Please join us at the Walk/Bike Summit on Jan. 26

You are invited to participate in Eugene’s second Walking and Biking Summit Saturday, January 26th. The Summit promises to be an engaging and educational event with plenty of opportunities for networking and learning about bicycle and pedestrian issues. City staff are planning on releasing the final version of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Strategic Plan at the summit and participants will discover plenty of opportunities to get involved with one or more of the eighty actions designed to achieve the vision of a more walkable and bikable Eugene. The event is free and open to the public so bring your friends and neighbors.

The Summit will be held in the South Eugene High School Cafeteria at 400 East 19th Ave. Registration begins at 8:30 AM, with speakers and workshops from 9 AM to 1:00 PM. Coffee and bagels from Full City Coffee Roasters and BagelSphere will be served.

The Eugene Walking and Biking Summit will be a day filled with engaging speakers and informational workshops that give you a chance to get involved. This year’s speakers will include our own Mayor Kitty Piercy and Portland Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder, one of the founders of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. The work sessions this year are focused on three of the highest ranked action items from the NEW Pedestrian and Bicycle Strategic Plan. The work sessions are as follows:


Share the Road Campaign

Are you interested in making your daily commute, recreational ride, lunchtime jog, or pedestrian journey SAFER and more enjoyable?

Then attend this session to help create a campaign for the Eugene area that will work to educate drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians on how to effectively share the road and in turn make it safer for everyone.

Safe Routes to School and Active Youth

Why aren't our kids walking or bike to school? A generation ago, about 50% of children routinely walked or bike to school. Today, about 15% of our children are walking and biking and more parents are driving their kids to school, increasing traffic congestion around schools while childhood obesity is a major concern. Come and learn what efforts are being made to increase walking and biking by our youth and how you can help promote active transportation in the community.

Develop a Signature Walking and Biking Event in Eugene

Have you ever thought about helping to design or coordinate an event or a celebration of biking and walking in Eugene?

If so, this workshop is for you. A signature event is a great way to show people how much fun it can be to walk or bike. Bring your creativity and help plan an event that will put Eugene on the map!


For additional information, please contact Lindsay Selser, City of Eugene Public Works, 682-5094 or lindsay.r.selser@ci.eugene.or.us or go to: www.eugene-or.gov/walkbike

GEARs and EBC have Merged

Exciting news for the cycling community!

The Eugene Bicycle Coalition and GEARs have decided to unite in our efforts to improve access and safety to cyclists in our community. We anticipate being able to accomplish more with our combined efforts. This is a mutually beneficial relationship. Please read what Sue Wolling had to say about it:

After hemming and hawing for many months about how to get non-profit
status for the Eugene Bicycle Coalition, we have just completed an
agreement with GEARS Cycling Club that will accomplish that for the Bike
Coalition--and hopefully benefit GEARS, as well.

Since GEARS already is a registered non-profit organization, and its
goals include "encouragement of facilities for cycling on public roads
and lands" and "promotion of the regulation and recognition of bicycles
as vehicles for pleasure, health and transportation", it's a good fit for
the Bike Coalition. The simplest approach seemed to be for the Bike
Coalition to become a "committee" of GEARS. This will allow the two
groups to pool their resources--in terms of money, people and
communications--for mutually agreed upon purposes, and yet for each group
to maintain its specific focus: GEARS for recreational cycling and the
EBC for bicycle advocacy.

I'm sure the relationship will evolve over time, and I hope that the
combined group will be stronger and more dynamic that either of the two
groups was alone. So, at this point I'd like to thank the GEARS' board
for their openness and friendly cooperation, and wish us all well! In
the meantime, if anyone wants to show support for bicycling in
Eugene-Springfield, I suggest that becoming a member of GEARS/EBC would
be a great first step! A standard membership is only $12, and you can
find a membership application on the GEARS web site at
www.eugenegears.org.

GEARs board election

Susan Stumpf has resigned from her role as President of GEARs, effective 2/12/08. We will be electing a new president at our next Board meeting, which is on February 12 at 6:30pm at BiMart Credit Union at 645 S. Seneca at the corner of 7th & Seneca.

Please feel free to join us. If you are interested in being a candidate, please let Susan know as soon as possible. stumpf underscore s at yahoo dot com or 554-1286.