Unfortunately the vote was 3 for and 5 against. You can read the details at AZBikeLaw.com.

From TucsonBikeLawyer.com

The bill permits cyclists to proceed through stop-signs without stopping so long as they do so safely and only when there is no cross traffic. It lets bicyclists treat stop-signs as if they are yield signs. A bicyclist would have to yield to any cross traffic in the intersection, but could proceed without stopping if there is no cross traffic

Please email your legislators asking them to support this act. For more information read this post from TucsonBikeLawyer.com.

To find your legislators enter your address and zip code at the top RIGHT of this page. Once you find out the district number you are in visit the member list (sorted by district # ascending).

Tempe Bicycle Action Group will be operating a bicycle valet service in conjunction with the Great Arizona Beer Festival at Tempe Town Lake on March 7th & 8th. The festival runs 2pm – 6pm and valet hours from 1:30pm – 6:30pm. The bicycle valet will be located at the main entrance to Tempe Beach Park at the NW corner of Mill Ave & Rio Salado Pkwy.

We need a minimum of 3 volunteers per shift per day.

Setup / Opening Shifts
March 7th: 12pm – 4pm
March 8th: 1pm – 4pm

Closing / Teardown Shifts
March 7th: 3:30pm – 6:30pm
March 8th: 3:30pm – 8pm

As the event is two days Setup only takes place on the 7th and Teardown only on the 8th. If you are interested in volunteering simply email action@biketempe.org with your desired shift(s). TBAG will provide snacks and water all day, we’ll also have a shade tent and seating.

Event attendees arriving via bicycle are encouraged to bring a lock in the event that the bicycle valet reaches capacity.

P.S. Stay tuned for the March newsletter coming early next week!

This Saturday, February 28, is the birthday of the Downtown Phoenix Farmer’s Market. There will be celebratory festivities happening at the Market, and we’re going to ride on down (and back again). Meet at the Tempe Beach Park entrance at 7:15 for a 7:30 am departure. We’ll maintain a leisurely pace following the usual route (approx. 9 miles one-way). I hope to see you there!

Keep in mind that you can always hop on the light rail if the full ride sounds like too much!

AZCentral’s City Life publication for the week of Feb 18th – 24th has an interesting article titled “Bus, Bike or Rail: Which is best from Central Phoenix”. The article details the author’s experiment to commute a 4 mile round trip to and from 2nd St/Van Buren and 15th Ave/McDowell. The results were interesting, light rail was the slowest at 35 minutes, followed by bus and bicycle, both at 20 minutes, and 12 minutes via car. Here’s what the author had to say about Bicycle:

Bicycle: This is my favorite option, at least November through April. Pedaling through Margaret T. Hance Park gives you a whole new perspective on the green space. And you get some exercise. Not such a good option when it’s 100 degrees at 9am, though. Commute time: 20 minutes.

A 4 mile bike ride resulting in 20 minutes of travel time for the round trip puts the average speed at 12mph, this is quite leisurely and probably necessary if one doesn’t want to perspire on the ride. I question whether it’s worth it to save 8 minutes by driving. On driving the author states:

… driving for a 4 mile round trip commute seems like an indulgence. Still, it’s good to have a car on days when there are errands to run.

A somewhat valid point, I’d be curious to know exactly how many days the author actually bikes to work and if she makes any attempt to lump errands into one day to limit driving. Interestingly, she does state, quite contradictory to the bicycle being her favorite option that:

But for daily commuting, I’ll be on Route 15 (a bus route).

Unfortunately I could not locate the City Life publication online so if you’d like to read the entire article you’ll have to pick it up at a free newsstand near you or you can try to the read the cameraphone picture posted to TwitPic, it’s mostly readable.

From tucsonbikelawyer.com:

It’s true!

Tucsonbikelawyer returned from a wilderness hiking trip to learn that Representative Quelland along with eight legislators has introduced a bill that would permit Arizona bicyclists to proceed through stop signs as if they were yield signs. My understanding is that Representative Quelland is a very serious bike commuter, so he would understand the need to let bicyclists pass cautiously through a stop sign without coming to a complete stop if it is safe to do so.

For more information on the Idaho stop law head over to BikePortland.org’s post regarding. When the time comes to advocate this bill we’ll let you know. In the meantime determine your district and legislators at http://www.azleg.gov/

From BikePortland.org:

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced an amendment last night that would prohibit funding of “bicycle routes” and paths from the economic stimulus package that’s working its way through Capitol Hill right now.

Quick action is very important! Call or email your Senators and let them know you oppose this amendment and ask them to oppose it as well!

In the comments we also noted that Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) also opposes bicycling and walking infrastructure. This page also includes some sample responses which you can include in your email.

For those not on the members email list or following on Twitter, here’s our February Newsletter. Have a read, among other news and events you’ll find out how you can win a shiny new bicycle and valet your bike for free at an upcoming Tempe Beach Park event.

Don’t forget, our annual volunteer meeting is Saturday Feb 15th, 7:00pm at Boulders on Broadway.

Yes that’s right, we’ve set a date for our annual volunteer meeting. Sunday February 15th, 7pm at Boulders on Broadway. Anyone interested in volunteering to help us out this year is encouraged to attend. TBAG will provide some munchies and we’ll share our plans for the first half of 2009. We’ll be taking names and information from those interested in volunteering. We also hope that you’ll bring ideas to the table and share them with us, which we as a board will review, and possibly act upon.

To give you an idea of what’s in store, our board meeting last Sunday ran a full 3 hours! We discussed much and will be sharing some details with you in an email newsletter that should go out no later than early next week.

In the meantime, put on your thinking cap (or rather your helmet), go out for a ride, and put some thought into how we can make bicycling better for you, and everyone!

A few quick reminders, discussion forums are now available though off to a slow start, you can help get them off the ground by contributing! TBAG is now on Twitter. Follow us as we send updates almost daily on news and topics that relate to cycling both locally and globally.

On Friday, Jan 30th, Bicycle Saviours will be throwing their 2nd annual benefit party. This annual fundraising benefit, a phenomenon in the non-profit world intended to raise awareness, network, and have fun together, is to raise money for liability insurance, utilities, moving costs, new tools, and other general operating costs (rent, accountant, lawyer, fire/building codes, maintenance, etc etc the list goes on forever).

However, the point is more to celebrate BS goals and accomplishments with friends and supporters and party down in a bikey environment. The party is being held at 24th and Oak (2238 N 24th St), a more central location, as BS wants Phoenix and Tempe (and where ever else!) friends to attend.

Those interested should secure $5, stash it away for donation to Bike Saviours, then review the 65+ comment thread over at azfixed.com. Alternatively if you’re on Facebook you can view this event.