I am writing to you today with my last appeal as Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. To ensure LACBC starts its next chapter with a strong foundation, will you make a donation in my honor towards our goal of raising $50,000? Please donate right now.

 

When I first started as Executive Director in 2007, there was just one other employee here at HQ and a real struggle to keep our doors open, not to mention an uphill battle at City Hall to get the Los Angeles Bike Plan passed and pavement striped with room for bikes. Now, seven years later, we have twelve employees working on your behalf to make Los Angeles County a healthy, safe and fun place to ride a bike with a LOT of successes! And we have grown into the county portion of our name with 12 local chapters across the county: Bicycle Coalition at UCLA, Carson Bicycle Coalition, Culver City Bicycle Coalition, Downey Bicycle Coalition, Montebello Bicycle Coalition, Pomona Valley Bicycle Coalition, Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition, Santa Monica Spoke, USC Bicycle Coalition, Walk Bike Burbank, Walk Bike Glendale and West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition. You can support local advocacy and help us reach that $50,000 goal by designating your donation for a local chapter after you donate.

 

Since 2007, we have seen a true metamorphosis in terms of new and improved bike infrastructure in many of the 88 cities across the county, a multitude of new bike plans, more bike-friendly policy from our regional transportation agency Metro, and an increase in the number of confident, aware bicyclists taking our rightful place in the roadway. LACBC has been an instrumental catalyst of that change. Oh, and we have organized 3 biennial bike and pedestrian counts in the City of Los Angeles (plus counts in other parts of the county) to collect data and analyze trends over time, like how bike infrastructure affects bicycling behavior. I wish I could take credit for all of that, but the truth is that none of this would have happened without the backing of folks like you who answer our calls to action by volunteering at events, the counts, Operation Firefly, and in your very own neighborhoods through your local chapters or as Neighborhood Bike Ambassadors. Additionally, not only do we count on your voice, but we depend on your financial contributions. And if there's one last thing I can do as the leader of LACBC, it's to ask you to help us through this very important transition from one Executive Director to another with a donation. Every dollar counts. Please get us to that $50,000 goal.

 

Now, with great pride in the good work of LACBC, our extraordinary staff and board, our growing network of local chapters throughout the county, and your support, without whom we could do none of this, I look to closing this chapter and my role as Executive Director. I will continue to champion the organization from a different perspective, as I will be looking to get some dirt under my wheels, while attending to other responsibilities and projects. Before I head into the Santa Monica Mountains for my first ride as a civilian, I come to you to ask you to send me off in style with a contribution to LACBC as we open a new door in 2015 with a brand new Executive Director. We want to raise $50,000, but we need YOUR help. 


 

  
 
I hope our paths cross soon! Happy Holidays!




Jennifer Klausner
Executive Director
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition


P.S.  In fact, come see me off at our Open House at our downtown HQ on Thursday, December 4th, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.  It's free for members or $10 for nonmembers. Angel City Brewery will be pouring the suds.

P.P.S. If you are a donor at the $250 and above level this year, we are planning our Donor Thank You Party as a meet-the-new-Executive-Director-mixer for the evening of Thursday, January 22nd. Details and invites to follow.
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