Bicycle Colorado reports that the Colorado Senate approved the 2009 Bicycle Safety Bill (Senate Bill 148) last Tuesday 26-7! The Senate process resulted in no major changes, keeping a three feet safe passing distance in the bill.

The bill specifies drivers must allow 3 feet of clearing when passing and creates a limited exception to the prohibition on driving left of center to allow drivers to give bicyclists extra room. It also prohibits harassment of bicyclists with penalties for driving a vehicle in a threatening manner or throwing an object from a moving vehicle.

BikeDenver board member Robert Clark and Interim Executive Director Piep van Heuven testified in favor of the bill as it was initially introduced at the Senate Transportation Committee meeting on February 10th. The BikeDenver Board of Directors was pleased that language defining harassing behavior toward bicyclists remained in the bill but disappointed penalties were amended to match other traffic violations, as the Board believes that greater protections for bicyclists are needed. BikeDenver leaders are pleased to see the strong and increasing support from Republicans and Democrats in the Colorado Senate and House, as evidenced by the growing number of co-sponsors, many of whom spoke on the Senate floor in support of the bill last week.

Next Steps: SB 148 now moves to the House where sponsor Representative Michael Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs) and co-sponsors will take up the effort. The bill has been assigned to the transportation and energy committee.

How You Can Help: Call or email the State Representative from your district and ask them to support Senate Bill 148 for bicycle safety. Briefly tell them why bicycle safety is important to you and ask them to include 3 feet to pass and safe lane positioning.

State Representatives serving Denver:
District 1 - Jeanne Labuda
District 2 - Mark Ferrandino
District 3 - Anne McGihon
District 4 - K. Jerry Frangas
District 5 - Joel Judd
District 6 - Lois Court
District 7 - Terrance Carroll (Speaker of the House)
District 8 - Beth McCann
District 9 - Joe Miklosi

To find your representative and their contact information, please visit: The Colorado General Assembly

For more information on this and other bills pending in the State of Colorado related to bicycling please visit: Bicycle Colorado

Getting ready to ride:

I’m hoping Shaun can spread a little of the Boulder magic nationwide.

In the latest Westword, three of BikeDenver’s own are quoted. Read this detailed article about Denver’s plan for revolutionizing how we get around. Skip to page 4 if you want to get right to Piep van Heuven, Gary Rossmiller, and Tracy Halasinski’s commentary.

Read it: Denver’s latest traffic plan depends on getting you out of your car

Party with Oscar® 2009

With gas prices slowly rising and the weather creeping towards an early spring, the Denver Film Society has decided to add a hint of green to the golden statue.

On Sunday, February 22, the Denver Film Society will be hosting our annual Party with Oscar®, the only officially sanctioned event in Denver to catch the awards on the big screen. However, this year if you pull up on your bike, all tickets to the Rock ‘N’ Roll themed party are half-off ($20 entry) at the door!

The night’s festivities don’t just include the Oscars; prepare to be entertained with a live band, rocking DJ, games, and great drink specials as well as food being served all night long.

Amazing prizes up for grabs during the evening include:

• Red-carpet ticket packages (5 of them!) to the 2009 Starz Denver Film Festival, which all include overnight accommodations at some of Denver’s top hotels
• Tickets for other film festivals: Aspen ShortsFest, Los Angeles Film Festival, and CineVegas Film Festival
• Gift from Tiffany & Co.
• Tickets for Flight of the Conchords show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
• Tickets and VIP parking pass for Denver Nuggets vs. Atlanta Hawks
• Gift cards ranging from $25-$100 for Flylow Gear, Mike’s Camera, Larimer Square, Wystone’s World Teas, Black & Read, Twist & Shout, Yum Yum Delights
• Luxurious salon services and memberships from: Vito Pini Salon, Click Salon, Pura Vida Fitness & Spa
• Wine and spirits: bottles of Veuve Cliquot champagne, bottles of Moët & Chandon champagne, signed magnum of rare wine, wine-of-the-month club at Argonaut Wine & Liquor, bottles of Francis Ford Coppola wine
• Signed posters, DVDs, books and more….

With all of this up for grabs it makes it an event not to be missed!

Doors to the Starz FilmCenter open at 5 p.m. and your best Rock ‘N’ Roll attire is recommended. “Travel green” and ride your bike for a special $20 ticket (includes food and drink specials). Non-bicyclist tickets are $40 for members and $45 for general admission (includes food and 2 drink tickets) There is free parking in the Tivoli surface lot with validation.

All proceeds benefit the non-profit Denver Film Society.

Sponsored by: AmuseMints, Anheuser-Busch, Basil Doc’s Pizza, BikeDenver, CEAVCO Audio Visual, Cerén Vodka, Denver Cruisers, Lala’s Wine Bar & Pizzeria, Sterling Vineyards, Three Tomatoes Catering, Udi’s Handcrafted Foods, Yum Yums Delights

Prizes generously provided by: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Argonaut Wine & Liquor, AspenShorts Festival, Bill Clarke, Black & Read, CineVegas, Click Salon, Courtyard by Marriott, Flylow Gear, Hotel VQ, Hyatt Regency, Kroenke Sports Enterprises, Larimer Square, Los Angeles Film Festival, Mike’s Camera, Pura Vida Fitness and Spa, Queen Anne Bed & Breakfast, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Rialto Café, Sterling Vineyards, Tiffany & Co., Twist & Shout, Veuve Cliquot, Vito Pini Salon, Wystone’s World Teas and Yum Yums Delights.

Purchase tickets at denverfilm.org.

And I wouldn’t recommend it in Denver either.

I shot these photos last Spring. I was walking home from work and saw a bike locked up with a shiny new chain and padlock. The thing was, it was kind of a wimpy looking lock. And the chain… well, I was pretty sure I could destroy it with my bare hands. Before I show you the photos, let me say, “I did not steal this bike.” But, I knew someone would!

Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

In January, I started working for the Transportation for America (T4A) campaign in Washington, DC. T4A is a coalition of groups working towards a new agenda for federal transportation funding. In a nutshell, we are working together to shift the priority of our federal transportation investments from being primarily highway and car oriented to a pedestrian, cyclist, mass transit orientation.

A little background. In the 1950s, President Eisenhower initiated the interstate highway system, and set the nation on a 50 year project to complete this network, also fueling our national love affair with the car. This system accomplishes many national goals, and is a mark of national pride, but while we were building it, we did not keep up our investments in other modes of transportation.

It’s 2009 and we find ourselves in a situation where congestion has taken away much of the efficiency of these roads, yet because we have not invested in alternatives, most Americans have no choice but to be car dependent. Curiously, we have a vast amount of long haul freight shipping on our highways, a result of the combined efficiency of the highway system, and the unavailability of rail freight infrastructure in many areas of our country. In many towns and cities, the current public transportation networks are not comparable to the streetcar systems which were torn out in the 1930s and 1940s to make way for more roads. Roads themselves are neither good nor bad, but engineering them solely for cars and trucks has left a lot of people out of luck when it comes to getting around efficiently.

So the time has come to invest in different modes of transportation, commuter and freight rail, bike infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, and mass transit that all function to help people get to and from jobs and their daily responsibilities quickly, easily, and safely. You’d think it’d be easy, but there are a lot of people who have made their careers, developed successful business, or otherwise relied on the highway projects that have dominated transportation for 50 years. These folks don’t want anything to change, because their own livelihoods are genuinely at risk. The last transportation bill gave about 83% of the money to roads and highways, and 17% to everything else. T4A is pushing to get a split of 50/50, hardly cutting roads out entirely, but changing the priorities substantially.

BikeDenver has joined the coalition pushing for this change, and you can too. If your business or organization would like to become part of this movement, you can fill out this form and return it to Transportation for America. If you are interested in joining as an individual, you can enter your name and email right here at the top left. I hope to work on this with you all over the next few months, we’ll probably see the first version of the next Transportation Bill in May (from Chairman and avid cyclist, Rep. James Oberstar), so get involved early and often. I look forward to it.

Will Handsfield
BikeDenver - Past President