Charlie Gandy
Wednesday, March 9, 10:30 am.
Conference Room 1
Better bicycling conditions on streets and trails, along with better bicycling culture, happen because bike advocates catalyze action. They are citizen stakeholders who know through their personal experience that bikes are part of the solution for many of their community’s issues related to health, transportation and the environment. So they speak up to fellow citizens and maybe the city council and discover a wall of reasons why it can’t be done here.
With 25 years of real world examples of surprising successes and spectacular failures, BikeTexas founder and first executive director Charlie Gandy tells stories and wrings out lessons for aspiring bike advocates. Getting thrown out of a Texas State Parks Board meeting by billionaires for proposing bike trails, leaving a Texas Hill Country ranchers meeting just one step ahead of being tarred and feathered for proposing a rail/trail project, shining a bright light on political cronyism and having the Governor agree and fix it – these and other adventures spotlight good and bad advocacy strategies based on Gandy’s real world experience.
In this session participants will identify the difference between effective and ineffective bike advocacy, give examples of how bike advocacy strategies work locally and statewide and recognize advocacy opportunities as they arise, enabling them to take action
Architect,
Livable Communities, Inc.
Charlie Gandy is one of the architects of the modern bicycle/walking political movement. Starting in 1990 he was a founder and the first executive director of the Texas Bicycle Coalition. During the 90’s he catalyzed the creation of 30 state and local bike advocacy organizations across the country which became the foundation of the Thunderhead Alliance . As a consultant Gandy facilitated 1,200 pedestrian audits in progressive cities around the country stimulating better walking conditions. And before all that in the early 80’s Gandy was one of the youngest members of the Texas House of Representatives.
