[Having been involved with some of the conversations between LAB and the State and with LAB and the City of Baltimore I can say LAB is starting to make a difference in Maryland, please consider your support.]
We know the holiday season is a busy time, and that this year everyone
is taking a much harder look at what they spend.
The League relies on your membership dues and additional contributions
for the majority of our income – and over the years members like you have
given us an incredible boost by closing out the year with a generous gift to
help us continue our work on your behalf.
Just before Thanksgiving, we mailed you a summary of the progress
we’ve made this year thanks to your support: here are the highlights. We:
- Passed the landmark Bicycle Commuter
Benefits Act - Hosted a
record-breaking National
Bike Summit - Certified a record
number of League
Cycling Instructors - Designated 21 new Bicycle
Friendly Communities - Launched new Bicycle
Friendly State and Bicycle
Friendly Business programs
We also identified some of the incredible opportunities (and
challenges) ahead of us in 2009.
Consider this:
A new Congress and Administration will commence work in just 30 days on
three absolutely critical, and potentially transformative initiatives – a
massive economic stimulus package, a new transportation funding bill, and
climate change legislation. Taken together, these will direct more than one
trillion dollars of infrastructure investment in the next five years –
shaping our nation’s future every bit as dramatically as the New Deal,
World War II, and the Interstate Highway System.
Our programs that we have built with your support provide a roadmap
– better still, a bike map – for ensuring this investment creates
sustainable, bicycle-friendly communities for the future. We can’t afford
to pour all that money into 1950’s-style highway projects and programs.
We have to have a voice at the table, and your support now is critical.
If you have already sent an end-of-year contribution, we thank you, and
we look forward to serving you – promoting and protecting the rights of
cyclists – in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Andy Clarke
President
League of American Bicyclists
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