Letter from the Saddle
Bike East Bay is committed to emerging from the pandemic with a stronger, more just transportation system. With the support of members like you this year, Bike East Bay advocates won significant victories to build new bikeways, keep public transit running, reimagine traffic enforcement, and fund community bike shops.
Bike East Bay’s major street campaign this year successfully saved the protected bike lanes on Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue. As Advocacy Director Dave Campbell reports on page 3, your advocacy convinced Oakland city council to vote unanimously to save the project. The resounding support from the city councilmembers showed decisionmakers around the East Bay that safe bikeways are essential for a sustainable and equitable future.
I am grateful for your continued financial support. On page 5, you’ll find Bike East Bay’s Annual Report for 2020. During the emotionally and financially difficult pandemic year, Bike East Bay members and donors like you stepped up to keep bike advocacy rolling. You collectively increased your giving even as our overall budget shrunk by 30% and other funds for bike advocacy dried up. As you’ll see in this annual report, Bike East Bay is well positioned to reopen crucial programs and campaigns, including urgent projects to build safe biking infrastructure in Oakland, San Leandro, Fremont and many other East Bay cities.
With car traffic growing again post-pandemic, it is crucial that we maintain support for safe biking and walking in our neighborhoods. This is especially important as Black and Brown people are more likely to be seriously injured or killed by traffic violence compared to all other racial groups. And yet communities of color are frequently ignored by mainstream transportation planning.
With the pandemic restrictions gradually lifting, Bike East Bay is joyfully returning to in-person community organizing. On the path forward, we’re tackling the intersecting issues of transportation justice, climate change, the housing crisis, and racial inequality, all of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. We’re getting to know our members, volunteers, and neighbors in person again, renewing relationships and rebuilding community power.
Your support kept bike advocacy rolling through the pandemic. And we’re ready to tackle the challenges ahead. Thank you for growing the movement.
