A how-to guide for starting and growing your neighborhood bike/ped committee

Over the past 6+ years, several neighborhood-specific bike, pedestrian, and traffic calming committees have formed. These “mini-BikePGH’s” have been really useful to further our mission and to help bring local input, a neighborhood voice, and legitimacy to biking and walking projects. Mostly, these groups do many of the same things that BikePGH does, only on a smaller neighborhood scale. They build community through organizing group rides, spearheading infrastructure projects like bike lanes and crosswalks, as well as helping to build support and get ideas for biking and walking initiatives among their neighbors. Moving forward, these committees will be critical to ensuring that Pittsburgh sees real change to the streets, save lives, and reduce auto dependency. This is why we are releasing our Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit.

While our membership touches every neighborhood in the City and surrounding municipalities, and were integral in helping us accomplish what we have so far, the goal of this document is to help create “super-members” who will be empowered to act for change and continue this momentum. We are a small office in Lawrenceville, so any way that we can multiply our influence and effectiveness, will make our dream of a biking and walking friendly Pittsburgh that much closer to reality.

Neighborhoods across the county are looking to curb reckless driving and to make it an easy choice to ride a bike or walk. They know that these values create a more vibrant town and healthier citizenry. The thing is, many municipalities, neighborhoods and residents, know the solutions, but lack the technical know-how and political willpower to create change. This is where localized bike/ped committees can step in and offer knowledgeable and passionate advocates to build the neighborhoods we all want to live in.

We hope you’ll join our fight in making the region more livable, and start or join a neighborhood bike/ped committee. Our Toolkit combines the lessons that we’ve learned from the existing committees with our experience in working with the City of Pittsburgh as well as the national biking and walking movement. Through our experience and access to decision-makers, combined with your local knowledge and passion, we hope to expedite the changes we want to see.

So take a look and please contact us with your ideas – we’re here to help!

Download the toolkit today!

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BECOME AN ADVOCATE

JOIN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD’S BIKE/PED COMMITTEE

Want to get more involved with making Pittsburgh better for biking and walking? Become a bike/ped advocate. There are over 20 neighborhood bike/ped committees across the City and surrounding municipalities. You can find a complete list of them here. You can always start your own committee too! Email anna@bikepgh.org for more information.