Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rails to Trails could use your help for TE funding

From an email I received regarding transportation funding, "Along with others, like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who offered an amendment to prohibit funding for walking and bicycling, Sen. Ensign does not realize that more trails means people walk and bike more and drive less. This translates into less congestion, healthier people, a healthier planet, more money available to our communities, and much, much more.

Moments ago, the U.S. Senate passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. Unlike the House of Representatives’ version of the bill, the Senate did not explicitly fund Transportation Enhancements (TE), the nation’s primary funding source for active transportation.

However, the Senate and House will work to reconcile their differences “in conference” over the next few days.

We must convince the Senate to protect TE in conference.

Please go here to get started.

This is exciting, because we know we can make an impact: After more than 15,000 of us signed Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s (RTC) petition to Congress and the president to explicitly fund active transportation in the recovery package, the House allocated $1.35 billion for TE.

Please give a few minutes of your time—I promise, together we can make a difference.

Thank you so much.

Kevin Mills,
Vice-President of Policy,
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy"

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A Peddling Wish

Thanks for coming to this blog. Here's what I'd like to accomplish. The long term goal is to be part of creating a safe, comprehensive bicycle plan for Andover. I'd like to think that at some point (I'll call it the 25-year bike plan), the town will have a series of linked paths and safe roadways which the residents can use for recreation, shopping, business and commuting. Students will learn the rules of safe biking early on, drivers will share the roads willingly and our town will be viewed as a model for other community biking efforts. Care to join in for the ride? My email is Lundquist.eric@gmail.com BLOG RULES 1. I've enabled comment moderation. This means I get a chance to approve comments before they appear. This is intended to keep the blog on topic, civil and appropriate for all to read. 2. Please stay on topic: Bicycling in Andover 3. Please participate. If you want to stay anonymous on the blog, please say so.