Mayors Make Crucial Connections for Bike Riders at California Bicycle Summit

Attendees at the California Bicycle Summit, April 18-19, 2024, in San Diego, fall into many categories and job descriptions. One notable type of participant is mayors. Three current or former California mayors will speak on panels, and more will be attending the conference.

Mayors play a crucial role in the fight for safe streets. Residents often reflexively object to changes that affect travel lanes and parking on local streets. When elected officials cave to the loudest voices in the room, advocates must work even harder to achieve liveable, human-scale community streets. However, a mayor willing to weather initial opposition and support a new bikeway, transit-only lane, or protected intersection can help push these changes through. And forward-looking politicians may reap the benefits of solid support for Complete Streets as people grow to love them once they are in place.

Here are some of the mayoral insights we’ll have at the Summit next week.

Rey León, Mayor of Huron

Huron Mayor Rey León (also executive director of The LEAP Institute) was instrumental in his small Central Valley community winning a Clean Mobility Options grant from the California Air Resources Board to create a municipal bike-share program. He’ll join a panel on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. to discuss a significant financial hurdle to implementing community-led bike-share: insurance costs. “Rey León is the most effective mayor I’ve ever met personally and a strong bike champion,” said CalBike executive director Kendra Ramsey. You’ll want to hear what he has to say.

Meghan Sahli-Wells, former mayor of Culver City

Meghan Sahli-Wells earned the title of Biking Mayor by steering her community’s first bicycle and pedestrian master plan, creating a local Safe Routes to School program, and bringing CicLAvia to Culver City. She will speak on the panel “Seniors Challenging Climate Change through Active and Public Transportation” on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. The panel will discuss the role of active transportation in combating climate change and how to meet the needs of the growing number of seniors who want to get around by bike.

Alex Fisch, former Mayor of Culver City

Alex Fisch, another former Culver City council member and mayor and now a Special Assistant Attorney General, will speak Friday at 9:00 a.m. on a groundbreaking quick-build project completed during his tenure as mayor. The panel will highlight the impact of elections on our built environment: Culver City removed the much-hailed project and added a car lane after Fisch left office.

Registration closes at midnight on April 12. We hope you’ll join us for these and many other fantastic sessions at this year’s Summit.