Two Great Initiatives

Today I was thrilled to take part in two great initiatives.

First, the County, City of Cincinnati and a lot of other local governmment, nonprofit and private partners have been working to put together an application to become a Bicycle Friendly Community.* Which means if we are to succeed, we actually have to have an action plan to become a bicycle friendly community. And we want to do it as a region.

A survey I recently conducted was aimed to gather input on some of the steps we should take. And we received more than 1,500 responses, showing just how much pent-up energy there is behind this work.

Well, today, leaders from the League of American Cyclists (the organization that runs the bicycle friendly rating system) came to town, and we hosted a workshop to help think through the process, and what the best steps will be to improve things. Officials from numerous local governments, private entities, and biking advocates all were around the table brainstorming. It was a great session, and a key step in the planning process we are leading. (Comment below if you want to join the effort).

* Notice when you look at the map of bicycle friendly communities, there isn't one from Ohio.

Second, I also attended the announcement of the Agenda 360 blueprint to move our region forward. Today's announcement was the result of a terrific coming together of thousands of volunteers over two years, to chart out a regional roadmap of priorities and opportunities.

I want to thank all involved for making this great contribution to our community's future--and I will certainly be reviewing their proposals to see which ones the County can play a partnership role in.