald
Key Ideas/Topics:
- What roles do major advocacy groups play in city planning and how can they better cooperate together?
- What’s the advantage to working within an organization versus as an individual?
- How can we elicit interest from people who want to get involved but don’t know how?
- What’s going on at the national level?
Post-Summit Goals:
- Get new folks tapped into the cycling community
- Continue to communicate effectively amongst all groups
- Listserv/email discussion
- Connect to Austin EcoNetwork for additional mapping
- Cheat sheet for advocacy organization
Post-Summit Lead Contact: TBD
Post-Summit Working Group Name: TBD
Post-Summit Meeting Info: TBD
Post-Summit likely collaborating organizations: LOBV, ACA, YBP, BikeTexas
Workshop Notes:
- So many organizations are available with similar/different goals, so it helps for individuals to choose the groups that are most in line with their personal interests.
- It’s great to have so many groups working toward similar goals because it enables better presence and illustrates solidarity in advocacy movements.
- The cycling community is as diverse as the city of Austin itself.
- It can be overwhelming to tap into the bike advocacy scene if you’re not sure what you’re looking and due to the number of groups. How can groups be more inviting to newcomers?
- Listservs are a good way to get easy information about involvement
- Maybe having an advocacy “sheat sheet” could be helpful. This would be easy, condensed information about what each group is all about and how to get involved. It could be distributed to/by all bike organizations.
- The larger, national advocacy groups work very cohesively. However, the local level is equally important for advocacy.
- It’s important to remember that this is all about cycling; it shouldn’t be separatist because we are all inspired by one commonality.
Bike Programs at Schools
Secretary: Marisa Newell
Facilitator: Leslie Luciano
Key Ideas/Topics
- Bike programming, including after-school, safe routes, PE 3, and Boltage
- If you can’t reach the parents you can at least make an impact on the children
- Main idea: Get the kids onto bikes and encourage as a regular practice
- How can community members get involved?
Post-Summit Goals: You can: promote Boltage and other kids’ bicycling efforts, donate time/money, and encourage parent/school support
Post-Summit Lead Contact: TBD
Post-Summit Working Group Name: TBD
Post-Summit Meeting Info: TBD
Post Summit likely collaborating organizations: YBP and Bike Texas
Workshop Notes:
Doug Ballew—Safe Routes to School
- Federally-funded program
- Idea is to increase the number of kids who walk/bike to school (which is currently at 13%)
- Many benefits: Healthier children, less traffic congestion at school, good for the environment, education/awareness
- Education: Bike skills rodeos (for safe cycling), train-the-trainer (bike handling and other safety)
- Encouragement: International walk/bike to school day, helmet coloring, bike clubs, Boltage
- Enforcement: Good relationship with APD (officers completed bike safety course), attendance at community forums
- Evaluation: Tally survey, parent survey, staying abreast of trends
Dani Slabaugh—Yellow Bike Project School Program Coordinator
- Afterschool programs allow kids to access free/cheap bikes
- Ideally, kids will endure a maintenance training class and eventually earn a bike (yellowbiketoolsforlife.blogspot.com)
- Apprenticeship with Rangers, allowing kids to pinpoint issues on bikes that need fixing
- Indtroducing bike culture
- DIY
- Taking control of one’s transportation
- Main problems/barriers: Lacking parent involvement and school support, awareness, perception of values, different levels of prioritizing, lack of resources (kids don’t have their own bikes)
Leslie Luciano—Director of Advocacy, Bicycle Sport Shop
- Why? The more people you get on bikes, the more bikes will sell
- Concerning Boltage (boltage.org)
- Started off very slowly, hard to get people interested (unsafe, uninterested, unnecessary)
- Once it got rolling, details better fleshed out
- Bicycle incentive program for kids
- Helps to reduce congestion, stay fit, raise awareness, etc.
- For the first time a kid’s generation has a lower life expectancy than the one before
Engaging Diversity
Secretary: Marisa Newell
Facilitator:Eileen Schaubert
Key Ideas/Topics
- How do we engage more diversity in cycling community (including safety, accessibility, and awareness)?
- How to advertise the benefits?
- How to remedy barriers?
- Start by talking with people about their activity, perceptions, etc.
- Get people involved, empowered, and educated
- What about language barriers?
- Immigrant defense programs will collaborate for effective communication, resource sharing
- UT group’s efforts will foster school program involvement
Post-Summit Goals: TBD
Post-Summit Lead Contact: TBD
Post-Summit Working Group Name: TBD
Post-Summit Meeting Info: TBD
Post-Summit likely collaborating organizations: LOBV, ACA, YBP, BikeTexas
Workshop Notes:
Transportation, accessibility, and equality
- Class project at UT
- Current focus is health (data on obesity shows dominance in African-American communities)
- Currently tapping national organization to get involved with smaller community projects (NAACP, etc)
- Project area is between MLK and 7th and between I-35 and Airport Bolvd
- Community is important; people lending time, getting together, collaborating
- Infrastructure also important—more people would bike if it was safe
- Hardest part is changing perceptions/values (i.e. driving is cool when you’re 16)
Safe Routes to School
- Currently involved with ten schools in Austin
- Challenge to get the parents involved—many do not speak English
- Currently have radio ads/billboards in Spanish with information about the health enefits
Perceptions of Safety
- Perform a study before and after traffic skills class
- If you know how to ride safely you can survive the less-than-ideal infrastructure
Casa Marienella
- Recent immigrants, displaced folks
- Bikes really allow necessary mobility and freedom
- Working with YBP to obtain a small fleet for their use so they’ll need guidance on how to interact with their environment
Resources
- Safety (broken glass, unsavory characters)
- Empowerment (calling 311, viewing bikes as freedom)
- Personal satisfaction (eastside community not used to public/private support)
- Taking initiative to keep one’s community space clean and
Advocate Training
Secretary: Marisa Newell
Facilitator: Tom Wald
Key Ideas/Topics
- How can one create change in society?
- How to circumvent the ubiquitous car culture?
- Who “benefits” from sprawl and inefficient infrastructure?
- What is a personal role that can be taken on to encourage more change?
Post-Summit Goals:
- Open invite to next BAC meeting
- Further communication is welcome (with LOBV, etc.)
- What are your questions/concerns? Share them!
Post-Summit Lead Contact: TBD
Post-Summit Working Group Name: TBD
Post-Summit Meeting Info: TBD
Post-Summit likely collaborating organizations: LOBV, ACA, YBP, BikeTexas
Workshop Notes:
- People think they need cars; don’t think much about alternatives; much less advocating for them
- It’s challenging to determine what is most effective (not consistent)
- Important to remember that politicians can’t be expected to manifest an ideal, utopian society. Keep allies as allies.
- Careful where you express a concern. It’s best to just address specific programs when possible. Foster effective (direct) communication.
- Bicycle Advisory Council, Austin 311
- Attitude is also important (optimism, resilience, hope friendliness, etc.)
- Regular time commitments are important—projects take time!
- Remember that positive reinforcement is extremely effective. If you let people know that you noticed/appreciated their efforts, they’ll want to keep it up!
- With that in mind: Prioritize! Choose your battles. You can’t get everything done all at once obviously.
- It’s important to get involved with your neighborhood, too. Advocacy starts from the ground up. The City of Austin registry will illustrate your neighborhood’s activity.
- While it is good to get involved with an organization, don’t be afraid to be individually proactive. If no one else speaks up in opposition, then you’re in the majority!
Adult Cycling Education
Secretary: Susan Wilcox
Facilitator: Eileen Schaubert
Key Ideas/Topics: Brainstorming ways to get more people into courses and by extension, cycling instead of driving
Post-Summit Goals: Get in touch with Adult Education Committee with thoughts and suggestions
Post-Summit Lead Contact: Eileen Schaubert
Post-Summit Working Group Name: TBD
Post-Summit Meeting Info: TBD
Post Summit likely collaborating organizations: ACA and Adult Education Committee
Workshop Notes:
- Incentivizing cycling training courses
- Ways to configure a course that will work
- How to get companies to pay for a course?
- Find the right person in the company (employee health, sustainability, etc.)
- City mandating grant money (London)
- YBP is obligated by city lease to teach compressed Cycling 101 for city employees
- Intended 12, 30 signed up, 6 showed up; in the future will get a deposit to avoid so many no-shows in the future
- Target audience: people who ride bikes more (transportation), ended up with novices who were unsteady
- Plan to split it up into beginner and intermediate course
- Traffic Skills 101
- Mixed bag of attendees
- Not enough traffic to segment into skill level
- When possible: beginners residential, advanced downtown; beginners Sunday traffic advanced Saturday traffic
- Contacts with other organizations
- Corporate Wellness
- Pushback from non-cyclists
- Difficult to coordinate
- Time off incentive
- Varied demographic—many non-exercisers
- Scout-A-Route Rides
- Financial incentives
- Sneak in instruction on the ride
- Quiz before a ride?
- Target Specific Demographics
- Commuters
- Students?
- Do shorter riders, with segment of traffic skills?
- Neighborhood based?
- Limit popular rides to specific segments
- Get feedback from neighbors
- Use neighborhood association lists
- Orange Bike Project
- Possible class for renters
- Social ride—minutes, not miles
- How to get people taking a course?
- Appeal to money saving
- Social
- Alternative routes
- Make it fun
- Mobility—beat traffic
- Race between car and bike
- Confidence building
Infrastructure Overview
Secretary: Patrick Jones
Facilitators: Nathan Wilkes, Chad Crager
Key Ideas/Topics:
- Demystify what we do, take feedback, show new direction
- Look at percentage of populous biking, modal splits
- Portland example
- Increase system-wide comfort level
- Tools to use: bike lanes, sharrows, separated
- Advantages of bike lanes
- Improved connectivity, amenities
Post-Summit Goals: TBD
Post-Summit Lead Contact: Nathan Wilkes
Post-Summit Working Group Name: TBD
Post-Summit Meeting Info: TBD
Post Summit likely collaborating organizations: TBD
Workshop Notes:
- Discussion of bike map—comfort level vs. ease of use
- Where the bike lane ends. Why?
- Examples of work: Brodie, exposition
- Work with suburban municipalities, TXDOT, consultants litigation risk
- Sharrows—experiment in progress
- Opportunities for
- Identification ofd projects
- Public process for decisions
- Looking elsewhere (8-80 cities): Copenhagen, Victoria, Amsterdam, NYC, Spain (separated facilities)
- Call 311 for maintenance requests
- Talk about parking in lanes
- Austin examples: Exposition, Kramer Rd, Steck study, Manor Rd.
- Notable bike lanes
- Innovative facilities
Working for Regional Connectivity
Secretary: Emily Roberson
Facilitators: Greg Griffin, Tommy Eden, Pete Dahlberg, Chris Riley
Key Ideas/Topics:
- Forum for regional bicycle route topics (CAMPO)
- Maps and facilities corrections—online forms
- “Regionally significant roads”
- Bicycle compatibility Index (BCI)—national measure of comfort from 1-6
- Gaps in system
- Increase BCI
Post-Summit Goals: Regional bike paths, “bike capital of the world”, encouraging bike tourism, following up on map suggestions, signage
Post-Summit Lead Contact: Pete Dahlberg
Post-Summit Working Group Name: CAMPO
Post-Summit Meeting Info: Map info will be posted; CAMPO meeting monthly on the 2nd Monday (May 9)
Post Summit likely collaborating organizations: City government, Active Transportation Working Group (Greg Griffin) open forum, CAMPO