UPCOMING EVENTSAlbany Strollers & Rollers Policy Happy Hour Thursday, April 26, 5 pm - at Montero's, 1106 Solano Avenue Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend!! We'll discuss important advocacy issues and service projects. Have an issue you want to discuss? Let Nick Pilch at nicky@mindspring.com know and we can put it on the agenda! RSVP to either of them to find out the location so we can plan accordingly - thanks!
Bike to Work Day Ride with City Council, Commission and Committee Members, and City Employees Thursday, May 10, 7:30 a.m. - City Hall
Mayor Farid Javandel will lead a Bike to Work Day ride with City Council, Commission and Committee Members and City Employees, which the public is invited to join.
They will meet at 7:30 at City Hall, ride to the Waterfront via Buchanan St., the pedestrian/bicycle bridge and the Freeway Undercrossing. They will return to town up Buchanan, Marin and Masonic, touring some of Albany's cycling highlights and trouble spots.
The ride will finish at Albany Strollers & Rollers' Energizer Station at Solano & the Ohlone Greenway, where we will have giveaways, snacks and our usual festive atmosphere!
Join our City Officials for a fun start to your day!
Alameda County Updating Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan
Alameda County's updates to the county-wide Bicycling and Pedestrian Plan
are derived from updated local plans. The process has reached the Priority Projects and Programs phase of the overall timeline. Send an email to subscribe to notifications.
Active Transportation Master Planning
Recognizing
walking and bicycling as healthy, accessible and green forms of
transportation, the City has embarked on developing its first Active
Transportation Master Plan. This plan will be a blueprint for the future
of walking, cycling and other active modes in Albany.
Draft maps
of the cycling and walking routes to be proposed are now available.
Please send your feedback on the proposed route networks or any other
ideas for making Albany a better place to get around without a car to
the Albany Strollers & Rollers' discussion list, to one of Strollers & Rollers' representatives in the process (Preston Jordan or Amy Smolens), or directly to the city staff and consultants preparing the plan.
With
regard to the proposed walking route network, obviously almost all of
Albany is well served by sidewalks, which is a great inheritance for
which we can thank those who came before us. Albany Strollers & Rollers' purpose in requesting definition of a walking route network now
is to make sure maintenance (such as repairing damage due to street
trees) and improvements (such as upgrading access ramps) are focused on a
network of routes that will connect people to the most important
destinations in town.
The intent of developing this network is to
serve anyone who strolls or rolls on the sidewalks. The latter
includes kids in strollers and those who are pushing them, wheelchair
riders, and younger children cycling on sidewalks for instance. These
groups are more sensitive to sidewalk conditions, and likely to be
dissuaded from getting around car-free or being compelled to use the
street when they don't want to.
The website maintained by the consultant for the planning process http://albanypedbikeplan.fehrandpeers.net/.
Albany Strollers & Rollers looks forward to your input - thanks!
RECURRING EVENTS
Sunday, May 6, 2012 - Memorial Park, 11am-3pm
This
event, resulting from the merging of the Arts & Music Festival and
Green Albany Day, contains the best of both events!
AS&R offers free Bicycle Valet Parking services sponsored by Bua
Luang Thai Cuisine. This will be the 5th straight year that Street Level Cycles has offered free or low
cost bike tune-ups!The AS&R booth has information about bike commuting and bicycle/pedestrian advocacy in
Albany.You'll find local bands, art
activities for kids, poetry, delicious food from local vendors and
information from community fundraising groups. Artists display and
sell their works in booths in the park. A range of vendors share information about activities with
local environmental and green action groups, workshops you can join,
and all the things you can do to make Albany an even greener city.
Albany
Strollers & Rollers needs volunteers to help with Bicycle Valet
Parking and our booth so we hope you can volunteer a bit of time!
Volunteers get FREE LUNCH FROM TAY TAH!! Please contact Amy Smolens or Angela Armendariz. Thanks.
Bike to Work Day
Thursday, May 10, 2012, 7-9 am
Enjoy a party on wheels, including food, coffee, giveaways from regional and local businesses! Come join the fun!
NOTE NEW LOCATION FOR AS&R Energizer Station! Solano Avenue and the Ohlone Greenway
Kids' Bicycle Rodeo
May 19, 2012, 10am-1 pm - Cornell
Elementary School Free bike safety check, helmets, and confidence
course for elementary and middle-school-age kids! Trick riding
entertainment and raffle! We will again run the confidence course in this fun, Albany Police Activities League sponsored event. http://www.albanypal.net/id23.html
Bike About Town Meet at 6:30pm on the 4th Friday of the month at Solano Avenue Cyclery for a quick safety check and group ride about town. Afterwards, return for entertainment, food and discounts to local businesses. June 22, July 27, Aug. 24, Sept. 28, and Oct. 26 (Halloween ride - come in costume!) See Albany Patch for a writeup and photos of past events! And lots more photos on our Facebook page!
"Alberrito" Streets event with El Cerrito on Key Route Blvd between Thousand Oaks and A Street on August 28th, 2011, Noon-3pm.
The AS&R booth distributed information, made bike-blended smoothies, and tried out bike water balloon jousting. Photos on AlbanyPatch. Coming again in the summer of 2012! Stay tuned for dates! Sunday, September 9, 2011, 10am - 6pm Free Bicycle Valet Parking at the Pumpkin Patch, sponsored by Bua Luang Thai Cuisine!
International Bike & Walk to School DayFrom 2009 through 2011 AS&R members have installed a total of 460 free rear lights on the bikes of kids who rode to school, matching the number of lights we had sold over the past years Thanks to Safeway's generous donation to underwrite front lights, we were also able to offer free front lights, MSRP value $39.99.
At 2011 International Bike & Walk to School Day on October 5th, AS&R volunteers and school parents installed 250 front lights free, courtesy of Safeway, and 150 rear lights. This was a fantastic payoff to a great program!
http://www.walktoschool-usa.org/faq/index.cfm
This program has been a huge success - please help us sustain it by buying a light or two! | DISCOUNTS!By becoming an Albany Strollers & Rollers member, you will receive discounts at local bike shops and businesses.
Berkeley Bikes and Skateboards is offering 15% off labor, parts and accessories.
Solano Avenue Cyclery is offering 10% off parts and accessories.
Marie Bowser Acupuncture is offering 25% on all visits.
These offers are valid to members of Albany Strollers &
Rollers and their households. If any of your friends are interested in
this discount, please send them here to join AS&R.
Questions? Contact Amy Smolens. BIKE LIGHTSGREAT FOR HOLIDAY (OR ANYTIME) GIFTS!!
AS&R has partnered with Fun Source LLC to make these versatile rear bike lights available to school kids and to you! For each Safety Light that you buy, an Albany student gets one free! For just $8 each, or $15 for two (that's 50% off MSRP,) you get a bright red rear light with three blinking modes, a clip and a quick-off bike mount.
Our AS&R version
supports a good, grass-roots
advocacy cause promoting bike-ped safety for children in our local
community. We appreciate your support of this great SR2S program by
purchasing our lights through AS&R. To purchase or for more information, come to any of our events or contact Amy Smolens at calamari@alumni.duke.edu.
On 2009, 2010 and 2011 International Bike & Walk to School Days. AS&R members and school parents installed 150 free lights (each year, that is!) on the bikes of kids who rode to school - a huge success! Welcome to the Albany Strollers & Rollers website! Hell yeah! Albany Strollers & Rollers (AS&R) was founded by Preston Jordan and Nick Pilch in 2004 to address bicycle and pedestrian safety issues in and around Albany, California. Currently we comprise more than 400 individuals and families. For a more detailed summary of what we do, please feel free to download the AS&R article which appears in the October 2011 issue of Wheel Truth, the monthly newsletter of one of our local sponsors, Grizzly Peak Cyclists.
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