2011 National Bike Summit Review

Bike Delaware’s Frank Warnock attended the full League of American Bicyclists (LAB) 2011 National Bike Summit from March 8-10. Anthony Aglio, Delaware Department of Transportation’s (DelDOT) Bicycle Coordinator was also in attendance, invited by the League as a panelist for the breakout session “Follow the Money – Fundamentals of current Transportation Financing”. In what appears to be a growing pattern, this year’s summit set the mark in overall attendance, with approximately 700 taking part at Washington D.C.’s Grand Hyatt (Metro Center). Featured speakers included NYC Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, among others.

Frank with Mia Birk – author, professor, planner, and advocate originally from Dallas, TX and major player in bike friendly Portland Oregon.

Our very own bicycle coordinator, DelDOT’s Anthony Aglio leads the discussion on Safe Routes to School during an early breakout session. Way to go, Anthony!

The 1st State’s lone flag bearer. Our state was given a front row seat for the State Delegation Coordination wrap-up.

3 more advocates from 2 other bicycling organizations joined Frank on Thursday, March 10 for meetings with our 3 Congressmen. Delaware’s final delegation included Ceci McCormick, White Clay Bicycle Club (WCBC), John McCormick (Past President, WCBC), Frank Warnock (PR Chair, Bike Delaware) and Amy Wilburn, (Chair, Delaware Bicycle Council).

Delaware advocates meet with Representative John Carney at his office in the Longworth House. See our meeting and award ceremony with Senator Carper HERE.

This day is often referred to as “Lobbying Day”, but because we are not licensed as such – and are non-profit – “Advocacy Day” is a better description of this mission. Given our current economic situation, and the major shift in political climate on Capitol Hill, LAB strongly advised advocates to play a defensive role. This included the preservation of current bicycle and pedestrian funding in the next national transportation bill, and laying low on asks for additional spending. Since our “3 Cs” (Congressmen Carney-Carper-Coons) are given high marks already in past voting records, we did feel comfortable in raising the issue of extra funding for the C&D Recreation Trail and the Industrial Track Rail Trail, both enviro-economic windfalls to our economy and quality of life.

In summary, the 2011 National Bike Summit was a huge success for Delaware advocates, and our compatriots from all 50 states trying to achieve a shift away from automobile dependency and a better quality of life for everyone.

Full picture set HERE.