A Method to Help Fort Wayne Go Bicycle-Friendly

In October the city of Fort Wayne sent out bicycle survey forms with city utility bills. Since then, these surveys have appeared online as well. This is a great step forward for the city and the citizens of Fort Wayne. Because the purpose of the survey is to lay a foundation for a bicycle-friendly city, where there is a bicycle rack in every port and a lane for every rider.

The survey is lengthy and in order to gain information from residents basic questions such as; " Do you ride a bicycle?" were included. I would imagine that most people receive their city utilities bill, look at the amount they have to pay, issue a few swear words, and throw away the fillers that often appear in such a missive. But, this time it would have been great if they didn't.

Here is a sampling of some of the other questions that were issued in the survey.

1) Which of these riding styles best describes you? Followed by a listing of types of bike riders.

2) What's your purpose for riding?

3) Where do you ride?

All in all there were 30 questions followed by options as answers. It was very thorough and for those who didn't complete the form it would be a great time to go to the site listed at this article.

The City of Fort Wayne asks for your email address at the end of the survey so they can update you on the progress that is being made concerning biking trails and area businesses and organizations have supplied links to the online survey in order for all citizens to become involved.

Recently, I gave a presentation at a local company concerning the greening of Fort Wayne and how to best do so.

It was a Friday and it was 3pm. The people involved were members of the Green Initiative Team and all appeared to be half asleep. I explained ways in which the Waynedale Green Alliance is trying to create a method in which the community can learn more about the environment and greener living.

I was asked the following tired questions.

1) Why did you decide to get into this?

2) Don't you think words like global warming are offensive?

3) Have you thought about promoting an anti-plastic bag initiative?

Without going into my answers, I will just state that it appeared that these good citizens were more concerned with blowing off an hour of work at the end of a hard work week than really learning much about the environment or how to change things.

I couldn't blame them. I have been there myself. In fact, I really have come to expect this response.

That is why I was so thrilled to see that Fort Wayne is stepping forward with this survey. I hope Fort Wayne residents go to the site to the left here, complete it, and send it in.

Then, go read, ' Hot, Flat, and Crowded' by Thomas Friedman. No one at the Green Initiative team had heard of the book.