From 8-10 a.m. on Sept. 14, seven prominent Chicago area civic groups including the Active Transportation Alliance will hold a roundtable at the Downtown Omni Hotel to discuss tax savings through transit benefits. Attendees will learn about how you can provide your employees a greener way to commute through a federal tax law that saves payroll taxes.

Beyond learning about how these programs work, roundtable participants will also hear what other cities are doing to work with employers and how businesses can save while offering a real benefit to employees. The roundtable will feature other top executives from the Chicagoland area, local elected leaders, Members of Congress, and other national leaders.

This event will feature:

• The Honorable Manuel Flores, Alderman, 1st Ward, City of Chicago
• The Honorable Ross Mirkarimi, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
• Stephen A. Schlickman, Executive Director of the Regional Transportation Authority
• Congressman Daniel Davis (D.-- IL) * invited
• Congressman Daniel K. Lipinski (D—IL) *invited.

If you are interested in attending the roundtable, RSVP via email to jdrew@cnt.org or click here.

Sponsors include: The Regional Transportation Authority, The Center for Neighborhood Technology / I-GO, Chicago Metropolis 2020, The Active Transportation Alliance, the Metropolitan Planning Council, The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Accor Services, and the office of Alderman Manuel Flores, 1st Ward.

From our Elgin Bicycling Ambassador Marjorie Gohl:

Recently the Chicago Tribune wrote an article detailing the lack of interest of Elgin residents to apply for grants to increase wellness in Elgin, but few people might not understand why Elgin residents are being prompted to increase their health. Before the article was written, few Elginites even knew that Elgin has gained the title of “Fattest city in Illinois”. Even now there is only a select number of Elginites that know we hold this title and before I became an Elgin Bicycle Ambassadors, I didn’t know that Elgin was considered the fattest city in Illinois either. Along with Tom Armstrong, I travel around Elgin on my bicycle and educate the residents on the importance of using a bicycle to commute, shop and exercise.

Tom Armstrong is a retired city planner for Elgin and I am a science teacher in Elgin and we are both avid bicyclists. So, when Active Transportation Alliance, which is based out of Chicago, posted the job opening for two bicycling ambassadors in Elgin, Tom and I both knew this would be the perfect summer job for us. Elgin received a grant though Illinois Department of Transportation Safety Division and recruited Active Transportation Alliance to run the program. Tom and I travel around Elgin on bicycles, appearing at park parties, festivals, concerts, Thursday’s Harvest Market, service groups, kids camps and adult bicycle clubs. Depending on the event we attend, we teach people how to properly wear a helmet, check their bicycle for safeness (ABC quick check), vehicular bicycling and tips on riding defensively. You may have even seen us at various events handing out material on safe bicycling, commuting, rules of the road and Kane Country trail maps.

Even though our season is almost over, you will still see Tom and I riding our bicycle around Elgin all year round. We’re employed until the end of September and will be participating in the Elgin by Bike program in September. We’ll also be riding in the progressive dinner by bicycle “Bike and Dine” and we encourage all Elginites to sign up for the event as well. Riding bicycles in Elgin takes just as much time as driving a car and is good for our air and traffic congestion. Also, bicycling Elgin is fun and great exercise. If more people start riding their bicycles around Elgin, we will be able to rid ourselves of the title “fattest city in Illinois”

-Marjorie Gohl

Elgin Bicycle Ambassador

We applaud the Chicago Transit Authority’s new no-tolerance policy for bus and train operators who use cell phones or other electronic devices while operating a vehicle. We encourage all Chicago-area transit boards to adopt similar policies.

Distracted driving, including dialing on cell phones and text messaging, is one of the leading causes for crashes injuring bicyclists and pedestrians. Bicyclists and pedestrians are disproportionately injured and killed in crashes because they do not have the protection of seatbelts, airbags or a steel frame.

Recent reports from Virginia Tech Transportation Institute reveal that text messaging increases the risk of crash as much as 23.2 times as high as non-distracted driving. The same analysis showed that drivers of heavy vehicles involved in distracted driving crashes on average had their eyes off the roadway for four of the last six seconds before the crash. On a major arterial road, a vehicle can travel more than 100 yards in that amount of time. Distracted driving has been the cause of several high-profile crashes involving public trans in Southern California and Boston.

The Illinois General Assembly also recognizes the need to curb this behavior. This year it passed two laws that restrict texting or talking on a cell phone while driving. This legislation, however, does not affect public transit rail operators. And although it is critical to ensuring bicyclists’ and pedestrians’ safety, it is not enough to protect the employees and customers of Illinois’ public transportation.

The non-profit Active Transportation Alliance improves walking, bicycling and transit by building a movement, increasing traffic safety, encouraging physical activity and designing a world-class transportation network. We are working to create a region with a 50 percent reduction in all crashes and where 50 percent of the population walks, bikes and takes mass transit. We sit on the Secretary of State Jesse White’s Distracted Driving Task Force and we value our partnerships with Pace, Metra and CTA.

You can make transit safer by banning the use of cell phones and other electronic devices by your employees while operating buses and trains. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.

Sincerely,

Rob Sadowsky
Executive Director
 

It's like Facebook for Chicagoland bicyclists and we love it!

The Chainlink, www.thechainlink.org, is turning 1-year-old and Active Trans will be there to celebrate this Thursday at the Bottom Lounge.

If you're not on the Chainlink, sign up now and Active Trans would love to be your friend. Hope to see you at the party!

Ethan