Golden Recognizes the Bicycle with Proclamation and Task Force

Golden, CO - Golden Mayor Jacob Smith read a proclamation at the City Council meeting May 22 recognizing today as National Bicycle Greenway Day in the City of Golden. As part of the celebration, local bicycle enthusiast extraordinaire Steve Stevens, director of the Golden Oldy Cyclery bicycle museum, will arrive on bicycle at 10 a.m. with the National Bicycle Greenway's Mayor's Ride for 2008 at Golden City Hall, 911 10^th St., where they will be greeted by the Mayor and City staff.

The Mayor’s proclamation cited numerous reasons for Golden’s involvement with the national event and the bicycle’s significance to Golden. Among them:

- The bicycle is one of the most sustainable forms of transportation;
- The  American love affair with the bicycle began as a fad in late 1868 with the velocipede, was renewed in 1878 with the Hi Wheel "Ordinary Bicycle", and has evolved into the bicycle we know today;
- Golden, Colo., has a long relationship with the bicycle, including its distinction as the site of the first recorded bicycle accident in Colorado in 1869;
- Golden has a long history of supporting bicycle use, including the Golden Bike Club of 1884, the State Championship Hill Climbs in the 1890s, and serving as a host city for the legendary Coors Classic;
- Golden and the surrounding area is a popular center of bicycling activities, with mountain biking on the surrounding trails, an extensive system of bicycle paths and lanes, and popular road biking routes;
- Golden has adopted a Bicycle Master Plan describing the City of Golden's vision for bicycle route development in the community with the goal of providing a high quality and safe bicycle system for a wide diversity of users including family oriented recreational riders, commuters, and advanced athletes;
- Promoting bicycle use can support the goals of the City of Golden's Sustainability Initiative, especially the goals related to reducing vehicle miles traveled and to energy use; and
- The City of Golden supports the National Bicycle Greenway's goal of providing safe, clean, aesthetic and enjoyable places for people of all ages to ride a bicycle all year round.

Golden City Council also formed a Bicycle Master Plan Update Task Force which was appointed May 8 and charged with accomplishing the following goals:

1. Review the City of Golden Bicycle Master Plan;
2. Assess any conditions that have changed since the plan was adopted in 2003, including progress made in completing the improvements identified in the plan;
3. Provide specific recommendations to City council and staff identifying any recommended updates to the plan; and
4. Provide specific recommendations to City Council and staff for the 2009 – 2018 Capital Improvement Plan that will make it easier for citizens of all ages to bicycle for recreation and for transportation.

The task force is scheduled to work until early September 2008 and then to terminate after Council action on the task force recommendations, currently scheduled for October 2008. For more information on the task force, contact Rick Muriby at 303-384-8098 or rmuriby@cityofgolden.net, or Vince Auriemma at 303-384-8156 or vauriemma@cityofgolden.net.