The League is Sticking Up for Cyclists!
[Having been involved with some of the conversations between LAB and the State and with LAB and the City of Baltimore I can say LAB is starting to make a difference in Maryland, please consider your support.]
We know the holiday season is a busy time, and that this year everyone is taking a much harder look at what they spend.
The League relies on your membership dues and additional contributions for the majority of our income – and over the years members like you have given us an incredible boost by closing out the year with a generous gift to help us continue our work on your behalf.
Just before Thanksgiving, we mailed you a summary of the progress we’ve made this year thanks to your support: here are the highlights. We:
- Passed the landmark Bicycle Commuter Benefits Act
- Hosted a record-breaking National Bike Summit
- Certified a record number of League Cycling Instructors
- Designated 21 new Bicycle Friendly Communities
- Launched new Bicycle Friendly State and Bicycle Friendly Business programs
We also identified some of the incredible opportunities (and challenges) ahead of us in 2009.
Consider this:
A new Congress and Administration will commence work in just 30 days on three absolutely critical, and potentially transformative initiatives – a massive economic stimulus package, a new transportation funding bill, and climate change legislation. Taken together, these will direct more than one trillion dollars of infrastructure investment in the next five years – shaping our nation’s future every bit as dramatically as the New Deal, World War II, and the Interstate Highway System.
Our programs that we have built with your support provide a roadmap – better still, a bike map – for ensuring this investment creates sustainable, bicycle-friendly communities for the future. We can’t afford to pour all that money into 1950’s-style highway projects and programs.
We have to have a voice at the table, and your support now is critical.
If you have already sent an end-of-year contribution, we thank you, and we look forward to serving you – promoting and protecting the rights of cyclists – in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Andy Clarke
President
League of American Bicyclists