Our big news of the week was this: Bicycle Coalition Alex Doty is leaving us to head up the League of American Bicyclists, a national bicycling advocacy group that’s been pedaling since the 1880s. Deputy Director Sarah Clark Stuart is taking over as interim Executive Director. He left a message about his departure on our blog.
Plan Philly wrote about Alex’s departure here. “Doty leaves the Bicycle Coalition at a crossroads. On one hand, the organization has won significant promises from both the Democratic and Republican candidates for mayor, causing Philadelphia Magazine’s Patrick Kerkstra to crow “The Bicycle (Riding) Lobby Has Won, and Philly Will Never Be the Same Again”. But new bike lane construction has slowed in recent years, and Philadelphia has yet to build a protected bike lane while peer cities see their cycling infrastructure grow by leaps and bounds.”
And Philly.com interviewed Alex about his departure in their well-read story, Philly’s biking guru goes national. “I think that the fact that Philadelphia is now called an outdoor urban oasis by the New York Times has a lot to do with the work the Bicycle Coalition has been doing for decades. What I find remarkable now is the number of people riding, it seems to me, on the worst, rainiest, wettest day today, you’ll see the same number of people who were riding on only the most beautiful days when I started at the Bicycle coalition.
Another move was made in the Philly bike world this week. Gearing Up founder Kristin Gavin is moving to Indego bike share and will serve as its general manager. Gearing Up is a nonprofit organization working with women in transition to use cycling as a way to build perseverance, discipline and a sense of accomplishment.
Emergency situations sometimes happen on the Schuylkill River Trail. PlanPhilly did us a solid and wrote about what to do if and when an emergency happens.
Philadelphia Daily News writer Stu Bykofsky recently wrote about why Open Streets are a bad thing. PlanPhilly wrote about how they are not a bad thing. And in so doing, they’ve come up with a new regular column on the Eyes on the Street feature: “The [sic] Byko Files.”