Donate to Streetsblog Chicago, Get a Coupon for Free Bike Rentals

If you value Streetsblog Chicago’s daily coverage of transportation and livable streets issues and want to see the site continue next year, there are several reasons why this week is the ideal time to make your tax-deductable donation.

The city’s just-released Bike Projects 2013 Recap shows that new protected bike lanes on Vincennes have led to a dramatic decrease in speeding. But while initiatives like PBLs, bus rapid transit and speed enforcement cameras help create safer, more efficient streets, they often face stiff opposition from those who want to maintain the car-centric status quo.

It’s our job at Streetsblog to advocate for positive changes to the Windy City’s transportation network, counter misinformation from the NIMBYs, and point out when the mainstream media gets the story wrong. And while the Chicago Department of Transportation has been doing great work in recent years, with the recent departure of Commissioner Gabe Klein it will be more important than ever for Streetsblog to serve as a watchdog, making sure we don’t lose momentum.

Your gift to Streetsblog will help ensure we can keep doing this important work. And thanks to a generous anonymous donor, all donations to our end-of-the-year pledge drive by December 31 will be matched up to $15,000. That means your money will go even further to keep the pressure on for creating safer, more efficient and more vibrant Chicago streets.

As a bonus, if you donate $50 or more by New Year’s Eve, we’ll enter you in a raffle for a new C7 or V7 bike from the good folks at PUBLIC bikes. They’ve graciously donated a pair of bikes for us to give away to readers like you; the first name drawn gets first pick of these beautiful steeds.

If that’s not enough to make you pull out your wallet, Streetblog Chicago sponsors Bike and Roll Chicago are generously giving away free bike rentals to the first 100 donors to our site. Join this elite crew and we’ll mail you a coupon for a two-hour bike rental for two from their Millennium Park location.

As the year draws to a close, we’re grateful to everyone who has contributed to our goal of raising $50,000 by January 1, especially our generous anonymous donor. If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s hard-hitting coverage of local transportation and haven’t already done so, please make a gift today -- every little bit helps. Thanks for your support!

–John

Streetsblog Chicago will resume publication on December 30. Have a great week.