WABA Quick Release

Posts Tagged ‘“East of the Anacostia”’

As our Mobile bike shop came to a close this Sunday, many who attended stayed behind to help The Bike House pack up their tools and supplies, and continue conversations about bicycling in their neighborhoods. A total of 20 bicycles were brought back to life throughout the day.

Bike ridership is growing in DC’s Wards 7 & 8 and the Washington Informer has caught on to the story.  In their article “Residents East of the River Turn to Bikes”, the Informer outlines our East of the River campaign.  Writer Elton Hayes was on hand for our Mobile Bike Shop on June 19th at Skyland Shopping Center which sits on the border of Wards 7 & 8.

The article describes the campaign and the purpose of the mobile bike shop, “With WABA’s grassroots efforts, bike ridership numbers across the Anacostia River will likely continue to increase. As these numbers grow, a larger collective voice will resound in Wards 7 and 8 as residents demand more bike lanes, increased bike trails and cycling amenities afforded to residents in other areas of the city.”

This was captured best by one of  mobile bike shop attendees, Tyra Blake, mother of a 10-year-old son from the Fairfax Village neighborhood, “there are hardly any bike lanes. We need them. We need them badly.”

Read the complete article online here.

Congress Heights residents of all ages and all cycling experience  joined us at our mobile bike shop this past Sunday. A total of 40 bikes were repaired and an impromptu fix-a-flat class was taught to a group of children by a gentleman who came to get work done on his own bike!

In addition to providing  accessible services and the chance to learn the basics of bike maintenance, these shops serve as an opportunity to find out how WABA can better serve the car-centric neighborhoods in Ward 7 and Ward 8 and encourage new voices to enter the conversation.

The East of the River program is gaining momentum with each mobile bike shop.  We spent Memorial Day working on bikes with The Bike House and over 20 local cyclists outside the Anacostia pool.  So far we’ve put almost 60 bikes back on the road, taught a dozen cyclists to ride, and provided routing and safety information to many.

Our bike giveaway drawing is now closed with over 70 entries for one of our 5 bike packages, including: a Jamis Commuter 1 bicycle, OnGuard Bulldog Mini U-lock and cable, and helmet.

We will be judging the entries in the next week and making decisions on recipients of these bike packages and the 20 Capital Bikeshare memberships.

(Thank you to our many donors to the East of the Anacostia Program.  We are also extremely appreciative of the in-kind support from BicycleSPACE for the discounting and assembling of these bicycles, OnGuard for providing the locks, and DDOT for supplying helmets.)

Last Saturday, WABA held a Learn to Ride class for adults and a Mobile Bike Shop at Anacostia Public Library.  After weeks of community-based outreach from our Bike Ambassadors and dedicated neighbors, the turnout was excellent.  You can read more about the Learn to Ride class HERE, as covered by DCentric.  Photos from the class and Mobile Bike Shop event are below.

We are grateful to all who donated to this program and enabled us to hold these outreach events.

For those keeping count:  This was our third East of the Anacostia class and second Mobile Bike Shop.  The classes are now complete for the season, but the Mobile Bike Shops will continue, and will be supplemented by a number of short rides.

And, of course, the bike and CaBi membership giveaway is still to come.

Approximately one month ago, we announced an ambitious plan to improve cycling and empower cyclists in parts of DC east of the Anacostia River.

Thanks to the generous contributions of many, we now know that we will be able to begin the program–but we have not yet reached our full goal.

Nonetheless, we plan to start immediately and not waste a beautiful spring for getting people on bikes.  We know that WABA supporters will come through if we demonstrate that we are serious about expanding cycling in Wards 7 and 8.

So let me tell you how serious we are:

Initially, we had planned to host five mobile bike shops in DC’s wards 7 and 8.  Now, with a commitment from The Bike House to increase our mechanical aptitude and outreach ability–we’re doubling that number.  We will have ten mobile bike shops East of the Anacostia this season.

We had planned classes to get riders onto bikes and teach them to ride safely.  We have already scheduled classes in Deanwood, Anacostia, and Benning, and we are taking registrations now.  If you live in Ward 7 or 8, come take a class, or forward this link to your friends and neighbors who do.

We have secured the twenty Capital Bikeshare memberships we plan to give away.

We have begun recruiting new staff, and have hired an Assistant Bicycle Ambassador to focus entirely on encouraging cyling East of the Anacostia.

We have secured commitment from Johns Hopkins University staff to conduct a Health Impact Assessment on targeted bicycle infrastructure in Ward 8.

But we have not fully achieved our needs.

We have not yet been able make our major capital purchase of this program: 10 sturdy and reliable bikes, 10 high-quality locks, and 30 helmets.

We have not yet secured a health professional to conduct the important health screenings of program participants.

We have not yet secured the all funding need to maintain the additional community-based Bike Ambassador staff east of the river through the full season.

We are well on our way, but these final items are critical to making this program work.  We are grateful for the contributions that our supporters have made and continue to make.  And we are excited to have gained enough support to begin the work.

But we still need a bit more to make it to the finish line and deliver the full 2011 East of the Anacostia program.

If you are able to contribute to WABA’s 2011 East of the Anacostia program, we would appreciate your continued support.

Thank you.

On Saturday, we took off on a twenty mile ride to speak with Ward 8 residents about our East of the Anacostia initiative and recruit area cyclists and partners.

On Friday, we did a similar ride through Ward 7.

We’re finding lots of people excited about our program, but we haven’t yet met our goal to fund the full project. If you are able to contribute, we would appreciate your support. Every bit helps.

View

Alabama Ave HIA in a larger map
Tomorrow, Gina Arlotto (our Safe Routes to School Network Organizer) will be conducting a site visit with Dr. Keshia Pollock, Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University Department of Health Policy and Management to begin work on a Health Impact Assessment for a potential bike lane on a 2 mile stretch of Alabama Avenue in Southeast DC. This bike lane would connect two off-road bike trails–Oxon Run and Suitland Parkway–plus connect residents to three health care facilities, two full service grocery stores, nine schools, multiple recreation centers, and the Congress Heights metro station. Incorporating a Health Impact Assessment into our arsenal of advocacy tools makes sense as we already promote cycling as a healthy lifestyle activity, but getting the data we need to empower residents and decision-makers is crucial. The Health Impact Assessment process is increasingly being used to evaluate and analyze how our built environment impacts on our physical health. Creating more bike facilities in Wards 7 and 8 is a WABA priority as we try to keep the momentum in bicycle transportation going in DC.

This sort of facility–which creates a functional, affordable transportation alternative and can provide access to health care, food, schools, community buildings, and transit–is exactly the sort of facility that helps to build communities by providing car-free access to necessities and amenities, and enabling those without private vehicles a reliable connection to the transportation network and jobs.

We believe those are good enough reasons to implement such a bicycle facility.  But we hope that Dr. Pollock’s analysis will make that case even stronger, and that the District will soon bring this facility to the current and future cyclists of Ward 8.

This project is part of WABA’s 2011 East of the Anacostia program.  To learn more or to lend your support to the project, click here.

As the spring riding season approaches, WABA is working to expand its offerings in underserved communities within our region–starting with DC’s Wards 7 and 8.  With major changes coming to the ward, from the South Capitol Street Trail and bridge to St. Elizabeth’s to Poplar Point and countless smaller projects, the developments that will change the face of  DC are being planned and implemented right now.

DC’s Ward 8 is a critical area for cycling, as there is currently no quality, cyclist-friendly connection from the Wilson Bridge Trail to and from the South Capitol Bridge.  In addition to this significant gap in the regional “bicycle beltway,” many neighborhoods in Ward 8 lack safe bicycling, as many of the major roadways encourage high-speed commuter traffic rather than safer, community-focused design elements that favor cyclists and pedestrians.

There are dedicated cyclists east of the river and WABA is committed to helping them, but we also are committed to enabling more residents to commute by bike.  And we need those new cyclists to become advocates for cycling in their community, so that when these major projects are being discussed, they are present to show local, community-based support for bicycling.

Growing cycling (and cycling advocates) in Wards 7 and 8 is the focus of WABA’s ambitious 2011 plan that will require time, dedication, and funding.

Here are the key elements of our plan:

We believe that this approach will lay the groundwork for more cyclists in this part of the District, which will in turn help us to  improve biking conditions in these wards and the region.

It is an ambitious program, estimated to cost roughly $45,000 to fully staff and fund.   If you are able to contribute to this program, we would appreciate your support.

If everyone who reads our blog and receives our emails gives $1, the program will be fully funded.

For $1, you can do your part while relying on everyone else to do theirs.
For $30, you can fund a helmet for one of our 30 new riders.
For $40, you can fund a lock for one of our new cyclists.
For $75, you can provide a Capital Bikeshare membership.
For $300, you can provide a reliable bicycle to someone committed to trying cycling.
For $1000, you can sponsor a ride for this community of new cyclists to join with WABA members and supporters on the road.
And for $4,000, you can fund an entire month of staff support for this critical outreach program.

We appreciate your continued support of expanded and improved bicycling in the region, and ask you to contribute to this program if you are able. We need your help to get this program off the drawing board and rolling through the streets of Anacostia.