You are hereBE A BIKE GOD: Join the Bicycle Advisory Council
BE A BIKE GOD: Join the Bicycle Advisory Council
We just got ourselves a golden opportunity to up the freak contingent of the Bicycle Advisory Council by 2 people! The Austin Chronicle just published this in today's issue:
BICYCLE ADVISORY COUNCIL provides city staff with info about biking issues in Austin. Wanna join? They're looking for two new alternate members; applications are due Wed., Nov. 19. For details, contact nadia.barrera@cityofaustin.org.
I guess what they didn't do was actually fact-check Nadia's email address. That one bounces, where you really want to ask for more information is right here. And unless you read this page or do some googlin', you don't know that. So get your applications and inquires sent to Nadia post-haste. You've got a little less than 3 weeks to impress them with what an amazing biker you are, and compete for one of two spots as official Austin City Council ear benders. Unless the ACA gets a hold of this information we've actually got a fighting chance to get another freak on the committee, I mean besides Bob (he's already a member). I'm actually thinking about signing up for this one myself, if I can get over my complete loathing of the political process as a whole.
And while I'm going on about my lack of faith in the political process, go be a cog in the great machine of progress and EARLY VOTE! You've got this evening and tomorrow before the dreaded long lines of election day are your only recourse. Make your voice heard! This year for the first time in forever Texas is looking more purple than red, so if enough people put down the bongs and get off their couches, some of our votes might actually count for a change. Don't just think about doing it, DO IT!
EDIT:: I just realized I posted this in the wrong spot, so I'm going to repost it to the right spot. Sorry!
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Honestly? I've been riding way less ever since I heard about the crackdown. UT Police sent an email to everyone on campus who'd registered their bike saying they would start cracking down, and I just stopped riding...started riding the bus instead. It totally took the joy out of cycling for me. The idea that they were out to get me? That they weren't on my side protecting me from the crazy drivers around town? That totally broke my spirit.
And the funny thing? I'm one of those cyclists who *already* stops at every stop sign and signals turns. Ain't that a kicker? I would just shake my head when I'd see others blowing stop signs or riding against traffic. I figured they'd either learn the hard way, or have a bad scare and stop riding entirely. When they make a mistake, they're the one who pays for it. Cars, on the other hand...
I've been bike-commuting for over five years now... I started when I worked at a lawfirm downtown, and I've kept it up, summer and winter, ever since...through grad school and now post-school (I still work on campus, and downtown too... and commute from around Cherrywood and Manor). I felt like I'd learned a lot about how to keep myself safe, how to predict the driving habits of cars to avoid collisions, I'd learned the back routes that put me on safer streets rather than awful thoroughfares. But now I feel like there's just one more obstacle to safe cycling out there... that I have to worry about being unfairly targeted....that there isn't an equal amount of crackdown on car-drivers who roll through stopsigns...what gives, APD?
I want more driver AND cyclist education about how to share the road safely. I want drivers to be aware of us... to give us a break. I know some of us do crazy things on bicycles, but you can't generalize and say *all* of us are doing that and so clearly are the party to blame. There are cars out there who do crazy things too...just in a one ton steel box... I'm not seeing the crackdown in that department at all. It makes me lose my faith in our system (and I'm a pretty optimistic, faithful girl!)