SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: SWFBUD Store Owner Asks Iorio For Help

Monday, October 4, 2010

SWFBUD Store Owner Asks Iorio For Help

Dear Mayor Iorio,

I am writing in support of cyclists, and our right to ride on the road. Cyclists and pedestrians are being hit and killed with startling regularity in the Tampa area in the past several months.

Many of the drivers at fault were guilty of hit and run, running a red light (causing the incident) or some other form of reckless driving. The result of their actions in these cases was someone losing their life.

As of now, almost NONE of these people are being charged with anything more serious than leaving the scene of an accident. I can think of no other instance where a person's reckless actions can cause the loss of someone's life, and the offender not being held accountable for that loss.

We never want to be confrontational about it and cause bad feelings between drivers and cyclists, but I am ,quite honestly, tired of people responding that bikes "shouldn't be out there", or "shouldn't be riding early", "shouldn't be riding late", "shouldn't do this", "shouldn't do that."

Cyclists have just as much "right" to be on those roads as any car out there. I don't LIKE stopping at a million red lights. I don't LIKE going 20mph in school zones.

But I don't do those things because I like them, I do them because it's the LAW to KEEP PEOPLE SAFE. I don't necessarily care if drivers don't think bikes should be on the road. IT'S THE LAW THAT THE CAR DRIVERS GIVE CYCLISTS 3 FT, etc.

I'm sick of this all being about one side vs. the other. It's the law and it's not being enforced.

Mayor Iorio, please do not leave office without having done something real to change the fact that Tampa, your city, is the most dangerous one in America to ride a bikein. I saw you, Mayor Pam at the downtown rally in April, riding your bike. You are not a stranger to cycling.

I have participated in County Commissioners meetings on thesubject of safer ways for cyclist and pedestrians to get around our great city, well before all the cycling related deaths in the past 2 months.

All I ask is that you PLEASE IDENTIFY BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN SAFETY AS A PRIORITY, and that these interests be REPRESENTED. There are many cyclists out here, and we want to be protected, and heard! Thank you, Mayor Iorio, for this opportunity to speak my peace, a small cry for your help in this very important matter

Jackie M. Eckman, co-owner
CARROLLWOOD BICYCLE EMPORIUM

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WHAT IS SWFBUD and HOW DID IT START?

SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers) is a Tampa Bay bicycle advocacy alliance of 12 bicycle store dealers and four law firms committed to raising the profile of bicycling in the Tampa Bay market, getting more people on bicycles and drawing more public resources for bicycling.

The 12 bike shops are: ABC Bicycles, Bicycle Outfitters, Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, Chainwheel Drive, Just Ride Bicycles, Oliver's Cycle Sports, Street Fit 360, Trek Bicycle Store of Tampa and Clearwater, Trek Bicycle Store of St. Petersburg, The Ironman Store, University Bicycle Center and Velo Champ. The four law firms are Tom Singletary, J. Steele Olmstead and the Mark Roman Law Group.

The SWFBUD members enlist Alan Snel, a bicycle advocate and former metro newspaper reporter, to lobby local governments to provide more bicycle resources and to put on the Bicycle Bash festival.

SWFBUD is a play on words of Swiftmud, the Tampa Bay water district agency.

SWFBUD traces its roots to the summer of 2006, when then-Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium owner David Luppino (who now owns Just Ride Bicycles) hired Snel for promotions, marketing and to help put on the Bicycle Bash festival. At the start of 2007, Luppino believed it was appropriate that other Tampa Bay bike stores get involved in promoting bicycling, so Snel recruited other store dealers to get involved.

The Bicycle Bash was first held in October 2006 on the St. Pete Times Forum plaza before a Tampa Bay Lightning afternoon hockey game before SWFBUD moved the Bicycle Bash to St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park in 2007 and 2008 and to North Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg in 2009. In 2010, the Bicycle Bash was moved into Hillsborough County's Flatwoods Park on Nov. 7 so that bicyclists can enjoy the Bash's exhibitor village and also have fun doing live biking in the park. In 2011, the Bicycle Bash will be held again at Flatwoods Park on NOV 6.

SWFBUD won national retail bicycle advocacy awards in 2009 from the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) and the Trek Bicycle Corporation. The Bicycle Bash won the Florida Event of the Year in 2007 from the Florida Bicycle Association.

SWFBUD's Snel attends many public meetings in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, plus the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. to lobby political leaders and governing agencies to commit more resources to bicycling. SWFBUD believes communities that embrace and invest in bicycling become more successful and sustainable.

Flatwoods Park Ranger Thanks SWFBUD For Saving Park and Jobs

SWFBUD Wins National Bicycle Advocacy Award

The national magazine that covers the bicycle industry in this country honored SWFBUD with the 2009 Bicycle Retail Advocacy Award at the Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey, Calif. SWFBUD is deeply honored by this national recognition and I received the award from Megan Tompkins, editor of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, and Tim Blumenthal, executive editor of Bikes Belong Coalition. Click photo for more info and check SP Times story, too: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article996595.ece