NDN: BikeWalkLee awards "Champion of the Year" while calling for cyclist safety

 BikeWalkLee awards Champion of the Year while calling for cyclist safety

Thaddeus Mast, Naples Daily NewsPublished 11:36 a.m. ET Dec. 21, 2018

The cyclists of south Lee County are getting a little safer as BikeWalkLee declares it’s Complete Streets Champion of the Year.

Bonita Springs Councilor Peter O’Flinn went above and beyond other area leaders as he helped map future bike trails through the city, the organization said.

“I think the thing is to really become a part of the city’s DNA,” said Darla Letourneau, of BikeWalkLee. “A leader that makes this a top priority and sticks to it and drives it.”

While he’s not alone in the endeavor with the City Council and members of Estero aiming for a better biking experience, O’Flinn is a real driver, Letourneau said.

“Obviously, it’s not done alone,” she said. “The council is helping. But (O’Flinn is) the person who keeps moving it along. We need more Peters around the county.”

Current initiatives include a remake of Terry Street. The roadway is undergoing a major redesign with an emphasis on pedestrians and cyclists — sidewalks will be expanded and more permanent crosswalks will be added.

Planned expansions are also on city, county and state maps, giving the city grant options to kick off construction. One example is a state bike trail running alongside unused railroad tracks.

“It takes 10-20 years to get a Rails-to-Trails project from beginning to end,” she said. “These things take a dedication that most elected officials are looking at the short term.”

Despite the plans in place, current roadways are dangerous for all but the experienced street cyclists, said Doug Saxton of the Estero BikeWalkLee.

“Some people won’t leave their immediate community,” Saxton said. “Just imagine if you could ride with your kids or grandkids to go get an ice cream and it be a safe thing.”


Peter O'Flinn (Special to The Banner)

Dangerous by Design, a group that ranks communities based on pedestrian danger, listed the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area as the worst contender in the nation in 2016. Another report is set to come out in January.

“Pedestrian safety is an indicator of bicycle safety,” Letourneau said. “It’s as if they don’t care. We want to make sure everyone talks about it.”

A new study to be released in January will show whether Lee County has made improvements.
“This has been a bigger issue over the past 10 years — distracted drivers,” Letourneau said.

Local bike safety groups are pushing expanded sidewalks and short additions instead of major trails.

 “We are big champions of walkability to the new (Bonita Springs High School),” said Sarah Baker, chair Bicycle/Pedestrian Safety Advisory Board. “It’s kind of getting in on ground level, integrating it in on paper and then seeing it happen.”

The expansions mostly include shared use paths — in short, a widened sidewalk that both cyclists and pedestrians can use together.

“It’d be nice to have space for the cars, bike lane for the bikes and a shared use path,” he said. “If you’re not comfortable riding next to the road, then don’t.”

Bonita Springs Deputy Mayor Peter O'Flinn Honored as 2018 Complete Streets Champion of the Year

It was an honor to present the 2018 Complete Streets Champion of the Year Award to Deputy Mayor Peter O'Flinn at the Bonita Springs City Council meeting on Dec. 19th.

Vice Mayor O'Flinn (center with trophy) with BWL representatives (Darla, Doug, Sarah, to his right),
along with Mayor Simmons (L) and member of Bonita Springs City Council

In presenting the award to Deputy Mayor O'Flinn, Darla Letourneau of BikeWalkLee spoke of  O'Flinn's rare combination of talents--a big picture vision along with the skill-set, passion, and focus to drive this vision to results on the ground.  "These are special gifts, and the citizens of Bonita and the larger Southwest Florida are lucky to have Peter is a leadership role in the community," said Letourneau.

"BikeWalkLee is deeply grateful to Deputy Mayor O'Flinn for serving as an inspiration and role model for elected officials, staff, and advocates throughout Southwest Florida," said Letourneau.

She also thanked the Mayor, Councilmembers, and the staff "for staying the course on this decades-long and continuing complete streets journey."

In his remarks, Vice-Mayor O'Flinn acknowledged the Council, staff, and community leaders who were all instrumental in these accomplishments.  He emphasized the importance of the context-sensitive approach that is at the core of complete streets.  This approach is a way to make sure the City's development and transportation plans are consistent with the community's vision of preserving Bonita's small city charm.

NEW:  Dec. 20th: Smart Growth America's reported on Peter's award as part of its bi-weekly national newsletter.
Dec. 22nd:  Naples Daily News: BikeWalkLee awards Champion of the Year while calling for cyclist safety

Report by Darla Letourneau



BWL Dec. 19, 2018 Press Release: Bonita Springs Deputy Mayor Peter O'Flinn Honored as 2018 Complete Streets Champion of the Year

Bonita Springs Deputy Mayor





BikeWalkLee Press Release

Issued December 19, 2018

 Contact: Darla Letourneau, (239) 850-3219, dletourneau@bikewalklee.org

Bonita Springs Deputy Mayor Peter O’Flinn

Honored as 2018 Complete Streets Champion of the Year

 
BikeWalkLee, a community coalition advocating for complete streets in Lee County Florida, has selected Bonita Deputy Mayor Peter O’Flinn as its 2018 Complete Streets Champion of the Year for his outstanding leadership, vision, and commitment to bringing complete streets concepts to reality on the ground in Bonita Springs.

“Today, we honor Peter O’Flinn as an outstanding champion of complete streets, not only in Bonita Springs but throughout Lee County and beyond," said BikeWalkLee’s Darla Letourneau.

“Deputy Mayor O’Flinn is a tireless leader who is focused on bringing that vision to reality one project at a time, each building on the other attracting grant funds, and gaining state and national recognition,” Letourneau continued.

 BikeWalkLee has always understood that an advocacy group can only provide the spark of inspiration. For the effort to be successful and long-lasting, it must have committed government champions. The most successful efforts have elected leaders, staff and community volunteers working collaboratively towards a vision. 

 Bonita Springs is a shining example of a community making a paradigm shift into a new way of thinking and doing business.  The city has taken the complete streets approach and, through collaborations and partnerships, adapted and built on the foundation put in place over the past decade.

 
Prior to joining the Bonita Springs City Council in 2016, O’Flinn was an engaged community leader, advocating for enhancing the quality of life in Bonita through a complete streets approach.

 Once on the council, he made complete streets one of his top priorities.  He has provided visionary leadership on the council, throughout the community and countywide. His goal has been to consistently advance these concepts and help educate the public about its benefits.

He has worked tirelessly with city staff to ensure a complete streets approach is incorporated into the land use planning for the city.  Just as important, he has proactively initiated the implementation of complete streets projects on the ground. These projects are immediately beneficial to improving the quality of life for residents, which then helps build a broader base of support for future action, all in support of the goal of burnishing Bonita Springs’ reputation as a great small city.

 

O’Flinn has provided leadership and convened residents and elected officials in the Southwest Florida region, resulting in the following:

·     Bonita Springs, working with the nationally recognized Alta Planning + Design firm, is transforming West Terry Street into a beautiful multimodal corridor with safety improvements for school children, recreational and road cyclists, and drivers alike.  This project complements the Downtown Improvement Project, for which Bonita Springs received national recognition as one of the 12 communities in the United States for its exemplary work on implementing complete streets in The Best Complete Streets Initiatives of 2017, prepared by Smart Growth America.

·     Bonita Springs partnered with the Village of Estero and the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation to launch a long-term effort to create of a “rails-to-trails” trail, connecting the City of Bonita Springs to the Village of Estero via a 10-mile trail along the railroad right-of-way.  This joint Bonita/Estero partnership led a community campaign in 2018 to add this local segment to the statewide Priority Florida Greenways and Trails Map.  As a result of the strong show of community support, this trail segment is now on the official State Trails Map, making it eligible for state funding through the Florida Shared Use Non-motorized (SUN) Trail funds, managed by Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT).

o   Bonita Springs prepared a $12 million application for U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s national competitive BUILD program (previously named TIGER).  The city’s proposal ties together the Downtown Improvement Project, the West Terry Street project, and the vision for the Bonita/Estero Trail (on the railroad right-of-way), to transform the entire 5-mile Terry Street corridor that runs through the heart of Bonita Springs. If funded, the project would leverage even larger transformative changes in the community.

o   Bonita Springs collaborated with Blue Zones to implement quality of life changes in the local area.

o   Bonita Springs was successful in gaining support from FDOT and the Lee Metropolitan Planning Organization for a U.S. 41/Bonita Beach Road Quadrant Study (part of the Bonita Beach Road Visioning Study); with the goal of developing an expanded roadway network between Bonita Beach Road and U.S. 41 that provides a multi-modal transportation approach, using complete streets concepts.

“Thanks to Deputy Mayor O’Flinn’s visionary efforts, the citizens of Bonita Springs will have safer streets, a community with more options for getting around town, a trail that will serve present and future Bonitans for generations, and a burnished reputation as a great place to live, work, and play,” said Letourneau. “BikeWalkLee is deeply grateful to Deputy Mayor O’Flinn for his leadership and many contributions to implementing a complete streets approach in Bonita Springs, and serving as a model for other communities throughout Southwest Florida.”

Key Links:

• BikeWalkLee Dec. 19, 2018 Press Release: Bonita Springs Deputy Mayor Peter O'Flinn Honored as 2018 Complete Streets Champion of the Year
• History of BikeWalkLee's "Complete Streets Champion of the Year" Awards: 2010-2018 
• Bonita Springs' Complete Streets Journey to date (2014-2018): Links to Key BikeWalkLee Blog Posts

 

Dr. Margaret Banyan honored as 2017 Complete Streets Champion of the Year

On June 17th, BikeWalkLee presented Dr. Margaret Banyan with the 2017 Complete Streets Champion of the Year award.  BikeWalkLee, along with the larger transportation world in SWFL, owes a great debt of gratitude to Margaret for her decade-long efforts to put complete streets and livable community principles into action.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Issued June 17, 2017

Contact: Darla Letourneau, (239) 850-3219, dletourneau@bikewalklee.org

BikeWalkLee, a local community coalition advocating for complete streets in Lee County Florida, has selected Dr. Margaret Banyan, FGCU Associate Professor and a founding member of BikeWalkLee, as the 2017 Complete Streets Champion of the Year for her outstanding contributions to taking complete streets and livable community principles and putting them into action in the real world -- academia, government organizations, and local communities throughout Southwest Florida--for more than a decade.

Dr. Margaret Banyon

 “Today we honor Dr. Banyan as an outstanding champion of complete streets and livable communities in multiple capacities throughout Lee County over the past decade." said BikeWalkLee’s Darla Letourneau. "As one of the founding members of BikeWalkLee, we also honor Margaret for incredible contributions to our organization since it was founded in 2009. Many of our successes would not have been possible without Margaret," said Letourneau. 

Dr. Banyan's impact on the community is considerable thanks to  the various "hats" she wears and how she has used the synergy of those roles to introduce, educate and implement the concepts of complete streets, livable communities, a balanced transportation system, transit and transit oriented development, integration of transportation and land use planning, and community engagement. She has the unique opportunity to bring these ideas to both the future generation (i.e. her students), to government agencies and officials that make decisions on these issues, and to make them part of citizen community planning efforts.

 

BWL's Dan Moser presents award to Margaret

As the lead faculty for FGCU's land use planning certificate, she has trained and mentored many up-and- coming staffers and leaders in regional governmental and nongovernmental agencies and organizations. 

As a consultant to many local cities and community planning organizations, Dr. Banyan has worked to incorporate the principles of complete streets and livable communities into the fabric of the local government policymaking. Those many consulting projects gave her an opportunity to train her students about the real world of public administration and public policy, encouraging many to continue their careers in this field and to consider staying in Southwest Florida.

From her FGCU seat, she organized many seminars and workshops with national experts to introduce new ideas to our area, bringing in the area players from academia, government, consultants, advocacy organizations, community groups, along with students.

Friends and colleagues at Margaret's award presentation

She also played a critical leadership role on many government committees and task forces, which allowed her to move complete streets ideas into recommendations for government action:

•  Within FGCU, she served on several committees to advocate for better bike/ped facilities, improved transit on campus, reconsideration of parking policies, and incorporation of these concepts into the Campus Master Plan. 
•  She was chair of the county's Smart Growth Committee, which drafted the county’s Complete Streets Policy in 2009.
•  She remained as chair and member of the reconstituted committee, the Community Sustainability Advisory Committee, as well as a member of its Complete Streets working group. 
•  She was the Chair of the Tice Planning Community and worked tirelessly to improve the community and to develop its capacity and interest in citizen engagement.
•  She also worked as a consultant on the development of the Community Plans for Buckingham and North Captiva, and provided her planning expertise to several Fire Districts.
•   She was a member of the MPO's Citizen Advisory Committee and played a key role in the development of the Long Range Transportation Plans. She was a respected expert on transit and spoke at numerous MPO Board meetings on transit and related land use and transportation planning issues.
• She was also selected by the MPO Board in 2015 to be part of its team to participate in the prestigious national Transportation Leadership Institute, focused on innovative uses of performance measurement for transportation investments. 
•  She was chosen to be a panel member on the National Academies Panel on Livable Transit Corridors. She also served on the FDOT statewide committee developing its 2060 Plan.

CS Award Trophy

As an FGCU facility member, she successfully pursued grants for complete streets/livable community projects that would provide opportunities to partner with others in the community as well as provide opportunities for her students to participate. The awarded grants ranged from the national technical assistance grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for the walking audit and community engagement in the Tice community, to Health Improvement Assessments in Tice funded by the Centers for Disease Control, to the joint BWL/FGCU/Goodwill partnership that received a Southwest Florida Community Foundation grant to conduct walking audits in the Tice and Dunbar communities as a community empowerment and civic engagement tool.

"Over the past decade, Dr. Banyan's leadership and commitment to the complete streets movement has left a legacy of accomplishment, and an impressive group of talented young leaders who will carry the complete streets/livable communities movement forward into the future," said Letourneau. "BikeWalkLee is deeply grateful to Margaret for her many contributions to making our community a better place, and to being a key part of the BikeWalkLee Steering Group team from the beginning."

Florida Weekly's "2017 Best" recognizes best of bike/ped in 2017

Thanks to Florida Weekly for its recognition of  the best in the biking and walking world in 2017, including a shout out to BikeWalkLee. 
Florida Weekly, May 3, 2017:  2017 Best

BEST CHAMPION OF SAFE STREETS--Darla Letourneau 

We estimate there are 10 on the southwest coast who could hold this title, men and women from various walks or bike-trails of life, but the champion, the most vocal, consistent and tireless advocate for better, safer bicycle and pedestrian trails is Darla Letourneau. Ms. Letourneau, a longtime Sanibel resident and cofounder with Dan Moser of BikeWalkLee, has spent thousands of hours promoting the rights and BEST interests of any who take to pedal or foot, with huge results over time. Hundreds of miles of additional trails or enhanced safety precautions at dangerous intersections — not to mention a wider public knowledge that bicycles have the same rights in traffic as motor vehicles — exist in large part as a result of her lobbying. A retired “budget guru” and one-time deputy assistant secretary of labor in Washington, she’s a force for the good on the Southwest coast.

BEST ROAD INTERSECTION DESIGNED BY A 9-YEAR-OLD

 Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard and Colonial Boulevard Making a left turn from Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard heading east on Colonial Boulevard is not for the faint of heart. There’s no left turn signal and two lanes of traffic are coming at you from Plantation Road, across the street. You have to stick your nose out in the middle of the intersection and hope the cars in the far-right lane on Plantation are turning right, then you can dive for the left lane on Colonial and hope you’re faster. It’s downright scary. Maybe the engineer who designed it will come back and fix it after he finishes fifth grade.

BEST PLACE TO BIKE SLOW AND EASY

 Sanibel Island The J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge has a spectacular five-mile stretch of paved road with a 15 MPH speed limit. You’ll see tons migrating birds and the ever-present alligators on the scenic ride. But really any of the miles of bike paths on Sanibel are exceptional.

BEST PLACE TO BIKE FAST 

Treeline Avenue, which turns in to Ben Hill Griffin Parkway in Estero, gets our nod. It’s 13 miles of relatively new highway with adequate bike lanes and few stop lights. You can really get on that big crank and make some wind. For a great group ride, hook up with the Caloosa Riders Bicycle Club. It holds group rides at various paces nearly every day.

BEST SIGN OF CONFUSION

This road sign on Westlinks Drive in Gateway says the right lane ends and you should merge left. However, the painted sign on the road says the left lane ends and you should merge right. OK, which way do I go? The traffic engineer who thought up this gem must have slept though road sign class.

BEST COUNTY DEPARTMENT

Lee County Parks and RecreationForget budgetary priorities of “core services” such as police and fire. We all need places to throw a baseball to our kids and walk a trail among the cypress trees. Lee County Parks & Recreation oversees the tiniest neighborhood parks to the longest linear ones, with Lakes Regional Park as its Central Park equivalent. Beach access and Conservation 20/20 preserves showcase the county’s green side at a minimal fee for visitors. The stadiums in which the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox play bring America’s favorite pastime here each spring. Kids splash in four year-round pools and attend dozens of summer camps with affordable fees. All playgrounds are ADA accessible. Little extras — fragrance gardens, train villages, fitness centers and canoe and kayak trails — dot Lee County. No matter what the economy does to us, we all have a peaceful place to reflect and recreate, thanks to this department.

BEST OFF-ROAD BIKING
Caloosahatchee Regional ParkCaloosahatchee Regional Park in Lee County offers about 10 miles that are more suited to the intermediate level rider. The trails are well marked and they have enough twists and turns to keep even the expert trail rider interested.

Billy Hattaway honored as 2016 Complete Streets Champion of the Year

On Jan. 27th, representatives from BikeWalkLee (Darla Letourneau and Margaret Banyan) traveled to Orlando to present Billy Hattaway with BikeWalkLee's 2016 Complete Streets Champion of the Year award.  BikeWalkLee, along with the larger transportation world in SWFL, owes a great debt of gratitude to Billy for his tireless leadership and assistance in support of complete streets.

Darla Letourneau and Dr. Margaret Banyan present BWL award to Billy Hattaway at Orlando City Hall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Issued Jan. 27, 2017

Contact: Darla Letourneau, (239) 850-3219, dletourneau@bikewalklee.org

BikeWalkLee, a local community coalition advocating for complete streets in Lee County Florida, has selected Billy Hattaway, Florida Dept. of Transportation's (FDOT) District 1 Secretary (2011-2016) as the 2016 Complete Streets Champion of the Year for his visionary and passionate statewide and local leadership in support of complete streets and pedestrian and bicycle safety. 

Billy Hattaway

“Today we honor Billy Hattaway as an outstanding champion of complete streets and pedestrian and bicycle safety throughout Florida, and specifically in Lee County, over the past decade," said BikeWalkLee’s Darla Letourneau.   

"Hattaway also initiated transformative change in FDOT’s design and operation of roads, shifting the focus from a car-centric culture to meeting the needs of all roadway users in a context-sensitive way. His six-year tenure as District 1 Secretary, along with his statewide leadership of FDOT's bike/ped safety campaign and its Complete Streets Implementation Plan, and his commitment to a balanced multi-modal transportation throughout his career, leaves a lasting legacy for the current and future generations of Floridians, county and city officials, local agencies, advocates, as well as the department itself," said Letourneau.

Southwest Florida has benefited from having a nationally renowned leader of Secretary Hattaway's commitment and caliber assisting its communities over the past six years as they strive to implement complete streets and a more balanced multi-modal transportation system that is safe for all users.  Hattaway’s willingness to assist in any way he was asked, both publicly and behind the scenes, has made a difference to the citizens of Lee County today and well into the future when some of these new transportation approaches will come to fruition.

BikeWalkLee is grateful for its long-term partnership with Secretary Hattaway on many bike/ped safety and complete streets initiatives over the past nine years, first as a consultant on the Lee Metropolitan Planning Organization's first ever countywide bike/ped master plan, and then during his six-year tenure at FDOT.  Since BikeWalkLee's inception in 2009, he has supported our advocacy efforts and included us as full partners with a seat at the table.  His hands-on participation in local complete streets efforts, bike/ped safety campaign and events in Lee County,  the Tice Community walking audit project,  the Lee MPO TIGER grant, promotion and support for modern roundabouts, among many other activities, was instrumental in creating momentum for trying innovative approaches in jurisdictions throughout SWFL.

He has exposed local leaders to innovative treatments such as roundabouts and road diets, context-sensitive complete streets, traditional neighborhood development, and the integration of land use and transportation planning.  He also helped local officials, staff and community leaders navigate the paradigm shift that is occurring in the transportation world.

 Secretary Hattaway inspired and motivated many agencies, individuals, and organizations throughout Southwest Florida and statewide to become champions of complete streets and livable communities, resulting in an expanded local bench of champions that can carry the torch forward, another of his lasting legacies.

Secretary Hattaway left FDOT at the end of November 2016 to become the Director of Transportation for the city of Orlando.  While his FDOT leadership will be greatly missed, we are confident that the Complete Streets Implementation Plan for FDOT he launched in 2014 will meet its completion date of February 2018,  integrating a complete streets approach into the fiber of FDOT's policies, guidances, and way of doing business, thus institutionalizing the many changes he undertook during his tenure.

"BikeWalkLee is deeply grateful to Secretary Hattaway for his many contributions to the complete streets movement across the country, throughout Florida, and especially in Southwest Florida,” said Letourneau.  “The city of Orlando is lucky to have Billy as its Transportation Director, and we are confident that his contributions to the complete streets movement will continue in his new post."  

# # #

BikeWalkLee is a community coalition raising public awareness and advocating for complete streets in Lee County—streets that are designed, built, operated and maintained for safe and convenient travel for all users: pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Other information, statistics and background is available online at www.BikeWalkLee.org. Also see our blog at http://bikewalklee.blogspot.com, and look for us on Facebook & Twitter.

BWL Column: SWFL Community Foundation is Complete Streets Champion

BikeWalkLee presented the Southwest Florida Community Foundation with its annual Complete Streets Champion of the Year award.  Congratulations to the Foundation team for bringing a new voice to the complete streets/ sustainable communities conversation and broadening the dialogue in a way that no government entity or other stakeholder can do on its own. Our column also addresses the question of where to ride--on the road or on sidewalks/paths--which responds to some recent letters to the editor and conversations around town.

News-Press "Go Coastal" section, Feb. 4, 2016

 http://www.news-press.com/story/life/outdoors/2016/02/03/southwest-florida-community-foundation-complete-streets-champion-bikewalklee-owen/79712286/

  (Photo: special to the news-press)

                                               

In the push to improve biking and walking in Southwest Florida, the focus often is on government (the folks who build and maintain the roads and bike paths) and users (the people who agitate for and then appreciate better facilities).

It’s easy to overlook the people who bring these issues to the forefront (and keep them there). This year, when pondering who to honor with its annual Complete Streets Champion award, BikeWalkLee wanted to rectify that – and recognize that as much work (sometimes more) to complete our streets is being done outside of government than within it.

Thus, BikeWalkLee’s 2015 Complete Streets Champion is the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, which has been serving the communities of Lee, Charlotte, Hendry, Glades, and Collier counties since 1976 by bringing together both funds and people to take on local problems and finding local solutions.

For example, when county officials decided to put the award-wining community sustainability plan on the shelf, the foundation stepped in to pull it back into action, hired the person who had spearheaded the county formulation of the plan, Tessa LeSage, and moved forward on expanding this plan into the community through the things the foundation does best: funding, focusing and facilitating.

"To take the complete streets vision to the next level, the foundation brings a new voice to the conversation and broadens the dialogue in a way that no government entity or other stakeholder can do on its own,” said BikeWalkLee's Darla Letourneau. “The foundation is rallying the community around this important cause, demonstrating that complete streets are a tool for making our communities more complete, more livable and more walkable – in short, making our community a place where people want to be.”

BikeWalkLee's Darla Letourneau, left, presents the 2015 Complete Streets Champion award to Tessa LeSage with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. (Photo: Special to the news-press)

 

This move fits right in with the evolution of the foundation under CEO Sarah Owen, moving it beyond the role of grant-giver and into the position of big-picture thinker and conversation starter – not just on complete streets, but on a host of issues that impact Southwest Florida now and into the future. That’s a role few (if any) other entities have stepped to play regionally… and certainly worthy of an award.

Ken Gooderham compiles this for BikeWalkLee, a community coalition raising public awareness and advocating for complete streets in Lee County— streets that are designed, built, operated and maintained for safe and convenient travel for all users: pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Information, statistics and background online at www.BikeWalkLee.org.

Where to ride?
At times we hear from people who ask why bicyclists are riding in the roadway when there are perfectly good sidewalks right there.

The short answer: Bikes are vehicles that can be and have a right to be in the road. Sidewalks are for pedestrians first and foremost.

The less-short answer: Many of our local sidewalks are barely acceptable for walking, let alone riding a bike. (Think obstacles, uneven surfaces, terrible sight lines, narrow widths and more.) For bicyclists with the skills and confidence, sharing the road with the motorized vehicles can end up being the safer solution – especially if there’s a wide shoulder or bike lane there.

Wherever they plan to pedal, cyclists must remember to abide by the rules of that road. If they ride on a sidewalk, they have to act like pedestrians – except to give actual pedestrians the right of way. If they ride on the road, they should act like the other vehicles… which also means giving walkers the right of way as well as going with traffic (not against it), stopping and signaling as appropriate and all the rest.

Ready to ride or run?
Run: One 5K this weekend (Strides for Education at Florida Southwest College – and stay for the farmers market held there every Saturday), two more on Feb. 13 and a trifecta – marathon, half marathon and 5K – on Valentine’s Day in Naples… think of all the chocolate you can eat after that!
Ride: February is bookended with Critical Mass rides, with the Fort Myers ride Friday night, the Cape Coral ride the night of Feb. 26, and the starter ride the morning after that in Fort Myers. Mark your calendars: The Royal Palm Classic ride is Sunday, March 13. Join the Caloosa Riders for what is always a fun event, whatever the distance you choose.

#BeSeenLee: To keep people safe at night while biking, we’re working to provide free bike lights to those unable to afford them (but who have to ride at night). BikeWalkLee partners (including Pawnbroker Marketing and Billy's Bikes) will be coordinating events during this campaign. Be sure to watch the BikeWalklee Facebook and Twitter pages for more #BeSeenLee event announcements and details.

Southwest Florida Community Foundation honored as 2015 'Complete Streets Champion of the Year'

Kudos to the Southwest Florida Community Foundation team and thanks to everyone who came to Friday's "Meet and Greet " event where BikeWalkLee presented the award.

BikeWalkLee, a local community coalition advocating for complete streets in Lee County, has selected the Southwest Florida Community Foundation as the 2015 Complete Streets Champion of the Year for its leadership in broadening the community conversation about the role of complete streets in the larger goals of quality of life, economic vibrancy, and a sustainable future.

BikeWalkLee presented the award on Jan. 22nd at the Foundation's Fort Myers office during BikeWalkLee's "Meet and Greet" event, bringing local and state advocates together while the Florida Bicycle Association Board was in town.

Darla presents Foundation award to Tessa LaSage and Cindy Banyai

BikeWalkLee has been giving this annual award since 2010 to recognize progress being made in support of completing the streets of Lee County. Over the past five years our awards have gone to elected officials, government agencies/staff and their advocate partners for adopting and implementing complete streets policies (Lee County, City of Bonita Springs) and specific initiatives or improvements to make our communities more bikeable and walkable (City of Sanibel and the Sanibel Bicycle Club; and Cape Coral and Cape Coral Bike-Ped).

"While the role of government is a key ingredient in the transportation paradigm shift that underlies the complete streets approach, it is only one of the ingredients. Broad-based community support and engagement is another key ingredient to the ultimate goal of making our community more livable," said BikeWalkLee's Darla Letourneau.

CEO Sarah Owen

"During the past year, the Community Foundation has been a leader in broadening the community conversation about the role of complete streets in the larger goals of quality of life, economic vibrancy, and a sustainable future. SWFL is lucky to have such an innovative Community Foundation," said Letourneau.

Under CEO Sarah Owen's leadership these past four years, the role of the Foundation has grown into something much more than giving out money. The Foundation leads, it facilitates, it inspires, and it rallies the community around important causes. The Foundation engages the community in conversations and actions that create sustainable positive change and provides the funding to make those changes a reality. They play a pivotal role in bringing together community agencies, businesses, governments, funders, and stakeholders to help our community find solutions to our toughest challenges. They facilitate conversations about big issues in our community--from sustainability, to workforce development, to physical and environmental health, to pedestrian safety and walkable communities.

"To take the complete streets vision to the next level, the Foundation bringing a new voice to the conversation and broadens the dialogue in a way that no government entity or other stakeholder can do on its own. The Foundation is rallying the community around this important cause, demonstrating that complete streets are a tool for making our communities more complete, more livable, and more walkable. In short, it is making our community a place where people want to be, " said Letourneau

BikeWalkLee cited the following accomplishments in making the award:

 During the past year the Foundation has taken over the leadership and implementation of the community-wide Sustainability Plan, and recruited Tessa LeSage, the County's leader for the award-winning Plan, to the Foundation.

The County's Complete Streets policy and implementation were an integral part of Tessa's work with the county’s Community Sustainability Advisory Committee, so having this project move to the Foundation provides a broad framework for continuing a complete streets focus in the broader community.

CEO Sarah Owen has assembled an incredibly talented team at the Foundation--not just Tessa, but also other talented young people like Ashley Skalecki who previously worked on complete streets related issues. BikeWalkLee's Cindy Banyai is also part of the Foundation team helping to integrate the former county sustainability plan into the Foundation’s goals and work.

In addition, the Foundation helped advance the complete streets conversation last year in several other ways:

• Sarah Owen wrote a commentary as part of News-Press's major March feature on bike safety. She broadened the conversation and focused on what's at stake for the community. Her "3 ft. flag" movement idea inspired BWL's Cindy Banyai's "#BeSeenLee" bike light campaign.

• The Foundation played a role in the successful Fort Myers Mayors' Symposium on Walkable Urban Communities, facilitating a series of panels using their "Compassionate Shark Tank" tool to cultivate change.

• They awarded a grant for a community-based bicycle and walking audit--a collaborative program with Goodwill Industries, BWL, and FGCU.

• They are also part of the Healthy Lee coalition, which promotes healthy lifestyles and a complete streets approach to creating the built environment.

 "The Foundation is in a unique position to lead, facilitate, inspire, and rally the community around the cause of complete streets and livable communities, and BikeWalkLee looks forward to collaborating with the SWFL Foundation as we tackle these important challenges facing our community," said Letourneau.

Efforts to promote safer biking and walking recognized with multiple awards by Lee Injury Prevention Coalition

  On December 16th, the Lee County Injury Prevention Coalition  presented its annual injury prevention awards, including awards to Cape Coral Bike-Ped, the News-Press Share the Road Team, the PACE EH team (for Tice community health impact assessment), and volunteer Steve Chupack for their efforts to promote safer biking and walking, and promote community awareness about injury prevention.  Kudos to all the award winners and thanks to IPC for recognizing the contributions of community leaders and organizations who have worked tirelessly to make it a safer community.
 
Also reported in News-Press 12/16/15: "News-Press earns injury prevention award for bike project

The Lee County Injury Prevention Coalition is a partnership of more than 80 public and private agencies whose mission is to prevent injury, disability and death among people of all ages through advocacy, education, legislation, and partnerships.

Four of the six awards relate to promoting safer biking and walking and BikeWalkLee's complete streets mission.  Below are IPC citations for those four awards:

Injury Prevention Organization of the Year:  Cape Coral Bike-Ped 

Carolyn Conant accepts award for CCBP (photo by Diane Holm)

Cape Coral Bike-Ped burst onto the advocacy scene just a few years ago and immediately made a lasting impact that forever changed Cape Coral for the better. Thanks to an approach of collaboration and partnerships right from the start rather than one of confrontation - something that's the usual MO for many bike/ped advocates (or advocates for any cause, for that matter) - CCB-P has accomplished in their relatively short existence what others in SW Florida can only try to emulate. They are the driving force behind getting over 90-miles (and growing) of safe bikes routes identified and marked with wayfinding signs, all paid for by private sector sponsors. The goodwill they've cultivated between all the necessary parties continues to flourish. And the most recent feather in their cap is the City of Cape Coral just having been awarded a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community designation on its first attempt. This designation confirms the City's commitment to safe and accessible environment for its citizens and visitors. I'd say that alone is certainly worthy of our Organization of the Year Award. Stay the course!     

Injury Prevention Citizen Volunteer of the Year: Steve Chupak

IPC Chair Brian Raimondo presents award to Steve Chupack

Steve Chupak has been a champion of improving safety for bicyclists since becoming actively involved - first and still with BikeWalkLee - which then led him to being part of the formation of Cape Coral Bike-Ped. Steve's been especially interested in working to get the schools to more fully embrace bike/ped education as an integral part of their curriculum and promote bike helmet use among students. Among his many accomplishments are effectively engaging Cape Coral elected officials, the City's charter schools, and Cape Coral PD, among others, which has led to a number of initiatives that further the causes he's championed. Congratulations, Steve, you are well deserving of our Citizen Volunteer award for 2015.     

Injury Prevention Media Partner of the Year: Share the Road Team

Brian presents award to Janine Zeitlan and Laura Ruane

The Share the Road project started in 2014, when Janine Zeitlan wrote a story about three bad bicycle crashes. Around the same time she set up the Share the Road Community page on Facebook which invites visitors to join the newspaper’s campaign. Editors at the Gannett-owned paper embraced the issue and freed up more writers to look at data. They crunched five years of data looking at insights about the cause of bike fatalities in Southwest Florida Melanie Payne and Laura Ruane profiled the 12 people killed in bike crashes in the area over a year. It continues to be an ongoing conversation with many in the community. 

Injury Prevention Program/Outreach Effort of the Year: Pace-Eh           

PACE EH (Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health) is a program developed by the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assess and improve the environmental health of communities. It is a collaborative effort among residents, local government, and other stakeholders that seeks to identify and address environmental health issues that are important to the community, thereby preventing illness, injury, and death related to environmental factors.

The Florida Department of Health in Lee County began its PACE EH program in 2012 in the Pine Manor Community.  Since then, two additional communities have been added – Charleston Park and Tice.  One of the top community-identified issues in the Tice Community is safety, as it has one of the highest pedestrian/bicycle accident rates in Lee County.  The community has been the focus of redevelopment planning efforts; however, inadequate pedestrian facilities and the lack of safety devices, especially surrounding the Palm Beach corridor, create conditions that foster one of the highest pedestrian/bicycle accident rates in Lee County.  With that in mind, the DOH-Lee PACE EH Team, in partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University, applied for and received a grant (one of three in the nation) to conduct an intermediate health impact assessment (HIA) in the community.

The purpose of an HIA is to evaluate the potential health effects of a plan, project or policy before it is implemented. The Tice HIA, completed in June of this year, compared existing conditions, current road plans, and the Tice Community Connectivity and Redevelopment Plan.  The main determinants of health considered were public transit ridership, physical safety, physical activity and safety, air quality, social capital and engagement, emergency response times, and criminal activity.  In addition to informing local policymakers on the health impacts of transportation and connectivity plans, the HIA includes recommendations that identify policy actions that may minimize, mitigate or prevent adverse health outcomes and increase positive health outcomes.  The Tice HIA focuses on increasing walkability, neighborhood connectivity, and multi-modal transportation.

Brian presents award to Geordie Smith

The Injury Prevention Coalition recognizes the efforts of Geordie Smith, the DOH-Lee PACE EH Coordinator, and the rest of the PACE EH team in their efforts to protect and improve the safety and health of some of our most vulnerable populations.