photo credit: Jim Urquhart | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is great news for Salt Lake City and is completely in-line with the city’s values- and history. One Salt Lake Tribune article points out that the Mormon pioneers who settled the valley lived sustainably out of necessity and efficiency. Today Salt Lake’s residents pick up their bikes more often, belong to food co-ops and want to see a reduction in traffic. Most expect that the ordinances proposed by Mayor Becker will be passed by the city’s legislature.

A lot of the folks in this town that like it “green” also like to live in the green- and desert- that surrounds. It makes so much sense to make our residential and business lives sync up with our outdoor recreation hobbies. It makes sense why Outdoor Retailer, the place for the outdoor industry to convene, is in Salt Lake.

SOAR is excited to see how these ordinances are implemented over the next few years and what feedback the community has given the mayor in this week of review.

We’re proud of what this town is becoming, and that it is already the type of place 40,000 members of the outdoor recreation industry want to visit on an annual basis.

More on SLC’s green initiatives:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/49891706-76/becker-says-lake-salt.html.csp?page=1

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/49915105-82/becker-residents-salt-changes.html.csp

Photo credit: Steve Griffin, Salt Lake Tribune

The SOAR Blog didn’t give Real Salt Lake due attention and praise when the team won the Major League Soccer championship in the spring, but that doesn’t mean SOAR isn’t incredibly proud of its home team for bringing the State of Utah a professional sports championship title for the first time in 40 years.

It seems fitting that the influence of professional soccer in Utah, and in the United States, was recognized today by President Barak Obama in a brief ceremony honoring Real Salt Lake team at the White House. Joe Biden wasn’t there- he is heading up the contingency representing the U.S. at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa which is now less than a week away. One of Real Salt Lake’s players, Robbie Findley, will play with the U.S. team, which is a contender against Algeria, England and Slovenia.

Professional soccer is too often overlooked by North American spectators. World Cup engenders even more global enthusiasm than the Olympics in some regard- except in the United States. There are books, classes, experts, lectures galore on the global significance of “footy,” so I won’t belabor the topic here. We’re glad that with all of the other matters our presidency has to attend to that it would recognize the athletic power coming out of Salt Lake City and the importance of the World Cup.

Any chance Obama will vie for World Cup 2018 to be in the U.S. like he did for the Olympics? (2014 is already scheduled to be in Brazil).

See the Salt Lake Tribune article here

1. Sometimes people lose track of time and forget to do things, so build extra time into your plan.

2. Charge late registration fees, and make them expensive! Most of us are procrastinators and we need a little extra incentive to commit to a race in advance.

3. You can never have too many volunteers, so treat them nicely.

4. The officials are your best friends, the officials are your best friends, the officials are your best friends.

5. Government entities are slow and bureaucratic. You can’t start talking to them too early.

6. Have a specific registration game-plan, otherwise it’s chaos. Did you hear me? it. is. chaos.

7. People can be impatient, that’s why it’s so important to be patient.

8. Be patient.

9. Sometimes even Mother Nature loses track of time and gets things mixed up; be ready in case she sends warm, sunny weather in March and a few feet of light fluffy Utah powder in April.

10. Have fun!!!!!!!!! You’re doing something that fosters and grows the sport you love!

To read the press release about this event, click here.

Check out Bradlee’s blog too, TwoWheelPhotos.blogspot.com.

We met citizens, advocates, business owners, commuters and politicians passionate about making Utah a bike-friendly state. They gave insightful presentations with lots of important take-aways. Here are a few that stuck out to us:

Stop making excuses- Jeff Miller, the guest of honor and the president/CEO of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, summarized what he has learned about the evolution of bike culture around the world. It may seem like Europe has been bike friendly since the beginning of time, but it has taken generations of advocates and enthusiasts to put that culture into place. The United States can put the same system into place, but it’s going to take comparable effort.

Economic impact- Bike travel has a lot of economic implications for the states that support it. What a cool idea to ride your bike from city to city, stopping at campgrounds and communities that cater to cyclists. You think of the world in a whole new way when you consider exploring it by bike. I’m excited to see the day, as someone at the summit suggested, when we can leave our front doors in Salt Lake and tour the entire state of Utah, confident that there will be safe bike routes and bike-friendly cities along the way.

Addressing Salt Lake’s air quality doesn’t have to be a political matter- As Senator Wayne Niederhauser suggested at the summit, Salt Lake City has a horrendous air quality problem that needs to be addressed and fixed. Reducing carbon emissions has to become the non-partisan solution for improving Salt Lake’s air quality. On bad days, Salt Lake has some of the poorest air quality in the nation. One summit participant said the air quality is so bad that she is considering leaving Salt Lake after five years of bike commuting year round because the pollution has caused her asthma.

To read the Utah Bike Summit agenda, please click here.

Donate to the Utah Bicycle Coalition and donate to the cause of cycling.