And it certainly did snow! No matter, though. Two days after the biggest snowstorm of our winter, 115 dedicated folks arrived in Denville, NJ, for New Jersey’s first statewide Bicycle Summit meeting. More than 70 different organizations were represented – advocates, planners, state agencies, legislators, bike clubs/shops and more. The event was sponsored by the New Jersey Bicycle Coalition, in association with the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
The day began with Brendan Poh, summit organizer and NJBC Board Member, briefing the attendees on the day’s agenda and then introducing Jim Nicholson, President of NJBC and Mayor Ted Hussa of Denville, our host for the day. Immediately following, our keynote speaker, Andy Clarke, spoke. Andy is the President of the League of American Bicyclists and graciously agreed to come to our summit even though he was in the midst of preparations for LAB’s National Bike Summit, being held ten days later. He energized the group for the long day ahead by giving us an update on the state of bicycle advocacy and encouraging our involvement.
Following Andy was Assemblywoman Grace Spencer of Newark, who spoke passionately of the need for safe passing legislation for cyclists and other vulnerable road users. She pledged her support for a three-foot passing bill which she, and her Assembly colleagues, will push towards legislation this year. She will also work with the State Senate to move its paired bill through that body. NJBC supports this measure and will work with Assemblywoman Spencer for its passage.
Sheree Davis, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for the New Jersey Department of Transportation spoke next and outlined NJDOT’s work in helping New Jersey achieve a number 10 ranking in the League’s list of Bicycle Friendly states. She stated her desire to move our state further up the rankings in the coming years. One large item in doing so is the achievement of a state bicycle summit – so you can check that one off, Sheree!
After a short break, a segment commenced that spotlighted success stories in New Jersey. Heard from during this segment were representatives from Bike & Walk Montclair, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, among others. We all saw that there are many local initiatives taking place and a main positive of the statewide summit is bringing all of the involved groups together, in one place, at the same time.
A major theme for 2010 is the Livable Communities concept and our next presentation highlighted this through the Complete Streets initiative recently adopted by NJDOT. Mike Dannemiller, of The RBA Group (a major player in bike/ped design), gave a presentation on how Complete Streets could look in New Jersey. He unveiled three different Complete Streets presentations (of varying length) which can be used by anyone in presentations to town planning committees, the general public, etc.
The Complete Streets segment was in two parts, and bisected by lunch. One “learning experience” for NJBC was that lunch should have been two hours instead of 45 minutes! Herding everyone back into the Court Meeting Room broke up dozens of small networking conversations. Next time, we will arrange a longer lunch and more time for everyone to get to know one another.
Complete Streets II consisted largely of questions and answers, as delegates described situations in their own communities that would benefit from a design re-work. Again, this was a segment which could have filled an entire day.
Our afternoon keynote speakers took the stage next. Tim Blumenthal (Bikes Belong), Sharon Roerty (National Center for Biking and Walking) and Jeff Miller (Alliance for Biking and Walking) took turns firing up the “advocacy quotient” in the room. Subtitled “Transforming Vision into Reality”, this session had all three showing us how we can make things better in our own communities. A personal, favorite moment came when Jeff Miller recommended that all concerned cyclists in New Jersey put their money where their mouths are and join the New Jersey Bicycle Coalition! All of our speakers advocated a strong, central advocacy organization as the best way to get attention, and get things done!
Following this, Rich Conroy (Bike New York) and Leigh Ann Von Hagen (NJ Bike School) gave us presentations on the state of adult and child cycling education in New Jersey today, and where we are going in the future.
That ends my recap of the day. Yes, I know that there was a wrap-up at the end of the Summit but I wasn’t there. I was on my way to JFK with Jeff Miller, who needed to catch a flight to Maine! But I’m told that all ended well, our wonderful volunteers (organized by Barbara Klein) left the courtroom and the Denville Town Hall as clean as can be.
My thanks to our wonderful presenters, all of the attendees and all of the volunteers for making the first New Jersey Bicycle Summit a success. A special thank you to the NJBC Board of Directors (Paige Hiemier, Brendan Poh, Mike Kruimer, Cat Brennan and Ted Semegran). This couldn’t have happened without you.
This recap and pictures from the NJ Bike Summit will soon be posted on the Coalition’s website, www.njbike.org. In addition, a recap and pictures from the National Bicycle Summit in Washington, DC, will also soon be posted there.
~Jim Nicholson
