BOSTON, MA (BRAIN)—Boston mayor Mayor Thomas M. Menino has committed to making Boston a bicycle friendly city.
Menino kicked off the three-day Boston Bikes Summit Oct. 22-24 with an outdoor ceremony featuring Steve Madden, editor of Bicycling magazine, Andy Clarke, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists, and Dave Watson, executive director of MassBike.
The Summit was a chance for leaders from the bicycling world to offer advice, information and inspiration to Boston's mayor, transportation executives and local advocates.
"Participation and leadership of the mayor is critical. He's a new convert to bicycling—enjoying a Trek Lime, riding every morning—and is determined to make a difference,” said Clarke. The mayor's office also recently hired a new bike coordinator, former racer and Olympian Nicole Freedman.
Several hundred people participated in a variety of technical workshops, public meetings and internal city sessions during the event—all influencing a set of action items recommended to help the city capture the momentum of the mayor’s commitment to making Boston a world-class city for cycling.
The stakeholder meetings included an informal industry get together including representatives from Belmont Wheel Works, Landry's, REI, Ferris Cycles, Montague and Independent Fabrications.
Boston is not currently a Bicycle Friendly Community, but it hopes to become one in the coming years.
"Boston is an iconic American city with a very particular reputation for traffic issues—so to turn around a city like Boston is going to be a real challenge and a really strong message to others that it can be done,” Clarke said.
The League was the primary sponsor and organizer of the Boston Bikes Summit, enabled by its recent grant from Trek and increased sponsorship by Bikes Belong.
