Sustainable Transportation Advocacy

Every year, the Boulder-based advocacy group People for Bikes rates Chicago as one of the very worst large U.S. cities for cycling. While that's inaccurate, they do have two very valid criticisms.

• Capitol Fax: "Lawmakers, advocates call for special summer session - Dems respond to several suburban mayors’ complaints about mass transit package"

Read the first half of this series, "Next stop, fiscal cliff: Advocates respond to Illinois legislators’ failure to fund transit before the deadline."

Streetsblog Chicago is a sustainable transportation news and advocacy website, not a publication that typically covers finance. So it's not really my role to opine on whether it was a smart fiscal decision for the City Council to approve an $830 million bond deal to pay for transportation infrastructure. But let's look at how the narrow 26-23 vote went down last Wednesday; some arguments against and for the financing by alders; and reactions from walk/bike/transit boosters.

There was also discussion of ATA volunteering opportunities for National Bike Month and the Week Without Driving.

The group would like to see bike libraries expand citywide, and has other ideas to get more people to use active transportation more often and drive less.

The elder statesman of the local sustainable transportation advocacy scene has some new tricks up his sleeve.