We are excited to announce that we’re working to expand on our work by adding walking and pedestrian work to our mission.
In late 2009, a group of Minneapolis residents came together to discuss ways we could make streets safer and more vibrant. Those conversations turned to the formation of the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition to harness the amazing passion of our vibrant bicycling community to work together to make streets better for everyone and inspire more people to bike.
Since then, with your support, we’ve grown from 15 people to a network of more than 12,000 people with 1,300 active volunteers and 10 staff. Together, we’ve hosted 26 Open Streets events; supported more than 30 miles of new bikeways (including 6+ miles of protected bikeways), an amazing protected bikeway plan, a nation-leading Complete Streets policy, and the first Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinators for both the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County; and much more.
We are excited to announce that we’re working to expand on that work by adding walking and pedestrian work to our mission.
We know people who bike, walk, and roll have shared interests in safer, more vibrant streets. We’ve worked side-by-side with pedestrian advocates on many policy and on-the-ground projects around the city. This change will formalize work we’ve been doing already to support walkability through Complete Streets, Open Streets, Safe Routes to School, and more. Coming together under the same umbrella will allow us to strengthen our collective voice as we work together for great, safe streets and vibrant, connected communities.
We also know that more walking and biking in our city makes it stronger and an even better place to live, work, and play. Biking and walking are both fun, healthy, clean, equitable, and efficient ways to get around and are growing rapidly in popularity in Minneapolis. We’ll be able to improve more lives and more communities with this expanded work.
You can find additional details on this expansion in this Frequently Asked Questions summary.
We’re very interested in your input on this expansion. We’re months away from updating our mission, name, and priorities to include our work on pedestrian issues. We are not rushing those changes because we want to hear from you. We are also working to make sure this work will be embedded with the equity commitments we have to improve our city for everyone, especially those communities who have traditionally been underinvested in.
We’re starting with these opportunities to share your thoughts:
-
Saturday, September 10 at Open Streets West Broadway--find us at the Bicycle Coalition canopy near Bryant Avenue from 11-5
-
Sunday, September 18 at Open Streets Nicollet--find us at the Bicycle Coalition canopy from 11-5
-
Thursday, September 22 Open House at the Coalition office--stop by anytime from 4:30-6pm
-
You can share comments or questions using this online form as well.
Thank you for all your support and we look forward to achieving many more things together.
LaTrisha Vetaw
Board President
Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition
