A Better Milwaukee Through Biking
Fall 2016
These are a few of the important updates and noteworthy announcements that the Path to
Platinum core team would like to share with you. Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to
others who might have an interest in the effort to unite Milwaukee one bicycle at a time.
Path to Platinum
“Engage the whole Milwaukee community to advocate
for better bicycling and safer streets for all”
Since we began the Path to Platinum movement in
Milwaukee, we have been eager to hear from more
and more of you around the city, in ever y
neighborhood and district, to share your stories and
insights on how we can strive to make our city
stronger, safer, healthier, more connected and better
through bicycling. We have met with many of you
through our outreach events over these last several
months, including Ciclovia and Doors Open
Milwaukee. Through these events as well as social
media and email outreach, we have received interest
and engagement from over 180 of you since the
beginning of the year. Thank you for supporting this
important effort and we hope that you’ll be inspired
by what we have to bring you in this newsletter.
At our September meeting, Tonieh Welland recounted
a group ride she had led with Black Girls Do Bike, that
traversed through Bay View. As the group experienced
a raised bike lane along Bay Street, a unique
experience in the city. the enthusiasm for safer, more
comfor table and better connected bicycle
infrastructure improvements like this throughout all of
Milwaukee could be heard loud and clear among the
group members, as one participant declared: “we
want more of this!”
We couldn’t agree more.
Nearly every person at our outreach events has had a
positive reaction to our posters of separated bike
lanes, green bike lanes, and curb extensions—they see
these new features as ways to make Milwaukee’s
streets better for bicycling and safer for everyone.
The Path to Platinum movement pursues the League
of American Bicyclists’ highest standard for a bicycle
friendly community, however this movement strives
first and foremost to connect our neighborhoods,
diverse communities, advocacy groups, institutions,
professionals and citizens from all across the city to
build a safer, healthier and more united Milwaukee,
one bicycle at a time.
1
“We want more of this”
The road behind and the
road ahead is long.
In February, we met many of you
at a kick-off event at the Sixteenth
Street Community Health Center.
Since then, we have conducted
community outreach at events
such as Ciclovia and Southside
Bicycle Day on Cesar Chavez
Drive, as well as Doors Open
Milwaukee at UW-Milwaukee.
We s h a r e d o u r
vision with media
outlets following
Mayor Barrett’s Path
t o P l a t i n u m
announcement on
Bike to Work Day in
June.
In July, we hosted a
pop-up Better Block
gathering and
Neighborhood Walking Audit for
community members at Peace
Park on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Drive. The event aimed to listen to
community safety concerns on
that block and to discuss potential
improvements.
The City of Milwaukee needs
additional staff to help implement
more than $4 million in grants it
has received for bicycle-related
projects and programs over the
last five years. Without staff
resources, these projects will be
delayed or lost. We are hard at
work with Mayor Barrett, the
W i s c o n s i n B i k e
Federation and other
stakeholders to develop
a coordinator position to
suppor t the Path to
Platinum effort within
the city government and
a Milwaukee safe streets
advocate within the
Wisconsin Bike Fed.. The
mayor and his staff met
with us to hear our
request for fiscal support
for the city’s Path to Platinum
Coordinator position. We have
also recently presented to both
t h e B u b l r B o a r d a n d t h e
Milwaukee Business Improvement
D i s t r i c t C o u n c i l fo r t h e i r
respective support.
As we grow our support and
engagement from the community,
we are planning several citywide
Milwaukee Path to Platinum events
to share bicycle project and
program successes, identify
bicycling needs and involve all
Common Council members.
This first of these impor tant
events will take place in late
October/early November. The
times and location of the first
event will be announced soon.
As always, you can get the most
current updates from us on
Facebook and Twitter.
@pathtoplatinum
@milwaukeebikes
3
Tell us what bicycling in
Milwaukee means to you.
In 2014, longtime bicycling advocate and Wisconsin Bike Fed - Milwaukee regional director, Keith Holt envisioned
the formation of a grass roots community-driven task force that would draw on neighborhoods all across
Milwaukee for leadership and inspiration to move the city in the direction of being a place friendly toward
bicycling, but where it was encouraged to flourish through the creation of accessible, connected, safe streets and
pathways designed for people on bicycles as well as policies and public education that would offer greater
outreach into the community to make all of Milwaukee a safer and better place through bicycling. From this vision,
the Path to Platinum was born.
As we continue to keep this movement community-driven, we need it to grow from its base and hear directly
from any and all in the community who share in this civic commitment to make Milwaukee’s streets safer. In the
spirit of this cause, we have developed an online bicycling survey that can be accessed through this link. We ask
that you please take the entire survey and then share this link with other bike-enthusiasts you might know in
Milwaukee.
Take our survey!
4
Join us in making
streets safer in
Milwaukee.
The movement to make Milwaukee safer and better through bicycling should be for
the people and by the people of this city. Your voice is critical to making positive
changes for the whole community. If you haven’t taken our online survey, take it
now. Also, if you haven’t signed up to be a part of the Path to Platinum team,
connect with us and consider volunteering your time or expertise with our
expanding Path to Platinum team.
Sign up here
The Path to Platinum Core Team Includes:
Community Members
Angela Allen, University of Wisconsin-Extension Milwaukee County
James Davies, Bublr Bikes
To n y G i r o n , Wisconsin Bicycle Federation
Keith Holt, Bike Easy
Nicholas La Joie, Marquette University
Kate Nelson, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Office of Sustainability
Robert Schneider, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Urban Planning
John Siegert, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
David Waters, Sixteenth Street Community Health Clinics!
To n i e h Wel l a n d , Black Girls Do Bike
Public Agency Liaisons
Kristin Bennett, City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works
James Hannig, Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Montavius Jones, City of Milwaukee Department of City Development
Jeff Polenske, City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works
Monica Wauck, City of Milwaukee Department of City Development