If you have a few minutes and feel like commiting an act of bicycle advocacy this weekend, consider sending an email to your state's governor.
The League of American Bicyclists has a form letter that you can easily send word-for-word, or in your own words, that asks your governor to share the upcoming federal funding cutbacks among all transportation programs.
Based on past experiences, the League is concerned that programs that traditionally support pedestrian and bicycle projects will be singled out for the cutbacks.
Fairness
The League is demanding “proportionality in rescissions.” While this might sound like a lot of gobbledigook, it's important to preserve funding for some bicycle projects.
What happened is that Congress recently passed a jobs bill that gives funds to the states to prevent teacher layoffs because of the bad economy. To pay for the jobs, Congress included a requirement that the states return $2.2 billion in unobligated transportation money to the federal government — a rescission.
Previous rescissions included language that required an equal distribution of the funding cuts among transportatino projects. This bill contains no such clause.
The governors' deadline is Wednesday, August 25.
Email to governor
After explaining the issue, the League asks:
“Please contact your Governor and ask that rescissions be done equitably across programs, and that those that traditionally fund bicycling projects not be unfairly targeted.”
Go to the Time to Take Action page at the League of American Bicyclists website [link repaired]. The form letter at the League site chooses your governor based on your address and sends an email that explains the issue and asks for fairness in making the cuts. You can even include a photo of yourself if you like.
Recent Comments