Journal News Editorial supports 3 foot law

Journal News Editorial supports 3 foot law

Posted using ShareThis

Westchester Biking & Walking Alliance - The Inaugural Meeting

The movement is growing to make Westchester more friendly for cyclists and pedestrians.

Forty activists from across the county gathered at the Bronxville Library at May 11 in the inaugural meeting of the Westchester Biking and Walking Alliance. We gathered to form an organization they hope will grow into a force for change. The group grew out of the Westchester Bike Summit at the County Center in early April.

The energy was high, the spirit optimistic. We all see huge opportunities for advocacy on a wide range of projects. I’m leading the effort with Mike Oliva, Mid-Atlantic Trail Coordinator of the East Coast Greenway Alliance. We see the group as a way to broaden the cycling advocacy movement, tapping into the energy of members of the Greenway, WCC, and others throughout the community interested in these issues.

We’ve already had a major impact. Westchester County is moving forward to investigate the feasibility of putting bike racks on county buses. A prototype was put on a bus this week. The county is also looking at installing secure bike storage at transit centers in White Plains and New Rochelle.

We are considering advocating that Westchester County create the position of bicycle/pedestrian coordinator, to have an advocate within the county government as well. We are not inventing anything here. Governments across the nation has such positions. The state DOT has bicycle-pedestrian coordinator, but we’ve been let down by DOT. Region 8’s coordinator did not oppose installation of the rumble strips on Route 100 in Yorktown and Somers.

There were cyclists from Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Rye, Harrison, Pleasantville, Bedford, Somers, Briarcliff Manor, Rye, Larchmont, Garrison, Mahopac and Bronxville.

 There’s plenty to address. Cyclists from Yonkers want the South County Trailway completed from the Bronx line. The East Coast Greenway activists need to work with officials in the county, White Plains, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, Rye Brook and Port Chester on making the Greenway more visible and safe through its 15 miles of Westchester. We need to work with the state DOT on establishing a pathway along the Hutch from 287 to the Connecticut border. We need to discuss making the pathway along the Hutch from Mount Vernon to Harrison a multi-use pathway, not just for equestrians.

         In northern Westchester, we are already working with officials in Yorktown and Somers on two east-west trail routes. The county has $1 million for the Mahopac Branch Trailway from Goldens Bridge to Baldwin Place, but the right-of-way goes through the campus of JFK High School, so we need to work on an alternative so as not to disrupt the campus.

Yorktown officials are talking about a trailway from Yorktown to Peekskill.  

Participants were urged to set up committees within their towns, to develop proposals that we can bring before municipal officials. Our next meeting will be in mid-June. Stay tuned for updates. - Dave Wilson

 

Bike Racks on Buses & Bike Storage Lockers

David Wilson and myself (Michael Oliva) met with the County Board of Legislators and the Commissioner of DOT yesterday to discuss having bike racks installed on the County Buses and Bike Storage/Lockers at transit hubs. Here is a link to the article in today's Journal News.
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904150338
Everyone at the meeting agreed that we need to make Westchester friendlier to bicyclists and walkers. We hope this is one of many advocacy efforts the Westchester Biking & Walking Alliance can help spearhead for residents of Westchester. We encourage all citizens to join WBWA and most importantly we enourage you to get involved on a local level to put bicycling and walking on your towns agenda. We look forward to working with you all.
Michael Oliva