April 2012 Cascade Courier

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Join us on May 4 for the eighth annual Bike to Work Breakfast with Congressman Earl Blumenaur: www.cascade.org/breakfast

APRIL 2012 / Vol. 42, No. 4

A “Cascade Champion” in so many ways, Lamar Bass gives an astounding $10,000 gift to the Club by Tarrell Wright, Development Director

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f you’ve been around the Club for a while (and even if you’ve just called the front desk) you’ve probably met Lamar. He’s the soft spoken, detail-oriented volunteer at the front desk, fielding questions, listening to complaints and reliving the joy of bicycling with every story. For those of us who work here, we can’t imagine Cascade functioning without him. He is the glue that holds this place together. Usually the first person here in the morning, Lamar’s goal is to make sure things are ready for the day. “Cascade staff is just so committed – they work so hard. If I can make things easier by making sure supplies are ordered and organized, light bulbs are changed, everything’s tidy and ready for the day then they can focus on the work they do so well,” he says. Lamar grew up in southern Florida riding his bicycle everywhere, but put in fewer miles as an adult when he moved out to Seattle to focus on his medical career and raise his two daughters. In the late 1980s as his children grew, he found his way back to his bike. “At first I was a fair weather rider, but I began to really enjoy the solitude of riding in the winter. In the 90s I could ride the entire Lake Washington loop and never see another cyclist.” As his enthusiasm for cycling grew, he found himself becoming more interested

in cycling advocacy, joining what was then Cascade’s Advocacy Committee. He also helped create the first through third editions of the Bellevue Bicycle Map and started leading rides. “There were no official ride leaders then,” he remembers.

“I have been working alongside Lamar for nearly 14 years now and he still surprises me with his insights and generosity. I never pegged him as a Cascade Champion but when he told us at an All Staff meeting why he joined it made complete sense — community, friendship, livable and bikable communities. It may have been the first time I ever

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7400 Sand Point Way NE, Suite 101S Seattle, WA 98115 www.cascade.org

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noted a joyous tear from him.” — Chuck Ayers After Lamar retired from his medical practice in 1998, his eldest daughter’s family was moving to Italy. “They gave me their computer and made me promise to learn to email.” A few classes at Bellevue Community College later and Lamar found himself smack in the middle of Cascade’s first database project. “All data entry was done by hand in those days. I started out working four hours per week, but then I started offering my help in other areas. You may have noticed I’m a bit OCD”, he says with a wink. “Well at the time, the Club was in Magnuson Park’s Building 30. There were boxes everywhere – they had just moved, and it looked like it; so, I just started organizing and rearranging things.” continued on page 3

Communities are Putting Prevention to Work by Tessa Greegor, Principal Planner

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s of March 19, Cascade Bicycle Club’s work under the Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant officially came to a close. CPPW is a national initiative funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and administered by Public Health - Seattle & King County, supporting policy and systems changes to address obesity and tobacco use in areas of King County experiencing a disproportionate burden of poor health. As of April, we’ve said our goodbyes to the grant funding, however we know that this is only the beginning of what will be an ongoing commitment to seeing our CPPW focus communities become more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly. While there’s still work to be done, we’re proud to announce some remarkable successes that have happened through CPPW in our partner communities -- Burien, SeaTac, Kent, Des Moines, Snoqualmie and Federal Way. I recall nearly two years ago helping to draft our grant proposal for CPPW, thinking quietly, is this realistic? Can we really accomplish all of this in just over a year? Well indeed it was, and we did. Of course we can’t take all the credit for the bicycle-friendly policy changes that have occurred as a result of CPPW, as it was very much a collaborative effort, coalesced by Public Health - Seattle & King County, implemented by local jurisdictions, with guidance from organizations like Cascade Bicycle Club. Cascade’s work under CPPW involved developing educational resources and conducting trainings on topics related to bicycle

and pedestrian friendly planning and policy. Over the course of the past year, we conducted 13 trainings in our partner communities, focusing on three distinct topics: (1) Complete Streets, (2) Multimodal Level of Service and (3) tools for prioritizing bicycle and pedestrian projects, based on their ability to achieve positive outcomes within communities. We produced three comprehensive user guides on each of these topics as well, for those of you interested in some late night reading material (these can be downloaded at www.issuu.com/ cascadebicycleclub), but for now, let’s focus on some of the successes we’ve seen as a result of CPPW, related to healthy transportation. First and foremost, we are excited to announce four newly adopted Complete Streets ordinances! Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way and Snoqualmie adopted ordinances over the course of the last six months, ensuring that new and improved streets are designed to support safe and efficient use by all modes of transportation within these communities. In addition to Complete Streets ordinances, Snoqualmie, Federal Way and Burien developed and adopted bicycle and pedestrian plans to be included as elements to each city’s Comprehensive Plan. Burien’s and Federal Way’s plans also incorporate language around multimodal level of service (one of our training topics), a fairly innovative approach to evaluating the performance of roadways with all users in mind. Meanwhile, the city of SeaTac endorsed a Safe and Complete Streets Plan, which will continued on page 2

Cascade Bicycle Club wants YOU! (…to form a Team, or join one of ours) on the World Bicycle Relief Red-Bell 100

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oin us this June for the inaugural RedBell 100, a pledge ride held on Saturday June 30 to benefit Cascade Bicycle Club Education Foundation’s youth programming and World Bicycle Relief, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to independence and livelihood through the power of bicycles. We are now offering riders the chance to form teams (family, workplace, friends,

health club etc) or ride with one of several Cascade Bicycle Club teams on the Pacific Northwest’s premier new event. If you want to form your own team, pick a suitable team name and register for the event at www.cascade.org. Invite your friends and colleagues to register, and let them know your team name before they register. We’ll then create a team web page continued on page 7

In This Issue Calling Microsoft employees! ........................................2

2012 Cascade Affiliated International Tours................8

Helmet fit training..........................................................3

2012 Seattle Bicycle Expo Photo Contest...................9

April Bike classes............................................................3

Cyclist of the month....................................................10

Planning your pedal tour..............................................3

April Volunteers..............................................................10

The Romance of the Ride Around Washington...........4

Register for upcoming events......................................10

Bike Month: Let’s ride....................................................4

Cascade Contacts...........................................................11

Spin-a-thon exceeds goal...............................................4

Membership form..........................................................11

April Rides................................................................... 5-7

Welcome New Members...............................................12

Welcome to our 2012 Ambassador Team...................8


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April 2012 Cascade Courier by Cascade Bicycle Club - Issuu