There’s an article in an April 2008 edition of the Downtown Gazette on the Long Beach Cyclists that talks about some of our long-term goals and our upcoming projects. You can read the complete article here.
Here are some excerpts:
Long Beach Cyclists formed around 1994 with the intent of offering city staff feedback from actual cyclists as they tried to expand the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. But beyond hosting several community meetings, the city did very little to include cyclists in the policy planning process, explained Chris Quint, longtime member of Long Beach Cyclists. In fact, the city formed a committee to work on the plan that included members from Long Beach Transit, the police department, the school district and other agencies — but no cyclists, he said.
…
The group’s ultimate goal is to become the organized bicycle group that city leaders come to when trying to make bike-friendly changes, he added.
“We want to be involved on a real planning level,” said Roca, adding that public meetings tend to be the end of cyclists’ involvement in policy making. “Why are we depending on people who don’t ride bikes to design spaces for bikes?”
Ultimately, it is our wish as an organization to work closely with the city. We feel that it is only logical and reasonable that bicyclists have a say in decisions that will affect their lives in a very real and direct way.
As bicyclists we are equal but vulnerable road users. It is time that we are recognized not just as traffic problems to be solved, but valued members of the community, who through our simple actions are improving the city one pedal stroke at a time.
There is a lot of talk about “greening” Long Beach.
We’re doing that now.
We’re doing it every day.
Come join us.
