This Fall, we launched an annual series of Town Halls in various locations throughout the Greater Philadelphia Region served by the Bicycle Coalition.
The idea started in January, when we hosted an open house at the BCGP offices for members to meet our new Executive Director, Chris Gale, meet with staff, and learn about our plans for the new year. Around 125 people showed up! Reflecting on the fruitful coming-together, we wanted more: more meetings with our members, more sharing of our work, and more spaces for all of us to come together and connect over our shared goals.
“We get to talk to people at events, over emails… but if we want to be advocating with our members and community, I need to hear more about what’s important to them,” said Chris Gale. “The idea is, if we can get an understanding of the issues or programs that matter most to the community, we can come back the following year, and say ‘this is what we did to address that.’”
Coming to the Coalition after a long career of working to expand opportunities in marginalized communities, primarily around child education programming, but not from a cycling background, Chris promised the board that if he was hired, he would immerse himself in the community. “Part of the Town Halls are for the community to get to know me and where I come from, but equally, it is for me to get to know our members.”
The first town hall meeting was held in Center City, Philadelphia, at the Old Pine Community Center. After discussing recent wins and challenges, Chris opened it up for a Q&A before mingling and conversation. Because of the recent tragedy in Philadelphia, we took some time to talk about Spruce & Pine and our strategy for getting concrete action from our city decision makers. We discussed the new separation of the city departments of Streets and Sanitation, our different resources for getting comfortable riding in the city, what concrete barriers in bike lanes could look like, and ideas for engaging legislators. One idea from a member was to get Philadelphia Mayor, Cherelle Parker, on a bike, which excitedly, would come to fruition in the following weeks.
Our second town hall was held at Haverford College on the Main Line. We talked about the unique challenge of cycling in the suburbs and getting the siloed decision makers of the townships together to make cohesive changes in our roadways. The room was filled with passionate cyclists looking to connect with their neighbors in order to spearhead initiatives and get more services in their community.
Photo by Patrick McDevitt
We wrapped up our Town Hall series at a library in Camden County where residents of the area heard more about Chris’s vision for the Bicycle Coalition’s advocacy efforts and educational programming in New Jersey. We were joined by members of the recently formed Walk & Bike Haddon Township group who are focused on a number of initiatives to improve walking and biking safety in Haddon Township as well as identifying ways to engage with the community to get more residents walking and biking to reach their destination. Additionally, we were joined by Patrick McDevitt, Gloucester County’s Affiliate Chair who shared a bit about the efforts led in his county to better enforce the NJ Safe Passing Law and establishing a grassroots led effort across Mercer, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties for statewide initiatives such as the Target Zero Legislation in New Jersey.
It’s been a very generative series of town halls and we’re excited to continue the conversation with our members throughout the Greater Philadelphia Region. It’s been wonderful to meet and to facilitate connections between community members. Interested in learning more about ways you can get involved with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia? Contact Patrick Monahan at patrick@bicyclecoalition.org to learn more.
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The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia leads the movement to make every bicycle ride safe, to empower youth and adults to ride, and to foster a ridership that reflects the diversity of the region. As a member, you are among our most dedicated supporters. Make an impact today!