Bicycle Friendly Community Action Plan to be Proposed to Denton City Council
During their August 17th work session, the Denton City Council will consider whether to discuss a proposal by Councilmember Brian Beck (District 2) that the city adopt an action plan to become a designated Bicycle Friendly Community. Beck will have one minute to pitch the proposal to other council members, who will then decide either to have a formal discussion at a future meeting or to not discuss it at all.
Take a few minutes to reach out to your council member by the end of Monday, August 16th to let them know that you support the adoption of this action plan and why it’s important to you.
Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) is part of the national Bicycle Friendly America program through the League of American Bicyclists. According to its website, the program is “a tool for states, communities, business and universities to make bicycling a real transportation and recreation option for all people and it recognizes those doing it well.”
The building blocks of a Bicycle Friendly Community focus on five key areas:
Education: Giving people of all ages and abilities the skills and confidence to ride.
Encouragement: Creating a strong bike culture that welcomes and celebrates bicycling.
Engineering: Creating safe and convenient places to ride and park.
Evaluation & Planning: Planning for bicycling as a safe and viable transportation option.
Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion: A Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.
In Texas, there are currently 13 Bicycle Friendly Communities, 45 Bicycle Friendly Businesses, and 7 Bicycle Friendly Universities. In Denton, there are not yet any Bicycle Friendly Businesses. The University of North Texas is a Bronze level Bicycle Friendly University, and Texas Woman’s University received Honorable Mention in their first application ever last year.
Denton received Honorable Mention in its 2016 Bicycle Friendly Community application. At that time, Denton’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator was setting ridership goals, gathering ridership data, providing regular updates on bike projects and the bike budget, visiting schools to provide bike safety education to children, coordinating bike safety courses for adults, hosting regular community bike rides, and organizing Denton’s first Open Streets event, CycloDia.
CycloDia 2017 opened parts of McKinney St and Hickory St to car-free walking, biking, and rolling.
Following the departure of Denton’s first Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator in January 2018, many initiatives disappeared. Ridership goals were no longer published, data collection was limited to the DCTA rail trail, city-led community rides and bike education ended, updates on bike projects and the bike budget slowed.
Denton’s original Bike Plan and its Denton 2030 Comprehensive Plan include the goal to become a Bicycle Friendly Community. Plans like these contain many goals, and it’s common for a number of those goals to never be pursued or achieved if they are not considered a priority.
The virtual disappearance of BFC initiatives since 2018 indicates that Denton needs to renew its commitment to become a Bicycle Friendly Community. Consideration of the Bicycle Friendly Community Action Plan would be the first time the Denton City Council has indicated its desire for this goal outside the context of a larger master plan. Adoption of this action plan would also affirm the current City Council’s commitment to this goal.
How You Can Help
If you’d like to see the Denton City Council adopt the Bicycle Friendly Community Action Plan, take a few minutes to reach out to your council member by the end of Monday, August 16th to let them know that you support the adoption of this action plan and why it’s important to you.
In addition to your district representative, you can also contact any of the three At Large positions: Gerard Hudspeth (Mayor), Deb Armintor (Place 5), Paul Meltzer (Place 6).
Email Tips
Title the email something like “In support of Bicycle Friendly Community action plan”
Be brief. Be polite.
State that you support the adoption of the Bicycle Friendly Community Action Plan.
Briefly explain why a more bike-friendly Denton is important to you and would impact you personally.
