Barbara
is a public policy and communications expert who
has spent the last seven years bringing transportation,
land use, and active living issues into the public
debate. She authored Measuring the Health Effects
of Sprawl, the report explaining groundbreaking
new scientific research linking the built environment
to physical activity and health. This report brought
widespread media attention to the issue of creating
more walkable and bikeable communities. She is also
a co-author of the new Island Press Book, Sprawl
Costs.
"Working with all the diverse
members of the National Complete Streets Coalition
to build our campaign has really been exiting,"
Barbara writes. "Our seed funding comes from
diverse sources – the AARP, Bikes Belong,
the American Public Transportation Association,
and the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Our steering committee includes everyone from disability
groups (Paralyzed Veterans of America) to engineers
and planners (Institute of Transportation Engineers
and the American Planning Association)."
Barbara noted that it is wonderful
to see the bicycle and pedestrian community, including
the Thunderhead Alliance, LAB, NCBW, and APBP, working
so closely with all these other organizations. "It
is inspiring to work toward a common goal with groups
that bring so many different assets to the table."
When she's not working from her Washington,
DC, office, Barbara likes to go for what she calls
a 'busman’s holiday.'
My favorite type of vacation is a bicycle trip,
domestic or international, supported or unsupported.
At the conference I’ll have a poster session
on my bicycle trip through Cambodia last winter.
I also enjoy contra dancing.
Barbara has attended a number of
Pro Walk/Pro Bike conferences. "My first conference
was in Portland, Maine, in 1996, when I was still
with the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign. The only one
I’ve missed was Santa Barbara (1998)."
To read up on some of Barbara's latest
Complete The Streets work,
click
here (PDF) and here.
|
