FEDERAL RESCISSIONS
BOCA BICYCLISTS APPEAL FDOT RULING
PRO BIKE®/PRO WALK FLORIDA CONFERENCE
FBA ANNUAL MEETING AND AWARDS CEREMONY
YOUTH CYCLISTS PLACE WELL AT NATIONALS
AND THEN SOME


FEDERAL RESCISSIONS

Florida Congressman John Mica (R-District 7) has recently on two
separate occasions attempted to offer an amendment to legislation that
would strike a provision that would ensure a more balanced approach when
States are required to return unused federal transportation funds.

The Distribution of Rescissions provision is found in both the
Transportation Energy Security and Climate Change Mitigation Act of
2007(H.R. 2701), and the fiscal year 2008 Transportation-HUD
Appropriations Act (H.R. 3074). Although the amendment was defeated on
both counts, the most recent vote this past week, was 217-201 with ten
Democrats switching to support the amendment.

FBA needs your help to contact Congressman Mica to urge him to support a
more fair and balanced federal rescission process, and nip any future
attempts on his part to offer any amendments. You can reach Congressman
Mica in Washington DC at 202-225-4035 or fax 202-226-0821. For more
information on Mica visit www.house.gov/mica.

His contention is that the new provision (listed below) would take away
control from the States (this view is supported by AASHTO). However,
this is not the case as you know in most of the core highway programs
State can shift up to 50 percent of the funds to another core highway
program. This flexibility remains intact in the new provision. The
rescission leeway was just one form of flexibility that is provided and
it is obviously being abused repeatedly.

Nationally, the implementation of recent rescission notices has had a
disproportional impact on programs such as Congestion Mitigation and Air
Quality (CMAQ), and Transportation Enhancements (TE). While the CMAQ
program accounts for approximately (4%-5%) percent of highway
apportionments each year, CMAQ funds have accounted for about 20 percent
of total highway funds rescinded in recent years. Additionally, in FY
2006, States rescinded $602 million in Transportation Enhancements
funds, 15 percent of all rescissions in that year. A more proportional
share would have been closer to 3%. It should also be noted that CMAQ
and TE are the major sources of funding for bicycle facilities in cities
and communities across the country.

DISTRIBUTION OF RESCISSIONS

(a) In General- Any unobligated balances of amounts that are
appropriated from the Highway Trust Fund for a fiscal year, and
apportioned under chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, before, on,
or after the date of enactment of this Act and that are rescinded after
such date of enactment shall be distributed within each State (as
defined in section 101 of such title) among all programs for which funds
are apportioned under such chapter for such fiscal year, to the extent
sufficient funds remain available for obligation, in the ratio that the
amount of funds apportioned for each program under such chapter for such
fiscal year, bears to the amount of funds apportioned for all such
programs under such chapter for such fiscal year.

(b) Treatment of Transportation Enhancement Set-Aside and Funds
Suballocated to Substate Areas- Funds set aside under sections 133(d)(2)
and 133(d)(3) of title 23, United States Code, shall be treated as being
apportioned under chapter 1 of such title for purposes of subsection
(a).

Walter Finch, Advocacy Director
League of American Bicyclists
walter@bikeleague.org


BOCA BICYCLISTS APPEAL FDOT RULING
Published July 22, 2007 by John Johnston

“The core of the dispute is whether FDOT has applied the legally correct
criteria in the design and implementation of bicycle and pedestrian
facilities in the reconstruction of State Road A1A in Palm Beach
County.” The preceding, taken from court filings, is why Bruce
Rosenzweig, the Boca Raton Bicycle Club and the League of American
Bicyclists -- known collectively as the Bicyclists -- have appealed a
March 9 FDOT administrative hearing order that concluded FDOT has
complete discretion on whether to include bicycle lanes on state roads.

Attorney Jeff Lynne believes State law says otherwise. In fact, Lynne
has told the Boca Raton News that the reason FDOT wants to build a bike
lane on A1A -- but only in Delray Beach, rather than from Palm Beach to
Boca Raton -- isn’t that complicated. “FDOT's planning and engineering
principles are being thrown out of the window to accommodate a
relatively handful of connected citizens, at the expense of all of the
rest of us.” Lynne, a former Boca Raton Assistant City Attorney, and
now in private practice with one of Florida’s heavyweight law firm’s,
Akerman Senterfitt, is one of several attorneys representing the
Bicyclists in this case.

Lynne said the reason FDOT has slammed the brakes on a plan for a
23-mile long bike lane from Boca Raton to Palm Beach is simple: “In
defiance of its own rules,” Lynne said, the FDOT bureaucracy has decided
to side with primarily wealthy property owners along A1A who, and
because the properties have been owned for a long time, want the state
to ignore that some of those properties are actually built into the
state owned right-of-way.

And for those property owners that aren’t built into the right-of way,
bike lane supporters argue that a withdrawal of political support by
those property owners (read cash) is being threatened if the state
proceeds with a bike lane plan that includes all of A1A. “They just
don’t want it,” agreed Larry Silverman, Akerman Senterfitt co-counsel
with Lynne.

A March 9 administrative hearing -- and presided over by an FDOT
engineer -- concluded that FDOT had the right to decide whether or not a
bike lane should be built on any state road. The bicyclists have
appealed that ruling to court -- and “I don’t know” when the case will
be heard, Lynne said.

John Johnston can be reached at 561-549-0833, or at
jjohnston@bocanews.com


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 including schedule of events and sessions plus interesting
activities like the “Cemetery Crawl.”


FBA ANNUAL MEETING AND AWARDS CEREMONY

In conjunction with the Pro Bike®/Pro Walk Florida conference, FBA will
hold its Annual Meeting and Annual Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, August
28, 2007, at 9:00 am during the Opening Session. If you don’t plan to
attend the conference but wish to attend the annual meeting and awards
ceremony, contact Laura Hallam at laura@floridabicycle.org for details.


YOUTH CYCLISTS PLACE WELL AT NATIONALS

Below is interesting news about youth cyclists in Florida placing well
at the recent 2007 USA Cycling National Festival at Seven Springs, PA,
July 6-17, 2007. They're all under 23 and deserve mentioning - they ARE
the future of Florida cycling. Some individuals are listed by hometown
and others by team. Sorry for not knowing the hometowns of those listed
by team.

Criterium

U23 Men
1. Keith Norris (Miami)

U23 Women
3. Jacquelyn Crowell (Gainesville and Orlando)

Junior Women 13-14
1. Ashlyn Gerber (Sanford)
3. Antonina Esposto (Brandon)

Junior Women 10-12
3. Michelle Blake (Orlando)

Individual Time Trial

U23 Women
8. Jacquelyn Crowell (Gainesville and Orlando)

Junior Women 10-12
3. Michelle Blake (Orlando)

Junior Women 13-14
1. Jillian Gardner (Canyon Bicycles)
2. Ashlyn Gerber (Sanford)
10. Ali Brannigan (Colavita Florida)

Day 10 - July 15: Criterium

Junior women 13-14
1. Ashlyn Gerber (Sanford)
9. Ali Brannigan (Colavita Florida)

Will Willis and Luke Brannigan [Jr. Men 15-16] also participated along
with some other Orlando area juniors.

Contributed by Lyndy Moore and Larry Gies, Orlando


AND THEN SOME

"Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The
saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might
have, and should have." -Louis Boone

"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity." -Oprah Winfrey

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." -Babe Ruth

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." -Albert Einstein

"That we have to learn from our mistakes is unfortunate, that some don't
is tragic beyond comparison." -Mary Ryan