Dear Cycling Supporters:

Tomorrow at 2pm, the DC Council's Committee on Public Works and Transportation is holding a hearing on the “Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Amendment Act of 2010.”   This is an amendment to the 2007 law that adopted certain design standards for bike parking and mandated minimum bike parking requirements for : (1)  The John A. Wilson Building (aka "City Hall");  (2)  Existing residential buildings with 8 or more units;  (3)  New residential buildings with 3+ units, (4) substantially rehabilitated residential buildings with 8+ units; and  (4) Office, retail, or service uses.

That law has been in effect since 2007, but it is currently not enforced because there is no enforcement provision in the original law.

That is what the 2010 Amendment Act will provide, and that’s what WABA is asking you to support by sending an email to the Committee. 

Additionally, WABA believes that funds derived from fines for failure to provide adequate bicycle parking should be used to fund additional bicycle parking in the District.  Thus, we are asking Council to dedicate revenue generated under this Act to supporting DDOT's installation of additional bike parking in public space.

In this time of fiscal uncertainty, such a dedicated source of funding could be critical to ensuring that funds remain available for the bicycle parking program.  And this mechanism would derive those funds from wholly new revenue (therefore requiring no offsetting cuts in services), and would greatly further the purposes of the Act.

Please contact the Committee on Public Works and Transportation by 5pm tomorrow (Thursday) to state your support for implementing and enforcing the 2007 parking requirements, and for dedicating the revenue generated to creating additional bicycle parking in the District.

Send an email and feel free to personalize the letter to state your own preferences.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association