Like so many other organizations, Cascade Bicycle Club has had to scale back and dramatically redesign how it does work during this outbreak.
After furloughing half its staff and surveying people about how they can help during this time, the organization released a four-point platform for its advocacy efforts.
From Cascade:
In the last few weeks, hundreds of you have shared that you’re biking more during the pandemic – for exercise and essential errands, to care for family, and for mental health or fun. That’s why our work to make biking safer and more accessible continues.
At the same time, the COVID-19 crisis has uncovered new needs for how we use our public spaces, and how we get around. That’s why, along with our existing priorities, we’re launching an advocacy platform for the COVID-19 era and beyond.
- Open up temporary spaces for people biking and walking now, and as we edge out of lockdown so that we can all safely walk and bike with physical distance between ourselves.
- Complete bike networks faster, not slower, as we start to move around our communities again and need a multi-modal transportation system that keeps us safe.
- Open Streets programs for the recovery. Cities can help reboot our local business districts, and local economies by bringing community and commerce together in streets that are open to people, closed to cars.
- An economic recovery centering – not sidelining – investments in biking, walking, multi-modal networks. Economic stimulus funding for transportation must include substantial dollars for projects that advance trails and on-street bike networks.
Read their post for more details about each point.
Comments
2 responses to “Cascade outlines its advocacy priorities during COVID-19”
I’ve been out riding 4 or 5 days a week during the pandemic. I’m avoiding trails like the Burke Gilman, because they’re crowded. I’ve been enjoying the streets, because they aren’t crowded. I’m seeing a lot of other folks bicycling and walking, including many young children. Seattle has become kind of a non-motorized paradise.
I worry about the transportation choices people will make as we begin to open back up. I think it will be months or years before transit ridership recovers, so that isn’t a viable option. I’m concerned that instead folks will get back in their cars, and traffic will be significantly worse than before the pandemic. I can only hope that working remotely has become sufficiently normalized that significantly fewer people will return to the daily commute.
Thank you to Cascade for continuing active advocacy while needing to cancel all the big rides that that pay for staff and programs. These are great messages to send to our state and local governments. in West Seattle, we are facing the double whammy of the virus and loss of the WS Bridge. Having safe routes for people on bikes is a necessary part of our recovery. Please sign Cascade’s petition and consider some extra support if you can.