Blinkie Award Winners

Mayor Kasim Reed and city planner Joshuah Mello. Photo by Atlanta HeydaysRemarks by Mayor Kasim Reed stole the show at last night's Blinkie Awards & ABC Members' Night. Mayor Reed celebrated the city's recent committment to fund $2.5 million in high quality bike facilities in 2013, bringing their 3 year total to some $60 million! And he wants to spend even more if possible - up to $100 million by 2016. Wow.

In stirring comments to a rapt crowd, he said ABC broke through to the city with the genuineness of our passion. Then he announced the Mayor's Office would contribute $50,000 to Atlanta Streets Alive, to help bring the open streets initiative to Peachtree this year! 

What a night. Thank you to everyone for coming - and for all you did to make 2012 such an incredible year. 2013 is off to a pretty great start too! If you missed the Blinkie Awards, you're probably curious to see winners. Well, everyone who contributed to Atlanta's continued evolution into a more bikeable city is a winner in our book, but here are the people who took home the coveted Blinkies. Full list of amazing nominees here.

  • Bike-friendly elected official: City of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed
  • Bike-friendly agency staff: Joshuah Mello, Atlanta Assistant Director of Transportation Planning 
  • Bike-Friendly Policy: Georgia Department of Transportation's Complete Streets policy
  • Media Coverage: Maria Saporta, Saporta Report
  • ABC Partner of the Year: New Belgium Brewery
  • ABC Volunteer of the year: Jeffrey Wisard
  • Most bike lights distributed to cyclists in need: Amber Raley

In the member fave categories, our members overwhelmingly voted for the same awardees in these categories as last year:

  • Bike Shop: Loose Nuts Cycles (2nd year in a row!)
  • Bike-Friendly Business: Elliott Street Deli & Pub (2nd year in a row!)
  • Bike-Friendly Neighborhood: Old Fourth Ward (2nd year in a row!)

Another great moment came when Anthony David and Dres tha Beatnik performed ATL Sunshine, with lyrics about riding bikes through Little Five Points and other great Atlanta spot. We like to think of it as Atlanta's bike anthem - get a free download here.

We can't wait to do this again next year! Photos in this article and full photo gallery courtesy of Atlanta Heydays can be found here. Images from Cameron Adams' photo booth are here.

Photos courtesy of Atlanta Heydays
 
Blinkie Awards 2013 Supported By
 
 
 
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