National Center for Bicycling and Walking
Gas Prices, Climate Change Pique Interest in Bike Walk Movement
Sep 7, 2008
During their keynote addresses to conferees gathered in Seattle, leaders of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking talked about the origin of the organization and its future. More than an organization, however, leaders note that NCBW is a movement. It is a resource and training place for professionals who advocate for healthy, equitable, and environmentally-responsible transportation choice.
Tedson Meyers, Retiring Chair
Tedson Meyers is the retiring chairman of the Board of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking. In his conference keynote, he talked about working with the Nixon administration in the 1970s. He was called on board during the first gas crisis because the administration wanted Washington D.C. to become a bicycling city and serve as an example to the nation. Although he failed to make this happen, his involvement wasn’t a total failure: it caused him to recognize that there were many advocates for bicycling and walking who envisioned the need to move away from the predominant car culture and needed to be trained in the methods of advocacy. The National Center for Bicycling and Walking was founded as a meeting place for such advocates.
Bill Wilkinson and Sharon Roety, Past and Current Executive Director
Bill Wilkinson is a long-time leader of the bike/ped movement. When he took on direction of NCBW he recognized that bike/ped advocates needed to work through professionals in transportation, design, and government. They and professionals needed to work together in the movement. His successor, Sharon Roety, came from a career background in planning and worked with the Safe Routes to School program in New Jersey. She is the fourth executive director in the organization’s more than 30 year history.
Peter Harkness, New Board Chair
Peter Harkness, retired editor of Governing Magazine, is the new chair of the National Center’s Board. He believes that the bicycle and walking movement has entered a period of opportunity and that the market forces are aligned for change. Growing out of a concern about health and the environment and spurred by rising gas prices, the public consciousness has been tweaked and demand has increased for walkable and bikable communities. However, planners and proponents of new urbanism have been promoting walkability for the last few decades. In addition, government and the private sector are investing in transit systems. Demand is great for walkable communities and a break with the car culture. Harkness has noticed continuing disinvestments in automobile-centered development. Car culture has been identified as bad for the economy, waistlines, and wellbeing.
As a journalist, Harkness sees that the media today is full of stories covering the change in urban commuters. They are highly stressed. Crashes and altercations are increasing between motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. There is a need to address the tension and a need to form alliances with those who are working to “usher the car culture out the door.”
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