Happy New Year everyone! On behalf of our board of directors, I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported Madison Bikes and biking in Madison in 2017 — be it through donations, doing volunteer work, coming to our events or public meetings, asking a business to install bike parking, encouraging a friend to try riding a bike, submitting a Report-A-Problem, …
Because of your awesomeness, our end-of-year fundraising drive was a huge success! We were blown away by your generosity! Within little over a week, Madison Bikes supporters gave over $3000 — well beyond our initial target of $1000. Together with the matching pledge from our board members, we raised well over $4500! This puts us on a very stable financial footing for 2018 and also allows us to consider additional activities to further our mission.
We have several new board members starting their term this year (stay tuned for an introduction), and a strategic planning session in February will help us setting our priorities for the year and beyond. I am excited about another year of making biking better in Madison for everyone! Thank you for your continued support.
Harald (VP of Madison Bikes)
PS Our Monday Update posts will return from their holiday break next week.
Madison Bikes had their annual meeting last Monday. We approved our 2018 budget and had elections for our board of directors. We’re excited to have several awesome new board members — stay tuned for an official introduction when they take office in January. And thanks to everyone who applied but wasn’t elected this time, as well as our outgoing board members.
On Friday, Revolution Cycles once again hosted Art Pedaler, showcasing various kinds of bike-related art from local artists and makers. Thanks for organizing!
Winter Bike Fashion Show is over — time to start planning Winter Bike Week! The Madison Bikes Events Committee is going to meet on Monday to make plans for Winter Bike Week. Join them at Cafe Domestique at 6pm. Winter Bike Week is going to take place from February 2-9 2018.
Also on Monday, is the weekly MEATHead ride, a casual loop around Lake Monona. Looks like the temperatures will be unseasonably warm that night. Depart at 7pm at Ford’s Gym.
Another opportunity for a social ride comes Tuesday: Bike Benefits, Down With Bikes, and DreamBikes are teaming up for a holiday ride/potluck/open shop night. Meet at Colectivo on the Square at 6pm.
If you’re a regular user of the Cap City Trail on the east side, on Wednesday you should attend a public meeting. The city has plans to improve the crossing of the trail and Atwood Avenue, near Winnebago and Riverside. Instead of the sharp angles of the current crossing, the city is proposing to shift the alignment of the path and create a diagonal crossing. Unclear so far is if they’re also planning to address the missing connection from the path to Winnebago. At the moment your options are either to ride on a narrow sidewalk or to cross Atwood twice. 6pm, Bethany Evangelical Free Church.
On Thursday, it’s winter solstice — and the annual tradition of the Fantasy in Lights Ride. Madison Bike Winter invites you to come to Rockhound Brewing on Park Street at 5:30 and then ride together to the Fantasy in Lights display at Olin Park.
Good news to report from Middleton. Kierstin writes:
It passed!
After a ten year push by NE Middleton residents and several city staff, the alders and mayor finally voted “yes” on Wednesday night to secure funds from one tax improvement district to another to start the planning process of creating the NE Connector Trail along Century Avenue. Plans will be drawn in 2018, and the path will hopefully be constructed in 2019. This is a major breakthrough to connect what is currently a “car island” to the rest of Middleton and Madison as well as supply a safe route for children to bike or walk to school. These plans are the first segment connecting Branch St. to Highland. The city hopes to extend it to County Road Q to the east and Donna Drive/Frank Lloyd Wright Avenue to the West.
Good work everyone who wrote in and supported the efforts otherwise!
The news from Fitchburg are less good. A budget amendment to build paved shoulders on Whalen Road did not pass, despite support from Bike Fitchburg, Madison Bikes, and many others. According to news reports, the whole hearing was rather heated because budget issues concerning social services.
On Wednesday, the first public involvement meeting about extending the Glacial Drumlin Trail from Cottage Grove to Interstate-90 happened. We don’t have information about how the meeting went, but you can find the presentation slides here.
Saturday saw the rebirth of Cranksgiving in Madison. Cranksgiving, an event originally started in the 1990s by bike messengers in New York City, is a combination of a food drive and an alley cat bike race. Participants received a “manifesto” with a number of Madison supermarkets and items to buy there. At the end of the ride, all the food was donated to the Goodman Center’s Thanksgiving Baskets food drive. Over 70 people participated! Kudos to Billy Calkins for organizing!
Just before the start of Cranksgiving at Revolution Cycle (Photo credit: Billy Calkins)
This week
With Thanksgiving coming up, the week is fairly quiet. Madison Bikes, however, has several things in the pipeline.
On Monday, the Madison Bikes events committee will do the final planning for the Winter Bike Fashion Show on December 9. The deadline to apply as a model was on Sunday, but if you have a strong interest in being a model, shoot a quick email to winterbike@madisonbikes.org before Monday, 3pm!
Local mountain bike advocates Capital Offroad Pathfinders are looking for a secretary for their organization. More details here.
And on Friday, you can join the Bombay Cycling Club for their first fat bike ride of the season. Happy Thanksgiving from me and the rest of Madison Bikes!
A select few of you–those who attended our annual party at the High Noon Saloon in September–already are members of Madison Bikes. But now everyone can join our organization! Just click here for more information and sign up! Here are some answers to frequently asked questions.
Why should I become a member?
By opening up membership we want make our organization stronger. Having you as members will amplify our voice, as well as ensure that our advocacy efforts have broad community support. And your financial contributions will help us keep the lights on and have the resources to make things happen.
What does it cost to be a member?
We want to be an inclusive organization and not prevent anyone from joining because they cannot afford it. Therefore we have a pay-what-you-can membership model: You fill out the membership application and only then do you select how much you want to contribute. Don’t have any idea what a reasonable amount would be? Well, those who attended our annual party, contributed $20 or more.
How long is my membership good for?
All the way through December 2018. We’ll let you know when it’s time to renew.
What do I get out of it?
Sorry, no funny socks, whimsical ties, or t-shirts, at least for now. We’re a small, 100% volunteer-run organization and direct our efforts as much as possible toward making biking better in Madison. What you will receive:
Our weekly calendar highlights of bike advocacy issues and events via email.
You’ll also be invited to our Annual Madison Bikes Membership Party (usually in late summer).
And maybe most importantly: That great feeling that comes from making a positive difference in your community!
Am I already a member?
If you attended our annual party and signed in there: you are. If not, you are almost certainly not a member yet. You can also check your email inbox if you received a “Thanks for Becoming a Member” email from us. If you’re still in doubt, email membership@madisonbikes.org and we’ll figure it out.
I don’t want to become a member but still support Madison Bikes. Is that possible?
Want to become more involved in local bicycle advocacy?
Madison Bikes is looking for people who are dedicated, passionate, strong communicators, good compromisers, organized, and able to commit a significant amount of time and energy to promoting biking as a priority in the city of Madison. There are no paid staff and everything we do—from fundraising to advocacy to communications to events—is done by our volunteer board and volunteer committee members.
We are currently accepting applications for up to six seats on the Madison Bikes Board of Directors.
Our organization is committed to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic board committed to equity in our work. We strongly encourage applications from minorities and women.
The Madison Bikes board is an all-volunteer working board. At a minimum, we expect board members to:
Attend our monthly board meetings (6-8pm every third Monday of the month)
Participate in one or more of our committees and attend their monthly meetings
Have passion for our organization’s vision: Making Madison a city where anyone can ride a bicycle conveniently and comfortably to any place in the city and neighboring communities year round.
Other responsibilities can include:
Contributing to our blog
Attendance at various city-held meetings (public input meetings, City Council meetings, local and regional transportation committee meetings)
Contributing to fundraising and organizational development efforts
If you are interesting in joining our board (or have questions), please send an email with the following information to grant@madisonbikes.org. If you would like to nominate someone other than yourself, please forward this to them and ask them to apply.
Full name & email address
Why are you interested in joining the Madison Bikes board?
What would you bring to the board?
Which committee/committees/officer roles interest you?
President
Vice-president
Secretary
Treasurer
Advocacy Committee
Events Committee
Communications Committee
Have you served on any other non-profit boards/committees (including Madison Bikes) or have similar relevant experience?
Do you think you’d bring a perspective or help represent groups that aren’t currently represented by the Madison Bikes board of directors?
Anything else you’d like to share with us?
To be considered for our upcoming board elections, please submit your application by 11/24. Note that we will also accept applications on a rolling basis until all our board positions have been filled.
Our executive board will review all application submissions and follow up with all applicants with next steps.
The week started out with a meeting of the Madison Bikes Events Committee. Their big focus is the upcoming Winter Bike Fashion Show on December 9. Stay tuned for details and mark the date! Also keep in mind that Madison Bike Bingo is nearing its end. So go out ride, support local businesses, and collect stamps and prizes. If you still need that special events stamp, check the Bike Bingo Facebook page for announcements (and read below about the Spooky Roubaix ride).
Tour of the Latino Family/El Tour de la Familia Latina (Photo credit: Baltazar De Anda)
Saturday saw both good and disturbing things: The Tour of the Latino Family/El Tour de la Familia Latina had another successful ride, with over 30 people of all ages attending. However, the group was repeatedly harassed during the ride. You can watch the account of Ananda Mirilli, one of the participants, on Facebook.
If you can’t watch the video, here is a transcript of what Ananda has to say:
I was disheartened by the rudeness, the impoliteness. I was reminded of how I am other, even though I’m a citizen, I was reminded of my status as an immigrant. This bike tour is intended to make black and brown folks, people of color, visible on the bike paths, and it was obvious to me that as we’re doing that, we were disturbing people. We had a group of 30+ folks from different age groups, mostly brown folks, a lot of children with us. And as we were biking to the east side, we had people tell us to move, being rude to our children, swearing at us. And those were not cyclists, they were just regular folks, mostly white older women and white older men, just swearing at us and our children, and telling us to get off the path. So if you’re surprised by this, check yourself and think about the times you have actually done something to disrupt Madison normative. And if for whatever reason you don’t belong or you don’t look like the people that you see everywhere—which is mostly white folks—the impact and then resistance for us to become visible. That is a real thing. I was just really sad [‚Ķ] that this happened in front of our children and with our group. We’re going to continue to do that; I’m going to continue to come to the rides. I encourage, if you’re a person of color, please join us. We need more of us, to really disrupt the image of the Madison bike paths. The bike paths are not only for white people, or for white folks who know how to bike. This is for all of us. We need to make sure that we’re visible. Please check yourself and think about the ways you can disrupt the Madison image of whiteness. Thank you.
This is unacceptable. Let us work together to make sure that this does not happen again and people of color can safely ride on Madison’s bike paths and streets. As Ananda says: The bike paths are not only for white people, or for white folks who know how to bike.
This week
Imagine Madison is an initiative to gather public input on the update to Madison’s Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan encompasses things such housing, transportation, and parks, and is an important long-term planning tool that will “be an action plan that guides decision making and investment.” This week marks the beginning of phase 3, which aims at prioritizing strategies, identifying ways to implement them, and determining where growth should be prioritized. You can make your voice heard at these three community meetings, each from 6-8pm
Monday: the Atrium at Village on Park (2300 S Park St), Atrium Community Room
Tuesday: Lussier Community Education Center (55 S Gammon Road)
Wednesday: Goodman Community Center (149 Waubesa St)
The Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission has their monthly meeting on Tuesday. Some of the items on the agenda:
The Bike Resource Center at the Judge Doyle Square Project. As we’ve reported previously, Freewheel Community Bike Shop is being recommended as the operator.
Crazylegs Plaza and Wingra Park: As part of the Monroe Street reconstruction, Crazylegs Plaza and the entrance to Wingra Park are getting redesigned.
Updates on the reconstruction of Atwood Avenue and South Gammon Road
Reviewing the traffic signal priority list, which determines where the city is going to install traffic lights
Plan for a redesigned Crazylegs Plaza near Camp Randall
Both the Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee and the Middleton Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Transit Committee are going to meet on Wednesday. Contact harald@madisonbikes.org if you’d like to attend the Madison Bikes meeting.
On Friday night, join Cafe Domestique for the “Scary Roubaix” ride. Meet at 6pm at their shop and ride the Badger State Trail to the Stewart Tunnel south of Belleville. Spooky! This will also be an opportunity to get your Bike Bingo special event stamp. Check out the Madison Bike Bingo Facebook page later this week for details.
Friday also is the date of the Bike Fed’s Saris Gala, their big annual fundraiser at Union South!
And on Saturday, it’s time to Bike the Art again. Meet at 1:30pm at Union South or along their route. More info at https://www.facebook.com/BikeTheArt/.
Finally, People for Bikes, a national bike advocacy organization is conducting a community survey to assess how bike friendly cities are. Please participate and offer your opinions on biking in Madison.
Update: Meeting location has changed to Barriques on Atwood.
The Madison Bikes events committee is planning another exciting winter biking fashion show for Saturday, December 9th from 1-4pm at the High Noon Saloon. Are you interested in getting involved and making this another successful winter biking fashion show and another great winter of biking? The come to the next events committee meeting on Monday, October 16 at 6pm at Cafe Domestique on Williamson Street Barriques on Atwood. We’re looking for volunteers to help plan the event, to help with hosting the event (set-up, take down etc), help spreading the word about the fabulous benefits of winter biking and more! We’re also looking for models who are excited to share their stay-warm-winter-biking fashion solutions! If you can’t attend the meeting but would like to get involved, contact our events committee chair Emily: Emily@MadisonBikes.org. We hope you can join us on Monday!
Energized by the great success of our Annual Party, the Madison Bikes Events Committee met on Monday and started planning the next big Madison Bikes event: The Winter Bike Fashion Show. Mark the date–December 9, 1-4pm at the High Noon Saloon–and stay tuned for more details. Facebook event
The Wisconsin State Legislature finally adopted a budget, and unfortunately it contains bad news for people biking and walking: Local governments will no longer be able to use condemnation (also known as eminent domain) for sidewalks or bike trails. Many of you as well as the Bike Fed spoke out against this provision, but the Governor nonetheless signed the bill. It will remain to be seen just how damaging this will be to projects around Madison, but it seems safe to assume that it will be damaging. The new situation may also trigger a greater discussion about how we allocate scarce space for people in car, bikes, and on foot in a situation where “let’s just widen everything” is no longer an option.
The Common Council passed a resolution that fundamentally reorganizes how transportation projects are planned and decided on. Instead of having a department of transportation with with distributed leadership and multiple commissions, the city would hire a Director of Transportation and replace the commission with a Transportation Policy and Planning Board and a Transportation Commission. Stay tuned for a more in-depth analysis of what this means for biking and transportation in Madison in general.
The Judge Doyle Square Redevelopment was always supposed to include a bicycle center. However, when the city initially requested proposals operations of the center, nobody came forward. Eventually two applicants submitted proposals, and last week the city staff who scored the proposals recommended Freewheel Community Bike Shop (currently on Park Street) as the operator. You can read the city recommendation here, as well news coverage in the Cap Times. As the next step, the Pedestrian/Bicycle/Vehicle Commission will discuss the project at their next meeting (see below).
This week
Mondays Around Monona has a double-celebration: It will be the final ride of the season, and it’ll also be the 10th anniversary of this leisurely loop around the lake. Come celebrate with India of We Are All Mechanics and Madison Bikes! You can also get a special event stamp for your Madison Bike Bingo card.
On Tuesday, the Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission will have their monthly meeting. On their agenda are an update from Madison Bcycle and on the Crazylegs Triangle Plaza (part of the Monroe Street reconstruction). The Commission will also discuss how to handle abandoned bicycles and the city’s report on the Judge Doyle Square bike center, mentioned above. Full agenda.
On Wednesday, the Middleton Pedestrian, Bike, and Transit Committee has their meeting. Find the agenda here.
And on Sunday you can Ride with RENEWand learn more about renewable energy in Dane County.
A few weeks ago I saw in the paper that the new bridge across the Beltline on High Point Road had re-opened after seven months of construction. This Sunday I happened to be in the area anyway and checked it out. The old bridge was not particularly nice for people on bikes. While it had an on-street unprotected bike lane, both bike and general lanes were narrow, with heavy and fast car traffic. The new bridge has been widened to carry two general travel lanes in both directions, on-street bike lanes on both sides, a sidewalk on the east side, and a nice, wide two-lane protected multi-use path on the west side.
Approaching the bridge from the south. Smooth pavement and a widened bike lane.
http://imgur.com/JPNoCzw
Two-way protected multi-use path on the west side of the bridge
The path will eventually connect to the West Towne Path parallel to the Beltline. A little connection stub is already in place, but for now dead-ends just past the bridge. It’ll still be a couple years before this segment of the West Towne Path will be built, but once it is in place, it will be an important connection in that part of town.
Bike projects in Fitchburg: Paved shoulders on Whalen Road and a bike hub on the Badger State Trail
The power of advocacy: Our friends from Bike Fitchburg had sent out an action alert. The Fitchburg Common Council was deciding on two important bike projects, and the comments that you and others sent in made a difference. Matthew Jones, president of Bike Fitchburg, reports:
HUGE THANK YOUS go out to Alders Aaron Richardson, Tony Hartmann, Tom Clauder, Dorothy Krause, and Anne Scott for voting in favor of these crucial items to be included in the city’s 2018 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).
As the clock neared midnight last night, the Fitchburg Common Council took up and voted 5-3 on two bike-related proposals:
#4 approved the proposal of shouldering Whalen Road, a route heavily used by cyclists traveling between Fitchburg and Verona and used as a route for the annual Ironman competition. Under the CIP the city has committed to spend $897,990 for paved shoulders on Whalen from Fish Hatchery Road to Fitchrona Road.
#14 was approved to reconstruct the 1890s depot at “Old Fitchburg” as a facility serving users of Badger State Trail and as the centerpiece of an historical city park. Area planning ($15,000) in 2018 and construction ($300,000) beginning in 2019.
Thank you to everyone who testified in favor of these items and for all the folks who took the time to write a quick note of support—it made all the difference!!!
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi at the opening ceremony (Photo credit: Kevin Hikes)
Just yesterday, the Lower Yahara River Trail opened! A project many years in the making, you can now ride from McFarland to Madison and Fitchburg on a beautiful trail instead of busy roads. Also to note: This is the first project in which the new Dane County bicycle wayfinding guidelines have been implemented. You can see the signs all along the trail. The next phases of the trail will continue it from McFarland to Lake Kegonsa State Park and eventually Stoughton.
Related, Dane County Parks has a survey about their 2018-23 Parks and Open Space Plan. The survey only takes 5 minutes to complete and is great opportunity to voice your support for biking facilities like the Lower Yahara River Trail. (h/t to Joe Schubert)
Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission
Public Market
There was a good discussion about the planned public market at East Washington Avenue and First Street. With a projected volume of 500,000 visitors a year, it will be crucial to make the market conveniently accessible for people biking and walking. Two key connections will be the Mifflin Bike Boulevard and also First Street, which currently is being planned for reconstruction.
Blair Street and John Nolen Corridor
City Engineering presented the plans that were previously shared at the public input meeting, with a special focus on the intersection at Machinery Row. Getting this intersection finalized is the main priority at this point, as it will be the one where construction will begin soonest. As we have previously reported, there is a lot to like about the plan: Moving the driveway to the Machinery Row parking lot; a widened and better separated space for people walking and biking in from of Machinery Row and the Fauerbach; a diagonal bike crossing at Blount Street; and a better alignment of the Cap City path in front of the Gateway Mall. All these will make the intersection work better for those on foot and bike. Of course, the devil is in the details, as some of the public comments and questions from members of the Commission showed. But hopefully those can be sorted out in the near future.
In contrast, the plans for the rest of the corridor, specifically the intersections of John Nolen with Broom Street and with North Shore Drive, seemed less well developed, lacking significant short term improvements and mostly leaving everything as is.
We will keep you updated.
This week
On Monday, come to the Bicycle Mixer at HotelRED. The hotel, which has supported many bike-related events in the past has partnered with Madison BCycle and Bicycle Benefits Madison to for a party. First drink is free if you bring your helmet, and there will be prizes.
A public meeting about Vilas Park is happening on Tuesday. Two “pedestrian bridges” over Vilas Lagoon are slated for replacement, and it would probably be a good idea to remind the Parks department that these bridges are also used by people on bikes.
The Madison Bikes Communications Committee is also meeting on Tuesday for the final push in preparation of our Annual Party and Fundraiser on September 12.
Wednesday will see the Middleton Bike Group meeting (rescheduled from last week).
And on Sunday, join Bombay Bicycle Club for the their Wright Stuff Century, this year run as a limited-support event with ride options from 32 to 125 miles. The longer routes will take you all the way to famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin complex near Spring Green.
