Expanding their efforts to promote environmental sustainability, B Street Salon has begun a partnership with Savannah Bicycle Campaign. Patty McIntosh (below arriving at her appointment with salon owner and master stylist Monica McMasters), already a B Street client and regular bicyclist kicked the program off yesterday. Going forward, B Street will donate 10% of proceeds from services and products purchased at the salon by Savannah Bicycle Campaign members.

B Street sources environmentally responsible products and has long recycled materials from the business, even beginning a program to reuse bottles at their “Filling Station,” so their efforts are of course a good match for our own focus on sustainable transportation, and we hope this will be a model for similar partnerships with other local businesses.

Members of Savannah Bicycle Campaign and their immediate family members simply indicate their membership prior to checking out and the donation will be applied. This is a great way to make your dollars count in supporting local businesses who support sustainability, and support our efforts specifically to improve bicycling conditions here in Chatham County. If you or someone in your family is already a client, make sure to let B Street know you are an SBC member when you are at your appointment; and if you’re not already a client, consider giving B Street a try!

What do you get when you put together breakfast, bikes and a bunch of lawyers riding to work?  The punch line escapes me, but the real answer is the upcoming 2Wheels 2Work: Wheels of Justice on Friday March 5.

We are pleased as ever to have Jittery Joe’s coffee at Davant Park to offer participants including those who ride with us the whole way from Habersham Village (park in the far northeast corner of the lot, as far from Red and White as possible if you drive there for a hybrid car-bike commute) and also those who stop by on bike on their way to work from anywhere in the city.  If law school wasn’t your bag, don’t fret — it’s open to all comers.  We will also have some other breakfast treats and a bike giveaway courtesy McKee Court Reporting and Quality Bike Shop.  Thanks also to our other sponsors Hunter Maclean, Brennan Wasden, the City of Savannah and the Young Lawyer’s Division of the Savannah Bar Association.

Join us Saturday, March 6 in the Starland District lot (Whitaker and 40th) for Desotorow Gallery’s Spoked bike art and culture festival.  There will be bike exhibitors (including us), contests, demonstrations, and prizes from 12-6pm along with a Wheelie-style ride starting at 2pm.  You can check out the Spoked exhibit now at the gallery.  The festival also includes a screening of Veer, a movie about bicycle culture this Thursday 3/4 at 9pm at River Club, 3 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, so be sure to check that out too!

Feb 26 – March 10	Spoked A part of Desotorow’s Bike Artisan Festival, Spoked is a juried exhibition featuring work about the bicycle and cycling culture. “Unwanted” by Angela Petsis Digital Print from BW Negative, $175 Featured Artists: J. Graham Carswell Ashley Dowling Angela Petsis Evan Pomerantz George Retseck Cecily Upton Kevin Willsey Jessie Jones Opening Reception March 5, 6-9pm Sponsored by the City of Savannah, Scion, and SCAD Radio

Georgia has been slow to jump on the Safe Routes to School bandwagon, but we are finally on board.  SRTS is a program to encourage elementary and middle school students to walk and bicycle to school (which 42% did in 1969, but only 16% do today) for the potential benefits of health, decreased traffic congestion and pollution.  Because there are federal dollars backing it, we now have a staff member from the Safe Routes Resource Center who is helping schools get programs off the ground here in coastal Georgia (it also means that both public and private schools that establish programs will be eligible to apply for 100% federal funding of infrastructure projects — i.e. sidewalks, bike paths, traffic calming, etc — so this could be a great thing for our kids and our streets if adopted in a big way).

Patti Sistrunk, former South Carolina SRTS State Coordinator and now the Coordinator for Coastal GA, has organized a workshop for SRTS at Jacob G. Smith Elementary next Thu Feb 25 from 2-5pm.  The workshop includes a walkability assessment, and participants will observe and comment on a regular day’s dismissal of students, while learning how to build incentives for kids and their parents to walk and bicycle to school.  It’s open to all who are interested, so RSVP to Patti by Mon Feb 22 if you would like to attend.

Next week several sessions will focus on the removal of the I-16 flyover and the resultant changes to the streetscape. Of particular interest to you campaigners will likely be the opening night on Wed Feb 17 from 5:30-8pm (includes an opening presentation and facilitated discussion) and the session on Thu Feb 18 from 9-11am (the hands-on design charrette), though it is all open to anyone interested. Take a look at the flyer here and let us know if you can help us make the case for including Complete Streets in a new Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard.

Georgia Bikes!, our statewide advocacy group has reorganized and added a lobbying component.  Part of that effort in the statehouse this year is the annual Georgia Rides to the Capitol.  With rides beginning at two main locations around metro Atlanta, this event brings together elected officials and cyclists to highlight the need for better public policy with respect to bikes.

If any of you has a reason to be in Atlanta on March 23, or you just want to support legislative efforts (let us know — there may be an opportunity to meet with our legislators while you’re there), check it out!  If you do plan to go, please pre-register so the organizers know how many to expect and consider making a donation to the effort — the ride has been put on for free in the past, but due to mounting costs, this may not be the case in the future.