The power of a purple bike and a little girl

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"I just wanted to ride to school, ride to Baskin-Robbins, ride to Wal-Mart," Elli said.
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When Elli was 7, she wanted to ride her bike to school. But the Giammonas live off Mullan Road. Each day, 12,000 cars go by their home, and go by fast. Her parents, Luann and John, weren't keen on their daughter biking with speeding sedans.

But Elli rode on sidewalks back when the family lived in Austin, Texas, and she wanted to know why there wasn't a sidewalk on Mullan. Sidewalks, her mother explained, are expensive.

"Can you buy one?"

"Mmm. No. I don't think so. But here's an idea."

The idea was a brief lesson in lobbying one's government. Luann taught Elli the meaning of the word "petition" and told her how one works. Soon, an idea took shape.

Elli took writing utensil to notebook paper:

"Petition. We want a sidewalk on Mullan Road. With a rale."

She and her sister Kate, now 6, knocked on doors, as did her brother Nick, now 12, with a friend. Together, they gathered more than 75 signatures, and few people turned them down. It wasn't what Elli had expected.
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<a href="http://m.missoulian.com/news/local/article_82ce5f98-ab21-11de-80db-001cc4c03286.html">http://m.missoulian.com/news/local/article_82ce5f98-ab21-11de-80db-001cc4c03286.html</a>;

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