Monday
Dec052011
For Immediate Release - Join Us for a Joyride – An Evening with Top Bike Advocate & Author Mia Birk in Long Beach Thursday December 15th from 5-8pm!
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 9:18PM Date: Tuesday December 6, 2011
From: Melissa Balmer
Editor/Initiative Director - Women On Bikes SoCal T. (562) 221-9672 email: wobsocal@gmail.com
Re: Join Us for a Joyride – An Evening with Top National Bike Advocate & Author Mia Birk in Long Beach Thursday December 15th from 5–8 p.m!
Please note both web & high res images are available of Mia upon request!
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Long Beach, CA – Bicycle enthusiasts throughout the Southland are invited to enjoy a special evening with top national bike advocate, critically acclaimed author, and principal of Alta Planning + Design Mia Birk as she stops on her “Joyride” speaking tour in Long Beach on Thursday, December 15th from 5–8 p.m. The event includes an evening holiday bike ride, appetizers and wine, Mia’s lively presentation, and time for questions and mingling. The Joyride book is available for sale at Open bookstore for $19.95.
Mia is really looking forward to her bike ride and talk in Long Beach: “Long Beach is one of my favorite cities! After all, it claims to be ‘The Most Bicycle Friendly City in America.’ I love what it has been able to accomplish in the last few years and is hoping to accomplish in coming years. I expect to see Long Beach truly in the nation’s top tier of cities in short order, and I’m hoping my visit can contribute to the momentum and enthusiasm.”
The evening begins at 5 p.m. sharp with a holiday “joyride” from the new, state-of-the-art Bikestation at the 1st Street Transit Mall (223 E. 1st St. in downtown, conveniently located across from the Metro train station), to Open bookstore on 4th Street’s “Retro Row” (2226 E. 4th Street). Riders must have a front headlight on their bikes to participate in the ride. Wearing helmets and decorating bikes with holiday lights are encouraged. From 6–6:30 p.m. at Open, we’ll have appetizers, wine and mingling, from 6:30–7:30 p.m. Mia’s talk about making the U.S. bike-friendly, and then time for questions and more mingling! Bikestation is providing free bike valet in front of Open.
This event is a “friend” raiser and fund-raiser for the non-profit Bikeable Communities and its brand new initiative Women On Bikes SoCal, and the event is free for members. (Bikeable Communities membership is $35.00 per year; Women On Bikes SoCal $25.00 per year). For non-members the event is $10.00 per person. Memberships and tickets must be purchased in advance at: www.womenonbikessocal.org/mia-birk-event-dec-2011/. Existing members should RSVP to wobsocal@gmail.com or (562) 612-0197 ASAP. This event is limited to 65 people and will fill up quickly so reserve your place now!
About “Joyride” from Jeff Mapes Author of “Pedaling Revolution”
"Bicycling advocates know Mia Birk as one of the most important figures in America's urban biking renaissance. And now she has produced a witty, poignant and often funny memoir detailing how she persuaded politicians, city bureaucrats and average citizens that bikes are a perfectly sensible form of transportation. You don't need to ever mount a bike yourself to appreciate this story, which is really for anyone who ever wanted to understand how to make things happen in a modern American city, suburb or small town."
About Mia Birk in Her Own Words
“I fell in love with bicycling in 1990 while attending graduate school in Washington DC. Having grown up in suburban Dallas, Texas, I was used to driving everywhere. Informed that there was no parking available near my school, I borrowed my brother's 10-speed Schwinn. Within a few weeks, I was in the best shape of my life, and a lifelong love affair had begun. Since then, I have been a dedicated bicyclist for recreation, touring, exercise, and daily utilitarian trips. I have two children - ages 12 and 8 – and see bicycling as a win-win strategy for maintaining my family's health, safety, budget, and community connection.”
This event is sponsored by Bikeable Communities, Women On Bikes SoCal, Bikestation, Green Octopus Consulting, Open, Jax Bicycle Center, and the Pedaler Society.
For the Media: There are limited press passes available and the Long Beach Pedaler Society is sponsoring three pedicabs to escort photographers and their equipment. From 3:45–4:45 p.m. prior to the ride there will be time for photos and questions with Mia. Please let us know in advance if you are sending someone. Media interested in speaking with Mia prior to the day of the event should contact Erin McAlister at (503) 230-9862 or erinmcalister@altaplanning.com. To learn more about Bikeable Communities or Women On Bikes SoCal, please contact Melissa Balmer at (562) 221-9672 or wobsocal@gmail.com. Bikestation contact: Andrea White-Kjoss, (562) 733-0106. Green Octopus Consulting contact: April Economides, (562) 234-0046 and april@greenoctopus.net.
About Bikeable Communities
Bikeable Communities is a 501(c)3 established to promote bicycling safety and foster the ideal of bicycle networked communities throughout the Southern California coastal region. Bikeable Communities works at the local, regional and state level to advance safer bicycle infrastructure, create more collaborative bike-friendly communities, promote bike safety knowledge for riders, and safe access for bike riders of all skill levels and interest. Learn more at www.bikeablecommunities.org.
About Women On Bikes SoCal
An initiative of the non profit bicycle advocacy organization, Bikeable Communities, Women On Bikes SoCal’s (WoBSoCal) vision is to encourage, engage and empower women and girls of all ages, races and walks of life in the Southern California region in the beauty and benefits of bicycling, and to help double the number of women and girls actively riding bikes here by 2016. WoBSoCal seeks to normalize and advocate for a bike-friendly life for women, girls and families via fun, fashion forward events and dynamic digital story telling via our website at www.womenonbikessocal.org. Our goals are to create innovative and time efficient “low cost” and “no cost” safety programming for women and their families,
About Bikestation
Bikestation seeks to improve the quality of life in urban communities through the development and operation of bike-transit centers and related infrastructure. Modeled after European and Japanese examples, Bikestation Long Beach was the first facility of its kind to open in the U.S. in March of 1996. Bikestation Palo Alto and Bikestation Berkeley opened in 1999, Bikestation Seattle in May 2003,Bikestation Santa Barbara in 2007, and Bikestation Washington DC in 2009. Located on the same LA Metro line, Bikestation Claremont and Bikestation Covina opened in February 2010, creating the first end-to-end systemic transit line in the US. Bikestation Hillsboro, the first Bikestation in Oregon, recently celebrated its Grand Opening in October 2010. Learn more at www.bikestation.com.
About Green Octopus Consulting
Green Octopus Consulting is a sustainability firm that works at the intersection of local economic development and urban planning. It created and manages the City of Long Beach’s Bike Friendly Business District (BFBD) program in partnership with four districts and the Bike Saturdays discount program. The firm educates business and civic leaders on the economic case for bicycling. Green Octopus Consulting Principal April Economides recruited Birk to Long Beach for this event, which will ride through one BFBD (the East Village Arts District) and end in another (4th Street’s Retro Row), and will speak briefly about this innovative program that’s catching the attention of other cities.