So, I metioned before that Zoee and I received recognition from the mayor of Denver for our work on bikes over the past year. Our work has also garnered some national attention, as a story is published in today's USA Today: "Denver grads create 'bike library' for those needing a free ride."
Sweet!
This has been one of my biggest projects ever. It has been a roller coaster, too.
Zoee and I had the idea for a bike sharing system last fall, completely separately. We didn't know each other until September, but we had independently thought up a vision for bike sharing in Denver previous to our time as the leadership of the senate's Sustainability Committee. I had learned about bike libraries and co-ops at Clinton Global Initiative University in 2008 and thought the idea was fantastic for Denver.
Zoee and I had a meeting of the minds at the beginning of the school year to get to set up our committee and outline projects we wanted. Bikes made the top of the list -- we were both pleasantly surprised at how we had had the same idea!
This led us to the city of Denver. We thought this kind of program wouldn't work without the city's involvement; there is no point to sharing bikes if it is not on a large scale. Since Denver had taken on bike sharing during the DNC, we thought they would be interested in pursuing a larger project.
We ended up at a city bike committee meeting. Most of the members ignored us until we managed to get a word in edge-wise, mentioning our interest in bikes and our incredible committee budget. With their ears finally opened, we managed to get the contact information for a city employee working on bike ideas, including bike sharing.
It's great when people with the same idea can come together to work together!
This led to an incredible partnership. We never made it back to the bike committee, but we had a great working relationship with the Office of Economic Development and its director. We met with a vendor and began the process to incorporating DU into the Denver system.
It was months of meetings, crunching numbers, and, beginning in April, raising money.
We thought that would the toughest obstacle. While Senate would contribute the bulk of the $50,000 to include kiosks for bike sharing on the DU campus, we needed to raise significant funds from the university community to make the project. We were surprised by the response. All year we had encountered more challengers than allies to the program; more people unsure of its worth than open to the possibility of its success. We answered all of their questions reasonably enough, though, and by the time we were asking people for money, it seemingly came flooding in.
In the first week, we raised over $10,000. At our meeting with the vendor and the city that week, the CEO of the bike company commented on how the city could take some pointers from us to pick up the fundraising pace.
By the time we almost reached our goal, however, the city changed its plans. We were on pace to launch the program, with the city, by Fall 2009. The city pushed back their launch, however, to Spring 2010. This launched many days of headaches and complicated meetings. Zoee and I were slightly disheartened; we thought this would look like we were falling back on our promises to the university community, and that, since we were graduating, would not be able to see the fruition of our efforts. We had also set up a great event with Mayor Hickenlooper, when we planned on making our donation to the city's program (in exchange for our kiosks and bikes). The excitement for this event was palatable on campus and we didn't want anyone to be disappointed. And, we had the mayor committed!
But, the months of meetings and coalition building paid off. The friendships we built were invaluable in adjusting the community to the new reality. Out of that, we managed to create a bike library interim program, to be used during the fall on campus, and continue preparation to bring the automated system, in conjunction with the city, to DU next spring.
The best news was still being able to talk about this with the mayor. It was a very positive spin on otherwise bad news; the program would come to Denver later than expected, but people were excited about the prospect and we would be able to give them something tangible sooner, rather than later.
The event went on; the Chancellor introduced the mayor and spoke to DU's great green accomplishments over the past year. The mayor followed suit, commending DU and talking about Denver's milestones. Then, he introduced Zoee and I to talk about our experience and commend the students of the university for making all of these projects possible.
After we spoke, the biggest surprise came: Mayor Hickenlooper took to the stage once again and read a proclamation, naming May 18 "Zoee and MJ Day" in the city of Denver! Depsite all of the challenges we faced during the months and months of work on this project, we were being recognized as exemplifying "the dedication, work ethic, and enthusiasm" needed to "serve as a great example of youth making a difference in the community."
And now, we have a mention in USA Today:-)
There is still work to be done, and I will hopefully be helping from my new home in Tulsa. Different students will be taking the charge on campus, but Zoee and I don't want to end our work on the project just because we've graduated. We can't wait to see bikes all over Denver!
AND, just to clarify some concerns from readers of USA Today:
-maintenance will be the responsibility of Denver Bike Sharing, a new nonprofit, backed by Denver's Bicycle Village and other partners, to make sure the bikes are always in working order and easily accessible
-all of the bikes will be connected to their borrowers; if bikes are not returned (aka, stolen), the person to last check out the bike will be charged (via their credit card), the cost of the bike. These are highly durable, incredibly unique TREK Bicycles; they will be hard to steal without notice, but also very expensive for borrowers to replace.
-The influx of bikes in the city should help with more people respecting bicycles on the road. The bikes are also easy to ride and hard to wreck. The bike library will come with helmets and the kiosks will remind users to be safe.
If you have other questions, Zoee and I are very experienced in answering everything and anything anyone would ever want to know about bikes. Remember all of those months? We've had lots of practice;-)
And, we are "the sustainability duo." Look how far we've come from not even knowing each other!
~MJ
Other articles about bikes at DU and in Denver:
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