On Tuesday, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and Philadelphia 3.0 co-hosted a meeting at Project H.O.M.E. to discuss the history of “bike politics” in Philadelphia and what private citizens can do in their communities to make changes. The event was free and open to the public.
About 20 people came to listen to Sarah Clark Stuart from the Bicycle Coalition talk about many of the details and efforts that have led to successes and failures in Philly bike infrastructure and laws. After Stuart, Jon Geeting of Philadelphia 3.0 explained to the audience how those in attendance can get involved in their local community organizations and run for office as a committeeperson.
What participants learned:
- How Philadelphia installs bike lanes
- How Philadelphia used to install bike lanes
- How that change happened
- What the Bicycle Coalition does to bring about more, and better, bicycle infrastructure
- How people can find out more about their local civic organization or RCO
- How people can join their civic association or RCO
- How people can run for committeeperson to represent their community
- How people can turn that representation into change on Vision Zero priorities
Change begins at the local level, and we were happy to be involved in this event to help Philadelphians better understand how their government works with respect to our issues. Expect more of these sorts of meetings in the future.