SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: Congrats To This Year's SWFBUDDY Award Winners

Friday, October 12, 2012

Congrats To This Year's SWFBUDDY Award Winners

One of the best things I enjoy most about the annual Bicycle Bash is giving the coveted SWFBUDDY Award to local citizens and elected officials who step up and make Tampa Bay a more bicycle-friendly place. SWFBUD is proud to announce the 2012 Class of SWFBUDDY Award winners, who will receive their SWFBUDDYs at the Bicycle Bash event on Nov 4 in downtown Tampa. Our SWFBUDDY Award winners are:

-- Cindy Roberts, wife of fallen Tampa Police Officer Cpl. Mike Roberts. Cindy rode her bike 250 miles as part of the Police Unity Tour last year and she showed how truly inspirational bicycle riding can be when she rode in the memory of her husband during the PUT.

http://m.cfnews13.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/ot/both/2011/04/29/Wife_of_fallen_officer_rides_bike_250_miles_in_his_honor.html

-- Tampa City Councilwoman Lisa Montelione, who has consistently supported bicycling on the city council and as a member of MPO panels. Lisa knows bicycling makes Tampa a better place to live and has used her position to support steps to improve bicycling.

-- Architect Ken Cowart and political consultant Kevin Thurman, who this year submitted a business plan to the Hillsborough County Commission that prompted the commissioners to not demolish the Friendship TrailBridge. Not only did their report stop the demolition of the beloved Friendship TrailBridge, which was used by 600,000 annual users before it was closed, but their work has resulted in Hillsborough County government now working on a request for proposal to draw bids to rebuild the Friendship TrailBridge.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2012/jun/27/1/friendship-trail-bridge-gets-another-reprieve-ar-421090/

-- Antiques specialist Myron Griffin and Tampa Heights community leader Lena Younghave spearheaded a central Tampa bicycle and pedestrian trail movement called the Green Artery to build a network of paths and trails connecting the green spaces of central Tampa. Their unrelenting efforts have resulted in monthly neighborhood meetings in 20 different central Tampa communities over the past two years and have prompted Mayor Bob Buckhorn to support the concept.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/19800166/2012/10/11/group-envisions-green-artery-of-bike-trails-around-tampa

SWFBUD congratulates the 2012 class of SWFBUDDY winners and looks forward to the Bicycle Bash on Nov 4 when they will be publicly recognized for their work.

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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