FHWA ORDER STATES TO RESCIND $3.471 BILLION
HALT WORK ON STATE ROAD (A1A)
WHO WANTS TO WIN A BICYCLE (HILLSBOROUGH & PINELLAS RESIDENTS)?
CLIMATE CHANGE IN FLORIDA CONFERENCE
SAVE THE DATE FOR PRO BIKE®/PRO WALK FLORIDA CONFERENCE
TAG TALK
AND THEN SOME


FHWA ORDER STATES TO RESCIND $3.471 BILLION

When President Bush signed the Revised Continuing Appropriations
Resolution, FY 2007 (P.L. 110-5) on February 15, 2007, it included a
directive to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to order states
to surrender $3.471 billion in highway program funds, by relinquishing
funds from state “unobligated program balances.” This is the largest
single rescission in the history of the federal transportation program,
an amount that is nearly as large as the total of the three rescission
orders ($3.845 billion) executed during the last fiscal year (FY’06).

Please contact Governor Crist, Florida Department of Transportation and
your state legislators immediately to register your concerns about this
new round of rescissions, urging Florida to ensure “balanced” reductions
among all of the program categories in satisfying this order. Each state
much surrender its share of this $3.471 billion rescission order to the
Federal Highway Administration no later than April 18, 2007.

Importantly, neither Congress or the FHWA provided any guidance or
instructions to the states in undertaking these rescissions (e.g., no
public notification, no notice to affected program partners such as MPOs
or local governments, no assessment of how state rescissions affect
Transportation Improvement Programs [TIPs] at the metropolitan level,
etc.), so it is even more crucial that you engage the rescission process
prior to this deadline.

The FHWA order, which includes a table showing the amount of funds
Florida must rescind, can be found at STTP’s site at --
http://www.transact.org/FHWAFY'07RescissionMemo$3.471B.pdf.

During FY’06, states rescinded $881 million in CMAQ funding and $626
million in Enhancements funding, accounting almost 40 percent of all
state rescissions. In fact, these TE rescissions represented about 78
percent of new FY’06 TE funding. CMAQ rescissions totaled about 47
percent of new FY’06 CMAQ funding.

As many Governors and other state officials increasingly talk about
their commitments to reducing greenhouse gases, they have not connected
the dots to their own DOTs. The record shows that projects funded by the
Transportation Enhancements program, the smallest program category under
the transportation law, does more to encourage non-motorized travel
options, specifically facilities to support more walking and bicycling,
than any other program category. CMAQ, a relatively small program
compared to the other core highway programs, does more to expand transit
investment and other strategies that reduce gasoline use and overall
greenhouse emissions than any other program category.

Undeniably, the takeaway message on state decision-making is that often
the program categories of particular interest to communities and their
local elected officials (generally the smallest funding categories) are
the last to get funded, but are often the first target for cuts when
states are deciding on rescissions.


HALT WORK ON STATE ROAD (A1A)

Check out http://capwiz.com/lab/utr/1/OLZYGYQOSR/NACUGYQUIY/1136421236 
for the latest in the A1A resurfacing project in Palm Beach County.

Please call your governor or state elected officials!

* I am calling regarding the repaving of state road (A1A).

* I urge you to require the Florida Department of Transportation to halt
work on state road (A1A) between Boca Raton and Palm Beach, until the
appeals court has had an opportunity to rule on whether the state
must include standard 5 foot bike lanes on all new or refurbished road
projects.

* Proceeding with the road resurfacing at this point, before the
litigation has had a chance to run its course, is not in the best
interest of the taxpayer.

* If the resurfacing is not done correctly, (i.e. if FDOT is required to
build safe sidewalks and bicycle lanes later), it would extend the
duration of the project, which will most certainly extend the cost,
which is already at $4.8 million.

* As a taxpayer of this State, and having already experienced horrendous
increases in property taxes and insurance rates, I call upon you to
exercise prudent fiscal judgment in regards to this issue.

* Thank you.

PS - the number listed for Gov Crist on the LAB's contact form is
incorrect. The correct phone number is: 850-488-7146. You can also fax
your message to 850-487-0801.

Mailing Address:
Office of the Governor
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Or via the web using this link - http://www.flgov.com/contact_form 

Raphael Clemente, AICP
Downtown Development Authority
301 Clematis Street, Suite 200
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
T: 561-833-8873 F:561-833-5870
rclemente@westpalmbeachdda.com


WHO WANTS TO WIN A BICYCLE (HILLSBOROUGH & PINELLAS RESIDENTS)?

Can you pass this on to anyone in Hillsborough or Pinellas who wants to
win a bicycle, please?

Want to win a bicycle?
Write an essay of 100 words or less.
Topic: How would owning a bicycle change your life?
http://www.tampabaycycle.com
They have only 5 entries so far.

Bicyclists are celebrating National Bike Month in May 2007. Sponsors of
Tampa Bay Cycle are the Florida Department of Transportation, Bay Area
Commuter Services, AAA, and others.

Some other things you can do to celebrate in the month of May 2007:
Become an Elite 100
Become a 1,001 Friends of Cycling
Log Your Miles
Bicycle Commuter Challenge for businesses
http://www.tampabaycycle.com/bicycle_commuter_challenge.htm
Bicycle Commuter Challenge for individuals
Participate and you will be eligible to win prizes.

Thanks,
Kimberly Cooper, St. Petersburg


CLIMATE CHANGE IN FLORIDA CONFERENCE

Please join us for the first conference on Climate Change in Florida,
May 9-11, 2007 in Tampa, Florida. This timely conference will focus on
Florida identifying impacts and actions that should be taken to respond
to climate change and offering the latest scientific findings. Global,
national, and state experts will share their perspectives with
conference participants in both general and concurrent sessions. Go to
the following link for a conference agenda:
http://www.ces.fau.edu/ccc/agenda.php.

HIGHLIGHTS

Speakers:
•Mohamed El-Ashry, Former Director,Global Environmental Facility
•Ambassador Benedick, National Council for Science and the Environment
•Alex Sink, Florida's Chief Financial Officer
•Kevin Rosseel, EPA's Climate Protection Partnerships

Read about Governor Crist's State of the State on Climate Change here:
http://www.ces.fau.edu/ccc/index.php. 

I look forward to seeing you in May!

Doreen DiCarlo
Conference Coordinator
561-799-8553
Agenda: http://www.ces.fau.edu/ccc/agenda.php


SAVE THE DATE FOR PRO BIKE®/PRO WALK FLORIDA CONFERENCE

Don’t miss the third annual PRO BIKE®/PRO WALK FLORIDA CONFERENCE
“Healthy Community Makeovers: Designs and Programs for Active and
Healthy Lifestyles” to be held August 27-30, 2007 in Orlando at the
Embassy Suites Downtown hotel featuring keynote speaker Gil Penalosa.

The conference is a collaborative effort of many agencies involved with
bicycle and pedestrian issues. Sessions for planners, engineers, law
enforcement, health professionals, developers, landscape architects,
educators and advocates will focus on facility design, land use, fitness
promotion, trails management, law enforcement and education to encourage
more people to walk and bike safely and responsibly. In addition to the
educational sessions, participants will enjoy walking and biking tours,
dynamic keynote speakers and vendor exhibits.

For Florida to become truly pedestrian and bicyclist-friendly, we must
seek improvements in traffic safety education and law enforcement,
transportation facility design and operation, development regulations,
and attitudes towards these environmentally friendly and health-building
modes. The conference sessions will help us progress toward this worthy
goal of improving our state for walking and bicycling.

Visit our website at www.probikeprowalkflorida.com for additional
information.


TAG TALK

IBIKE, IRIDE, PEDAL, PURPL ,............ What does YOUR tag say? If it
is a Share the Road tag with a message or a regular tag with a SAFETY
MESSAGE, please submit it for inclusion on our website! Go to:
www.ShareTheRoad.org , click on the link from the home page to check them
out AND start listening to the tags out there!!!!


AND THEN SOME

"Long-range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the
future of present decisions." -Peter Drucker

"There's a six-word formula for success: Think things through, then
follow through." -Edward Rickenbacker

"Delay is the deadliest form of denial." -C. Northcote Parkinson