It’s a simple question. If we do this, will it create a better world for our children?

If you have kids, you know exactly what I mean. If you don’t have kids, I bet you still understand what I am talking about.

Next week our representatives in Olympia will introduce a multi-billion dollar package of transportation investments. When I see their proposal, I’ll ask one simple question: Will it create a better world for our children? 

Will it make it safer for our kids to bike and walk to school? Will it make it easier for hard-working families to bike, walk or take transit to work, school, shops, restaurants, and places of worship? Will it focus on fixing our existing roads while making them safer for everybody?   

For too long big corporations that profit from building highways have successfully pushed a roads-only approach. Well-heeled highway lobbyists have convinced politicians to spend most of our money on costly new highways instead of focusing on fixing the roads we already have and providing families with more options to get around. 

They’ve rigged the system and made our cities less livable for working families and less safe for kids. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Cascade Bicycle Club is working with the Transportation for Washington campaign, a coalition of more than 200 elected leaders and organizations representing social justice, housing, faith, health, environment, labor, and business communities, to push for transportation investments that provide all Washingtonians with the opportunity to get to where they need to go.

We have a plan that will make our neighborhood streets safer for our kids, invest in fixing our existing roads before we build new ones we don’t need and can’t afford, and provide everyone with the freedom to bike, walk or take transit to get around.  

But we can’t expect our representatives to do the right thing because we hand them a plan.  They’ve got lots of people handing them plans, including highway lobbyists. Your legislators will only do the right thing if they hear from thousands of people like you.

Join thousands of your friends and neighbors and tell your legislators to make the transportation revenue package invest in a better world for our children>>

State legislators see lobbyists every single day. Lobbyists representing powerful corporations pushing for a roads-only approach. Lobbyists representing oil companies. Lobbyists representing dentists and construction workers and potato farmers and banks. And yes, lobbyists, like me, representing bicyclists.

But in truth, our representatives get tired of lobbyists. They prefer to hear from their constituents, the people who vote on whether they get to keep their job

Legislators are interested in meeting you to give them a sense of what the larger community really cares about.

Transportation Advocacy Day on Tuesday, Feb. 12, is your chance to join your neighbors in Olympia and talk directly with your elected state representatives.

Each year, Cascade Bicycle Club joins with other transportation groups to organize Transportation Advocacy Day. Together, our members speak out in support of a shared agenda that promotes bicycling, walking, transit, rail, carpooling and more.

Hosting you in Olympia will be a panel of pro-bicycling legislators, experts to explain our policy priorities and offer tips on how to present your case, appointments already scheduled with your legislators, and even breakfast and lunch!

If you can get yourself to Seattle or Tacoma, you can join a carpool from there to Olympia – using free Zipcars! If you prefer to ride the rails, we’ll pick you up at the Olympia train station. Or if you can’t make it to Olympia at all, we’re hoping to set up Skype meetings with legislators. When you register, let us know which option you prefer, and we’ll circle back about the logistics.

Please join hundreds of bicyclists from around the state – and from your community – and share their energy and enthusiasm. Join us at Transportation Advocacy Day on Tuesday, Feb. 12!

Click here to sign up for Transportation Advocacy Day right now.

Some people say, “You have a political agenda,” as if it were a bad thing.

At Cascade Bicycle Club, we’re proud to have a pro-bike agenda! With your help, we’ll ride that agenda straight to the Washington state legislature.

What is our agenda for the 2013 session of the state Legislature?

1. If they plan to spend billions of dollars on massive new highways, they should invest at least a few million in making it safer to bicycle, in order to serve the millions of Washingtonians who want to get around by bike.

2. They should let local communities set safer speed limits on neighborhood streets without bureaucratic red tape.

3. When our state and local governments make transportation plans, they should encourage healthier ways to get around – like bicycling!

As you might expect, it’s mainly about money. So, how much money are we talking about?

Well, the state transportation budget will be about $9 billion. That’s “billion,” with a B. To put it another way, $9,000 million. Our request: $80 million go to three efforts that help make it safer to bike and walk, known as Safe Routes to School grants, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety grants and Complete Streets grants. That’s less than one percent of the transportation budget dedicated to making it safer to bike and walk to get where you need to go. While it may seem like a pittance or a mere rounding error, it’s significantly more than we’re spending today.

In addition, powerful corporations who prefer a roads-only approach are lobbying our representatives to raise taxes by about $10 billion to pay for more transportation projects, including some long overdue road safety repairs, but also some massive, extremely costly highway expansions. We’ll be working to limit the irresponsible and wasteful mega-road projects so we can focus on fixing our existing roads first, and also pushing for $150 million a year for long overdue bicycling and walking improvements.

Meanwhile, the Safe Neighborhood Streets Bill would allow local governments to reduce speed limits on non-arterial streets to 20 miles per hour, without a lot of bureaucratic hassle and red tape.

And the Health in Transportation Goals Bill would make sure government planners consider health as one of the goals of our transportation system, encouraging biking and walking. Both of these bills were approved in the House of Representatives last year, but never brought to a vote in the Senate.

It’s not much to ask. But it would be a significant change from the status quo.

Under the status quo, we spend too much money on new highways we don’t need and can’t afford while our streets crumble and we do next to nothing to make it safer to bike and walk. Under the status quo, it’s often not safe for our kids to bike or walk to school. Under the status quo, millions of Washingtonians who want to bike more often don’t do it because they don’t feel safe.

The political status quo only changes when citizens stand up and make it change. You can make it change: Tell your representatives to support a pro-bicycle agenda in the state Legislature.

Jay Inslee was sworn in as Washington’s 23rd governor on Wednesday, Jan. 16, and delivered his first speech as governor just a few short hours later.

“A new world economy is emerging from the depths of this recession, and while its contours and relationships are not fully understood to us, we do know two things,” stated Inslee. “One. With our uniquely powerful fusion of values and talents, Washington state has the potential to lead the next wave of world-changing innovations. Two. The world will not wait for us.”

Inslee made specific requests to the Legislature, calling on legislators to help craft a bipartisan, multi-modal transportation package that includes trains, light rail, buses and bicycles.

“To honestly address our infrastructure, we have to recognize that creativity is as important as concrete. I want us to turn our innovative spirit toward crafting a transportation package that includes roads, trains, light rail, buses, bike routes and other modes of transportation,” said Inslee. “We need ways to free capacity for freight and commerce, and rethink how we do the business of transportation in our state and how we use our transportation infrastructure.”

Read Inslee’s entire inaugural speech, here.