I believe that the most productive Madison bicycle advocacy moment in 2009 will occur during the upcoming Spring Elections - and you can play a part!
* Highest impact * Run for or find someone to run for Common Council with a platform that emphasizes implementing the recommendations from the Mayor's Platinum Bicycling Committee report that are most relevant to your district. Why it matters: If you win: you are one more bike-friendly vote on the council and one more voice that can chime in on every city discussion. But even if you lose: You will have helped drive the discussion toward implementing the platinum report and nudged the Overton window a little closer to sanity. Details: http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/election/candidateResources/forms.cfm Breifly: candidates will need to fill out a number of forms at the link above. You must gather 20 signatures between December 1 and December 26th and submit your paperwork to the City Clerk by January 6th, 2009. * High Impact * Help the BTA with the 2009 Candidate Endorsement Project. This year's focus will be on finding out which platinum report recommendations are most relevant to each district. Why it matters: You will help inform bike-savvy voters of their best option in the election and will help identify which candidates will get the benefit of BTA action alerts for campaign help. In the last election the endorsement of the BTA, and assistance from bikies played a significant part in why Tim Gruber won re-election. Details: Send me an e-mail indicating your interest and we can discuss this more off-list. * Moderate Impact * Carve out some time to volunteer for a bike-friendly candidate's campaign this spring. Why it matters: Winning an election takes more that having a good candidate - it requires getting people excited about the candidate through various voter education efforts. * Some Impact * Vote! -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robbie Webber Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 10:21 PM To: bikies@danenet.org Subject: Re: [Bikies] An Introduction to the Overton Window of PoliticalPossibilities [snip] Of course, you can always run against an incumbent, but that is harder to win. And just to get serious for a moment, perhaps a Bikie knows someone that would run against some of the alders that truly don't see any use for biking, walking, and transit. You know, someone who lives in those car-dependent areas, that have alders that were not among the five votes last year to cut the Highway S&M mega-funding. Or someone who live in an area with a current alder that thinks funding for bike facilities is a frill, and no can be expected to go to the grocery store via bike. Robbie _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list Bikies@danenet.org http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
