This past Monday was the first of the two scheduled City Of Miami Bike Summits. Our group was running a few minutes late due to one of the cyclists puncturing a tire on Tigertail. Upon our arrival we noticed about 20 bicycles locked up on racks and to any available secure structure outside the Jose Marti Community Center in Little Havana. We were definitely at the right location. We walked into the center and to our surprise there were a lot of people present. Seating was limited and additional chairs were brought out to accommodate the large crowd. It's safe to say there were more people than they expected, I'd say close to 100 attendees in total. Members from Emerge Miami, Green Mobility Network, Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Miami Critical Mass, MIA Fixed and other local cycling groups were present. It was great to see people young & old being involved in their community.

Kathryn Moore & Collin Worth took the podium and spoke about the proposed bicycle plans for the City of Miami. Mike Lydon of Transit Miami / Street Plans Collaborative presented a great slide-show illustrating bike lanes, bicycle parking, sharrows, bicycle boulevards, and more. After the presentation attendees were encouraged to review city maps & to point out unsafe routes by placing red dotted stickers on those areas of concern. Needless to say the red stickers went scarce quite quickly.

Out of all the proposed plans the ones that stood out to me the most were the future bike lanes on NE 2nd Ave (17th St-84th St), NE 14th St, and the "Share The Road" bus stop shelter advertisement campaign (replacing the current Bike Miami Days ads). Education and police enforcement of traffic laws was also touched upon, it was mentioned that pamphlets with traffic laws for bicyclists and motorists were likely to be issued as warnings to first time offenders, for drivers & cyclists alike.

Also announced was the launch of the city's new Bicycle Initiatives website.

The 2nd Miami Bike Summit is scheduled for August. Hope to see even more people out there, the more concern we show, the likelier they respond to our needs.



Read more about the Miami Bike Summit:

Miami Herald - Miami Bike Summit discusses making city more bike-friendly

Transit Miami - Bicycle Summit Exceeds Expectations

Spokes 'n' Folks - Miami bike plans rolling nicely