 NCBW Newsroom - The National & International SceneThe National & International Scene | Regional and Local Actions | The Research Beat | Resources | Jobs, Grants & RFPs Pro Walk/Pro Bike® 2010 REGISTRATION OPENS -> Registration is open for the Pro Walk/Pro Bike® 2010 conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Based on the number of presentation proposals we have received, we anticipate the 2010 conference will be the best attended, and most diverse Pro Walk/Pro Bike® yet. The early registration rate for delegates, presenters, and APBP members will be in effect until May 31, 2010, so do not delay, register today. Registration for the conference is found at: http://tinyurl.com/ygm78pu. Other conference items of interest: Mobile Workshops. For this year's conference, we will be doing pre-registration for Mobile Workshops through our website. A small number of spaces will be held for on-site registration, but to guarantee your spot in the workshop you want, we recommend registering in advance. We have posted a preliminary list of this year's Mobile Workshops: http://www.bikewalk.org/2010conference/mobileworkshops.php Exhibitor Registration and Program Advertisers. If your company or organization is interested in exhibiting or advertising at Pro Walk/Pro Bike® 2010 you can reserve your space through our website. Pro Walk/Pro Bike® 2010 PROPOSAL DEADLINE IS EXTENDED -> "Lost your draft proposal in the snow," don’t despair. We have extended the proposal submission deadline for Pro Walk/Pro Bike® 2010 to March 6. Last Friday was a very busy day at NCBW's South Orange office, as we answered phone calls and email pleas for additional time. We recognize that because of the extraordinary weather we have endured on the East Coast this season, and in other parts of the country, that some people could benefit from a few extra days to put together their presentations and assemble their panels. We have received some great submissions thus far. As a reminder, the conference theme is "Bringing Livable Communities and Regions to Scale." We are soliciting presentations on several focus topics:
For more information on the focus topics please refer to recent issues of CenterLines or our website. Submit your presentation proposal at:http://www.bikewalk.org/2010conference/submissions.php ALRC’S EMERGING LEADERS PILOT PROGRAM UNDERWAY IN TN -> The Active Living Resource Center has launched an innovative pilot project in Tennessee to provide undergraduates studying engineering, public health, planning, and public administration the opportunity to do internships that focus on improving youth mobility and (by extension) the health of those same youth. The Emerging Leaders Program, as it is known, will be limited to a dozen students in Nashville and Chattanooga for fall 2010. Beyond the pilot phase, the program will be expanded to other cities in Tennessee and (we hope) other states. Mark Plotz, the Emerging Leaders program manager, was recently in Tennessee to support the development of internships for University of Tennessee-Chattanooga students. "I came away from my second visit to Chattanooga very impressed by the sheer number of initiatives that are underway to address physical activity, obesity, and access to nutritious food," said Plotz. He continued, "we are working through Outdoor Chattanooga which has helped bring in a lot of investment for active living programs from the national level, as well as attracting the support of local foundations." "Our first Emerging Leaders interns will benefit tremendously from this milieu. The local YMCA is part of the Pioneering Healthy Communities grant. Chattanooga is also one of 50 communities that received a grant under the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program. Added to the above, are a number of dedicated individuals in local government and the private sector that I have met who get active living. There is so much local expertise; Chattanooga is already a great place, but can you imagine it in 5 years when these Emerging Leaders have become embedded in the community?" The Pro Walk/Pro Bike® 2010 conference in Chattanooga will be your chance to hear from these students, and to learn about all that is underway in Chattanooga. In the next CenterLines, we will preview what is underway in Nashville for the Emerging Leaders Program. More about the ALRC’s Demonstration Projects: http://www.activelivingresources.org/currentprojects.php Emerging Leaders Program press coverage: WALK21 CONFERENCE CALL FOR PROPOSALS CLOSING 3/13/2010 -> According to a Feb. 23rd announcement, "Leading speakers and delegates from around the world are being encouraged to participate in this landmark event, to be held November 17th-19th 2010, The Hague, The Netherlands. They are invited to share their knowledge and successful experience to bring walking into the mainstream of politics, planning, investment and delivery." "The conference seeks to provide guidance and inspiration in support of the development of walkable environments and to establish walking as a dynamic part of modern living. Abstracts for a paper, poster or a walkshop are invited from individuals and organizations. Abstracts should ideally be targeted at one of the conference themes, or at the inter-relationships between them..." For more info, go to: http://tinyurl.com/y9oo6uc To submit a proposal, go directly to: http://tinyurl.com/y9h5uo7 BIKES BELONG AWARDS $55,000 IN GRANTS -> According to a Feb. 24th news release, "Bikes Belong is thrilled to award funding to seven great projects in our Winter 2010 grant cycle. These grants will help communities build bike paths, singletrack trails, and bike parks while leveraging federal funding and building momentum for bicycling nationwide." "The Bikes Belong Grants Program is funded by our Employee Pro Purchase Program. Thanks to participating members and their employees for making these awards possible."
Source: http://tinyurl.com/y8uhx23 SIDEWALKS, IDENTITY SPROUT IN JORDAN’S CAPITAL -> According to a Feb. 23rd NY Times article, "It might be too much to call it a miracle, but the government of this ancient metropolis that rolls out over seven sun-burned hills has managed something that until now seemed impossible. It built sidewalks that are easy to walk on. But wait, Amman has achieved something else, too! It has put in park benches. And not just in parks, but right there, on those new, flat sidewalks that do not end suddenly, for no apparent reason. Sidewalks and benches are easy to dismiss as discretionary conveniences, unnecessary urban flourishes." "That is especially true considering how people here need so much -- better jobs, better schools and better health care. But to talk to those behind the sidewalks and the benches is to see these ubiquitous objects as powerful tools of social planning, tearing down walls between rich and poor, helping a city bereft of an identity develop a sense of place and ownership...These are not one-time projects, a few benches here and there, but part of a master plan for Amman, an attempt to bring order to a city with roots that date from 8500 B.C. and whose modern incarnation hosts 2.5 million residents, 3 million in the summer..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/yzmy5gm SRTS $1,000 MINI-GRANT CALL FOR APPLICATIONS -> According to a Feb. 26th news release, "The National Center for Safe Routes to School is now accepting applications for up to 35 $1,000 mini-grants for creative, youth-focused ideas that support safe walking and/or bicycling to school. Eligible activities must occur at an elementary or middle school in Fall 2010 and support the overall goal of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs -- to enable and encourage children nationwide to safely walk and bicycle to school." "'Communities across the country are finding new ways to make it safer for children to walk and bicycle to school,' says Lauren Marchetti, director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School. 'These mini-grants encourage communities to get students involved in the effort to foster a culture of walking and bicycling in their own neighborhoods and schools.'..." More info: http://tinyurl.com/yfjvdlp BOOMERS, MILLENNIALS LOOK FOR WALKABLE PLACES -> According to a Feb. 28th Washington Post article, "The nation's two largest groups -- baby boomers shedding their houses as they become empty nesters and millennials reaching their 30s and moving into their own homes -- largely prefer densely populated, walkable communities, experts say."
"Urban planners project that 86 percent of the growth in new households will be single people or couples without children at home -- and neither group wants to live in remote suburbs or in houses surrounded by big lawns." "'People want to live near culture and with bars and restaurants right outside their doors,' said Faroll Hamer, director of planning and zoning for Alexandria, which wants to revitalize areas around the Potomac Yard shopping center and Landmark Mall. 'We're not abandoning the suburbs, but we're providing more choices.'..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/yebkqkh HIGHWAY GROUPS CRY FOUL ON USDOT'S WALKABLE PRIORITIES -> According to a Mar. 1st Fleet Owner article, "Several industry groups are publicly condemning what they claim is the Obama administration’s effort to earmark an ever larger share of highway funds for non-highway projects. They are particularly livid over the administration’s proposal to take $200 million in highway taxes normally distributed to the states and re-direct them into a new Livable Communities program unveiled by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) in January. 'It takes a lot for a group like ours to publicly criticize a Presidential administration this way,' Greg Cohen, president & CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance (AHUA), which represents motorists, bus companies, truckers, RV enthusiasts, motorcyclists and other highway-related businesses, told FleetOwner."
"'But this "livable community" program is an urban planning project that does not have freight in mind,' he stressed. 'It’s about creating more bicycle paths and "walkable" communities -- it does not even think for a moment about freight needs.' By contrast, Cohen pointed out that state highway programs are dangerously underfunded, with pavement conditions rapidly deteriorating due to the brutal winter, and one-quarter of highway bridges across the nation in need of repairs. Yet the DOT Livable Communities program would purposefully redirect highway user fees paid by motorists and truckers to non-highway projects. 'By holding back funding that states use to address immediate and urgent highway needs, the Administration’s proposal shows more interest in dictating spending priorities from Washington than improving our ailing highway system,' he said..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/yaqytxa BRISTOL (UK) TO TEST "NAKED INTERSECTION" APPROACH -> According to a Mar. 2nd BBC News story, "Traffic lights are to be switched off at some of Bristol city centre's busy road junctions. The council wants to see whether it will cut down waiting times for drivers and still be safe for pedestrians and cyclists. The lights at Union Street/Nelson Street/Broadmead will go off completely on 8 March and Broad Quay/Prince Street/Marsh Street on 22 March. The trial will last about a month, a council spokeswoman said." "Similar trials have previously taken place in Portishead and Ealing but Bristol will become the first city in the country to undertake the trial. Some members of the public expressed concerns about the switch-off including children walking to school. A council spokeswoman said the sites were chosen out of a shortlist of seven after 'careful risk assessments.' The other five failed for factors including concerns about high speeds, pedestrian safety and school crossings, she added. The council will put bags over the lights and erect signs to inform drivers and pedestrians of the changes..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/yh6apfj IRS REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR TRAIL GROUPS -> According to the Feb. 22nd issue of Kansas Trail News, "The IRS now requires all 501(c)(3) organizations which have gross receipts of less than $25,000 to file 990. An organization can file online in five minutes using an e-postcard. Otherwise, the organization could lose its 501(c)(3) status. This applies for 2007, 2008 and 2009 tax years..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/y8uk6cg To file go to: http://tinyurl.com/ykb5eph RETIRING FED VICE-CHAIR USED TO RIDE TO WORK -> According to a Mar. 2nd Wall Street Journal article, "Donald Kohn, who helped steer the US Federal Reserve through the financial crisis, said he would retire as vice-chairman in June, giving Barack Obama a chance to reshape the central bank by filling his vacancy and two others on its seven-member board...Mr Kohn is in many ways the quintessential faceless Washington bureaucrat. When he lived in Virginia, he used to ride to work on a bicycle with the pants of his grey suit tucked into his black socks, parking the bike in the spot in the Fed garage reserved for his car..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/y9eur39 Get a jump start on this news by subscribing to CenterLines. Discuss these news articles with other advocates in the Forum section of the ALRC Commons. |
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