Advocacy Corner

Issues and Opportunities to Get Involved

• ABC 2012 Advocacy Goals
• "Adopt" your neighborhood for better biking
• Encouraging bicycle-friendly traffic calming
• Complete Streets policies
• Livable Centers Initiative

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"Adopt" your neighborhood for better biking - become a neighborhood bike liaison. Neighborhoods across Atlanta have great potential to work for safety improvements that benefit bicyclists. Our neighborhood bike liaisons attend neighborhood association and/or NPU meetings to follow local issues and provide a bicyclist's perspective. Please visit the neighborhood bike liaison page for resources and to learn more.

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Traffic calming should create complete streets that are safe and accessible for all users, yet too often projects do not fully consider the safety of bicyclists. If you hear of a project that will create pinch points for bicyclists or remove bikeable space, please let us know.

Click here for more about traffic calming, including recent projects and ABC advocacy initiatives, and further reading.

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Complete Streets
Cobb, Decatur, and Roswell, as well as within the Georgia Department of Transportation have already adopted Complete Streets policies, and one is in the works at the regional level. We are encouraging the City of Atlanta as well as other local governments to pass ordinances of their own, in order to create safer, more accessible public spaces for everyone, while preventing costly retrofits in the future.

If you live in the city of Atlanta, please consider asking your council member to support such a policy. Districts, names and contact info can be found on the Atlanta City Council website. Then reach out to Mayor Kasim Reed to ask for his support.

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Livable Centers Initiative
The Livable Centers Initiative, or LCI, is a program of the Atlanta Regional Commission that helps local governments plan and build transportation projects that take land use into account, creating places where people have transportation options that don't solely revolve around driving.

"Planning grants are awarded on a competitive basis to local governments and non-profit organizations to prepare plans for the enhancement of existing centers and corridors. Doing so maximizes the advantage of the infrastructure and private investments already committed in these communities and helps achieve more balanced regional development. This development reduces vehicle miles traveled and improves air quality." To read more about the program, visit Livable Centers Initiative.

Getting involved in an LCI study in your area can be a terrific way to ensure projects take the needs of bike riders into account. Meetings are held during the evening over a period of a few months, making it a good short-term advocacy project.

2010 Study fund recipients include:
- City of Doraville (GM Plant Redevelopment)
- City of Dunwoody (Dunwoody Town Center)
- City of Hampton (Hampton Town Center)
- City of Morrow (Southlake Mall & Mixed Use District)
- DeKalb County (Wesley Chapel Activity Center)

Upcoming meetings can be found on the ARC Calendar of Events