Break The Gridlock!

Update: A million thanks to all the volunteers who came out to support this event, which grew by 63% over last year's ride!

We are thrilled to announce that year's Urban Assault Ride, sponsored by New Belgium Brewing, will benefit Break the Gridlock, The Chainlink and West Town Bikes.  Our task is to recruit volunteers for jobs such as beer security at Murphy's Bleachers and helping (and cheering) at checkpoints. 

Sign up here: http://urbanassaultride.com/chicago/volunteer/npo
(NOT the link you see from the main Urban Assault page.)

Volunteers will receive a t-shirt, food, drinks, and beer (21 and older). As an added incentive, our friends at the Active Transportation Alliance are offering Urban Assault volunteers a discount for Bike the Drive, which is the following weekend.  Enter GRIDLOCK5 for online registration at www.bikethedrive.org

Please consider volunteering for this fun event. Your time helps support local causes that promote biking and reduce car dependency.

Why do 86-year-olds drive?  Because most of their life in America has been tied to automobile dependency.

This mother's editorial in the Chicago Tribune reminds me of another reason to support funding for public transportation.  As the Baby Boomer generation ages, I fear we may see more preventable tragedies on our roadways.

Join cycling friends this Sunday Feb 20th for a whimsical bike activism outing to "shutdown" the Chicago autoshow. Starts in Daley Plaza (50 W Washington, under the Picasso) after noon, then a short social ride reaching McCormick Place (2301 S King Dr) by 1pm. There we'll spread joy and inspiration about low-car living with costumes, cheers, conversations, free advice and demos. We'll be flyering for the next Saturday's Cycle Swap in Pulaski Park, where consumers can "tradeup" from their cars to bikes. Promises photos and fun, and warm drinx somewhere after 3pm. Latecomers text "where" to u@massup.us

The 2011 FLYER is now posted for DOWNLOAD and PRINT: http://autoshowshutdown.org/tradeup 

Break The Gridlock has extended its deadline for petitions to join its Board of Directors. 

See the original announcement below.

For more information, please see the Join The Board page.

Hope to see many Break the Gridlockers at Wednesday's World Car Free Day Celebration.

The ride leaves at 6pm sharp (gather at 5:30pm)  from Daley Plaza and ends at 7pm at the Bike Winter kick-off meeting* at the Billy Goat on Madison (1535 W.)

PARK(ing) Day is coming this Friday, September 17th to cities around the world who are united in reclaiming public space for people (and not cars!).  Chicago has its share of events going on.  Stroll or roll by one of these installments on Friday and exercise your right to relax in reclaimed park(ing) space:

Break The Gridlock invites individuals in the Appropriate Transportation advocate/activist community to join our Board of Directors.  Joining Break The Gridlock's board is the best way to help Chicago's grass-roots activist community grow and thrive.

Board members serve for (about) one year and will help BTG continue the into it's second year since its re-founding.  The board will work towards furthering the organization's mission as well as growing the organization and its capacity.

Our second unHappy Hour will happen on Sepember 15th, 2010, 7pm at Quenchers Saloon, 2401 North Western (at Fullerton).

Our last event (our very first) successfully brought people together to hear speakers and engage each other in a social setting.  We're looking forward to growing on that success.

This month, we'll be welcoming Break The Gridlock Member Organization Bike Winter.  We will talk about how all season riding fits into overall efforts to promote car-freedom and share tips for convincing others to stay in the saddle year round.

Think of this as a "train the trainer" event. Veteran Bike Winter hucksters will demonstrate different strategies for getting your friends, co-workers and strangers in the check-out line to keep rolling as the temps drop. Content (what do I say?) and delivery (how do I say it?) will be addressed.

Participants will leave with a BW starter promo kit, including stickers from past years, spare gaitors to hand out to other faltering cyclists, and notes for future reference. And, there will be a quiz!

Bike Winterites will also share quick tips for braving the cold, wet, windy days of fall. Remember: Bike Fall is harder than Bike Winter. More on Bike Fall and planning BW events (and the unveiling of the 2011 sticker!) will be at the 9/22 kick off meeting--right after the car-free day rally.

The presentation/formal discussion will start at 7pm and last about an hour. People are encouraged to stick around afterwards to mingle and scheme.

***

The unHappyHour is Break The Gridlock's bi-monthly social event seeking to bring together those interested in BTG's mission to reduce automobile dependency.  Each event will generally start with short presentations followed by unstructured time where participants can come together, hear short presentations, and discuss Chicago's growing Appropriate Transportation movement. We are unhappy with the state of Chicago's transportation networks, but optimistic that we can make them better!

No RSVP is necessary.

The first unHappy Hour event last night brought out about 30 activists. 

Attendees were treated to a presentation by Jason Rothstein on his new book Carless In Chicago.  Jason outlined many of the bullet points about why and how people choose to go car-free.  After the event, Jason was on-hand to sell and sign copies of his book.  Break The Gridlock bought five copies for the BTG Library.