Green City Blue Lake

Mark Lefkowitz at GCBL.org offers an interesting critique of the Coalition, detailing how our organization has had success in improving bicycle infrastructure in Cleveland Heights. He writes,

How has the coalition proven so adept at moving the dial when bike commuters have been calling for improvements for years? Our observation of what is being done right includes:

• The group’s leaders organized like minded individuals, some with deep roots in the community, to create a single voice for improving transportation choices.
• They established a set of principles and goals, and researched national best practices, finding the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community designation as a standard for ranking city’s bike friendliness.
• The Coalition did the legwork and applied for the Cleveland Heights to be ranked by the League.
• Connections were made to the local media (Heights Observer), and the Coalition joined the Sustainable Heights effort and made this part of that group’s agenda (collaborate with as many other groups as possible).

The group presented the city’s honorable mention from the Bicycle Friendly application to city council. The League’s ranking comes with a narrative list of ways to improve the city, to reach the next level. Sharrows are one suggestion to earning points and are an easy thing for a city to do (they don’t require re-engineering a road like a bike lane).

You can read more of Mark Lefkowitz’s blog here: http://www.gcbl.org/blog/marc-lefkowitz