Downtown Bikeways Wrap up 2018

Tim Springer wrote this meeting update, and photos by Chrissy Leitz

The Downtown Bikeways committee met December 3 at 6 p.m. at Dunn Brothers on Loring Park. This committee began meeting monthly in March 2018 with the help of Janne Flisrand as a contractor to Our Streets Minneapolis to bootstrap advocacy work for protected bike lanes in downtown Minneapolis. Janne’s formal role is ending so the group needed to decide whether to continue. Arm wrestling was critical to the decisions, so click through to see what's next...

Through questions and discussion we got in touch with our motivations and interest in leading. People expressed deep gratitude for Janne’s help. The eight attendees felt the work was important and should continue. A couple people liked the idea of a more visionary approach for all of downtown and for specific bikeway designs. People volunteered for logistics, communications, social media, celebrating successes, and 2019 strategy.

Then subgroups met. The 9th & 10th Streets group revisited the approach of getting building and business owners to sign on to a letter of support. They are likely to reorient towards cyclists using the routes. The LaSalle/Blaisdell and 1st group is finalizing an infographic to highlight the strong support they’ve uncovered.

Join in and advocate for the protected bikeways you want!

• Come to the January 7th meeting and get to work
• Show your support by signing this digital postcard
• Share the postcard, and then ask your friends to sign it, too

Next meeting: January 7, 2019, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., at Dunn Brothers, 329 W. 15th St.

Here are links to past meeting notes.