By Ashley Vogel
Photo courtesy of Lauren Moatz
On Wednesday morning, several members of the Women Bike PHL community made time before work to grab coffee and take action. The special-edition Coffee Club met at Square One Coffee in the Washington West neighborhood, where many bicyclists are calling for protected bike lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets after the death of Emily Fredricks, a 24-year-old pastry chef who was hit and killed by the driver of a private sanitation truck while riding in the bike lane.
Women Bike PHL members wrote to Mayor Jim Kenney, Councilman Mark Squilla, and Councilman Kenyatta Johnson to express their concerns about bicyclist safety. We called on them to uphold the Vision Zero commitment made by the Kenney administration and implement the seven demands sent to the city by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
The special edition Coffee Club was suggested by members of the Women Bike PHL Facebook group. The goal of the Facebook group and Women Bike PHL events is to inspire those identifying as women, trans, and/or non-binary in the Greater Philadelphia region to ride a bike. You can learn about upcoming Women Bike PHL events by following the program’s Facebook page.
Can you take a moment to sign our petition calling upon the City to enact these seven demands? Sign here.