LAB is looking for a few good men (the fewer good ones the better)

  • Do you have a vested interest in seeing Maryland in the top ten rankings irregardless of the facts?
  • Are you willing to exaggerate, state falsehoods and vehemently oppose all those who disagree with this lofty goal?
  • Do you agree that Maryland's mandatory bike lane law is equivalent to states that have no mandatory use laws? (To be fair, LAB "might" change that this year.)
  • Do you believe that telling truck drivers to "tap" the horn at bicyclists is telling them their responsibilities towards bicyclists? (I could go on but you get the idea.)
  • Do you like getting zero feedback on any questions or concerns you might have?

If so the League of American Bicyclists is looking for you to become a reviewer for their Bicycle Friendly America Program!
-= Or =-
Join me in respectfully having Maryland withdraw from this program till such time LAB responds to our feedback from last year and provides objective goals that will actually help make Maryland a better place to bike. I have been three years patient and still no response from LAB (sans just one issue) this total lack of communication has to end!

How this has workout out (just one example) is that LAB was of zero help in getting our new Drivers' Manual because our old one was good enough by this program. Maryland's ranking will not improve because of this and Maryland will be not be given kudos from LAB for working with the cycling advocates and getting this done.

So I have to ask, "Then what's the point of LAB's Bicycle Friendly America Program if this is the kind of result we get?"
-= The Ask =-
Write Nicole@bikeleague.org and ask to kindly respond to our issues or remove Maryland from the rankings.

Write president@baltobikeclub.org and respectfully ask that the Baltimore Bicycling Club stop giving extra money to LAB while they are blatantly refusing to work with Maryland's advocates.

If you are a LAB member I encourage to support The Alliance for Biking and Walking (The Donate button is on the left) rather then LAB and tell Nicole you intend to remove your financial support for LAB.

by B' Spokes

Like most people I live a hectic life and who has the time for much exercise? Thanks to xtracycle now I do. By using my bike for daily activities I can get things done and get an hour plus work out in 15 minutes extra of my time, not a bad deal and beats taking the extra time going to the gym. In case you are still having trouble being motivated; the National Center of Disease Control says that inactivity is the #2 killer in the United States just behind smoking. ( http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/bb_nutrition/ ) Get out there and start living life! I can carry home a full shopping cart of groceries, car pool two kids or just get lost in the great outdoors camping for a week. Well I got go, another outing this weekend.
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  • LAB is looking for a few good men (the fewer good ones the better)
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I know that this article is a few months old, but I just came across it, and I have something relevant to share.

The problems with the League of American Bicyclists that you mentioned (their uncommunicativity, their unhelpfulness, and their apparent indifference to cyclists' right to the road) are only some of the problems that I became aware of during through my experience with the League. This experience includes being criminally charged twice for controlling a narrow lane, for which I received no help from the League. (Another cyclist, Reed Bates, received even worse treatment both from the law and from the League.) It also includes my campaign to become a director for the League in the 2010 election, which some of the League's leaders went to absurd lengths to suppress.

Here are some articles from my blog about my experience with the League. They contain links to many more stories as well.

http://cycles.eli-damon.info/2010/08/31/persecution-abandonment-and-betrayal-comments-on-the-reed-bates-saga.aspx
http://cycles.eli-damon.info/2010/09/29/help-me-become-a-director-of-the-league-of-american-bicyclists-sign-the-petition.aspx
http://cycles.eli-damon.info/2010/11/02/a-candidates-experience.aspx
http://cycles.eli-damon.info/2011/05/24/league-membership-to-renew-or-not-to-renew.aspx

I have not pursued this issue much since the 2010 election because I have been working on other things. The three newcomer reform candidates (of which I was one) could not get on the ballot, and the one incumbent reform candidate resigned in frustration. However, two newcomers, Diane Albert and Gail Spann, were elected to the board who I believe to be reasonable and conscientious people. Although they do not identify themselves as reformers, they might be receptive to suggestions from reformers.

For those who are concerned about the state of the League's education program, there is a new and very exciting education program from the Florida Bicycle Association called CyclingSavvy (http://cyclingsavvy.org/). It has already shown amazing results and has quickly spread to many other states besides Florida. It is. I recently became the first CyclingSavvy instructor in Massachusetts, and I am working on bringing the program to my area.