12:15pm | The National Center for Biking and Walking confirmed the selection of Long Beach as the location for the September National 2012 Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference. Conference director Mark Plotz stated, “For 2012, we will bring our conference to Long Beach because great things are already happening in the city, and because the city’s investments in walkable and bicycle friendly streets and neighborhoods will position Long Beach to be economically viable into the future, while continuing to provide a high quality of life for all residents. In other words: we see that Long Beach is headed where many cities need to go; lots of people are eager to learn from its example.”
Charles Gandy, Mobility Advisor for the City of Long Beach, led the campaign to bring the conference and its positive economic impact to Long Beach, collaborating extensively with the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau and Bike Long Beach to put together the winning bid. Steve Goodling, President & CEO of the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau commented, “We look forward to having the Pro Walk Pro Bike attendees in our city to share their expertise with us. Bicycling Magazine included Long Beach in their list of up and coming cities to watch and this conference will be an opportunity to showcase Long Beach as a forward thinking community for mobility.”
According to Mark Plotz, competition was stiff, and “there was no shortage of suitors: many communities were interested in hosting the largest bicycle and pedestrian conference in North America, and eager to join the distinguished host cities of our previous conferences—Chattanooga, TN; Seattle, WA; Madison, WI; and Victoria BC. NCBW selected those host cities, in part, because each serves as a case study of an urban economic resurgence brought on by making neighborhoods more walkable and streets more bicycle-friendly.”
Gandy is now Chair to the Long Beach’s Host Committee for the conference. In preparation for the conference, he’s brought together a team of local and regional experts and advocates in the bike-friendly, green minded, multi-modal and place-making arenas such as Allan Pullman AIA, Senior Principal and Brian Ulaszewski, LEED AP of Studio 111, Andrea White-Kjoss, President and COO of Bikestation and Mobis Transportation Alternatives, Elissa Briggs Thomas, Sustainable Transportation Program Coodinator of CSULB, and Allan Crawford, the new Bicycle Coordinator for Bike Long Beach.