[Carfreeliving] Bikes for Katrina refugees

[Dave Snyder]

This from Texas Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Robin Stallings:

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As New Orleans musician Cyril Neville recently quipped at a Katrina 
fundraiser in Austin, "The gumbo's spilled over into the chili." 
That's certainly the case at Texas Bicycle Coalition.

Audrey Warren, New Orleans evacuee and the Director of New Orleans' 
Safe Routes to School Program, has agreed to coordinate our BikeTexas 
program to procure and distribute bikes for Katrina evacuees. Audrey 
will work out of our Austin office beginning September 28 and can be 
reached at <mailto:katrina at biketexas.org>katrina at biketexas.org.

Texas Bicycle Coalition has been developing a large-scale bicycle 
response plan since the Katrina hurricane disaster first occurred. We 
made a decision to stay out of the way during the initial crisis and 
then work to help evacuees get back on their feet over the next few 
months.

We have been observing, advising and assisting "test" efforts (more 
than 1,000 bikes distributed so far) in Houston and Austin to work 
out the bugs. Special kudos go to Austin's Bicycle Sport Shop and Joe 
Ely (Texas musician and icon) and his wife Sharon for getting the 
demo project off the ground. As a founding board member of Institute 
of Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP), I've learned a lot 
about collecting and distributing used bikes. Additionally, former 
ITDP board member, Keith Oberg, Director of Bikes for the World, has 
provided considerable advice on this new effort.

We have been in touch with a few key bike industry folks to let them 
know we are brewing something. Locally in Austin, we have coordinated 
several orgs and individuals to work with, including the Austin 
Cycling Association and the Austin Yellow Bike Project. We will be 
announcing an Austin local volunteer coordinator in a week or so. 
After Audrey gets started, she'll line up local volunteer 
coordinators in collection and distribution cities in Texas and 
around the country.

Our plans on a national level are to coordinate between bicycle 
collections around the country and shipping to points in Texas and 
other states hosting evacuees (including Louisiana). We hope that 
Thunderheaders will be able to help in their own communities and 
states.

We have intentionally kept this effort quiet until it is fully 
cooked. We would appreciate it if our fellow Thunderheaders can bear 
with us a bit longer and help keep this quiet for the time being.

We are close to a public "launch". Our goal will be in the tens of 
thousands of bicycles for adult evacuees' transportation and for 
children. We will let you know as soon as we go public.

Many thanks,


Robin Stallings
Executive Director
Texas Bicycle Coalition
www.biketexas.org
512-476-7433 office


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