The latest news from the League of American Bicyclists cites a recent push by the City of Long Beach, CA to become the top bicycle friendly community in the Country.
The League ranks cities across the U.S. for their bike friendliness based on five criteria: engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, evaluation and planning. For 2010, Bend has been designated as a Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC). That’s an improvement from our initial Bronze designation.
Long Beach’s Mayor, City Manager, and City Council are all committed to making Long Beach an even more bike friendly community; they are currently a Bronze Level BFC. What’s the implication of having an advertised goal of becoming the most bike friendly city in the U.S.?
What could Bend learn from Long Beach’s efforts?
Long Beach hopes to attract a more healthy lifestyle oriented workforce. Their hope is that this will in turn attract more eco-friendly businesses to the area.
When you look at the 2010 List of Bicycle Friendly Communities one of the first cities listed is Davis, CA. With a population smaller than Bend’s, it’s been able to achieve the designation of Platinum BFC. 14% of its population cycle commutes on its biking infrastructure that covers 90% of its arterials and collectors. It also recently spent over $7Mill on an interstate bike and pedestrian underpass project.
###
{ 1 comment }
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!